Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is now playing in theaters, and the movie has an impressive critics score on Rotten Tomatoes as well as one of the MCU’s highest audience scores. ComicBook.com‘s Patrick Cavanaugh gave the movie a 4 out of 5 and called it “cathartic” and “emotional.” There’s a lot to love about the movie, which kicks off with a very special Marvel Studios intro. It’s common for Marvel films to alter the studio logo with new movies. For example, a moment from Black Panther: Wakanda was added to the opening logo during Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Occasionally, the studio will do something extra special like the Wakanda Forever opening, which was a tribute to Chadwick Boseman. Turns out, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 has taken a similar route.
Instead of using footage from various MCU projects in the Marvel Studios intro, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 only uses moments from the Guardians projects. This isn’t surprising since the threequel is expected to be the last MCU movie to feature the original Guardians crew as well as director James Gunn. Fans of the Guardians will surely appreciate being reminded of the lovable space crew’s journey, which began with Guardians of the Galaxy in 2014.
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Their stories continued in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, Thor: Love and Thunder, The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, and now Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. The returning cast who are showcased in the intro includes Chris Pratt (Peter Quill/Star-Lord), Karen Gillan (Nebula), Dave Bautista (Drax), Zoe Saldaña (Gamora), Sean Gunn (Kraglin/on-set Rocket), Pom Klementieff (Mantis), Bradley Cooper (Rocket), and Vin Diesel (Groot).
Do You Need To Watch The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special Before Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3?
There are definitely moments The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special that come up again in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. During an interview with ComicBook.com last year, Gunn was asked if the holiday special is required viewing before the movie.
“Well, I’m always trying to be balanced with these things, so I think it’s wonderful,” Gunn explained. “People should see the Holiday Special. You’re obviously gonna learn a lot about where the Guardians have been in the past few years. You know, you’re gonna see how they now inhabit Knowhere. They’ve got a new ship called the Bowie. They’ve got a dog [who] is part of their crew now who has telekinesis named Cosmo. So where you get to learn all that, and then there’s a couple of bigger pieces of spoiler-y lore. You’re gonna learn all of those things. In a way, the Holiday Special was a Trojan Horse for me to sneak in stuff that becomes important in Volume 3, so I don’t have to spend a lot of time at the beginning of that movie explaining it.”
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is now playing in theaters.
