Disney+ Removes Guardians of the Galaxy Episodes After Accidentally Spoiling Upcoming Special

Disney+ may have inadvertently just spoiled the next Marvel project hitting the service. Wednesday, the Marvel Studios Legends episodes for Drax and Mantis went live on the platform. The episodes, which run between five to 10 minutes, were quickly scrubbed from the platform after the internet caught onto a peculiar scene included in the Mantis episode. 

At the tail end of the bit was a deleted scene from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, one which fans have never seen before. In it, Drax (Dave Bautista) and Mantis (Pom Klementieff) examine Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) from afar as they speak in hushed tones. It was then revealed in the scene that Mantis is also a child of Ego, meaning she's a sibling of Quill's.

While Marvel Studios executives have gone on-record saying deleted scenes aren't MCU canon, the quick removal of the episode raises the question as to why it was included in the first place—especially when Drax and Mantis are the two leads of the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special.

Is The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special Required Viewing For Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3?

During a recent interview with ComicBook.com's Phase Zero host, Brandon Davis, 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."

The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special hits Disney+ on November 25th. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3. is set to be released in theatres on May 23, 2023.