Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 3 May 5, 2023

[Autbot_Benz]

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[oldmanwinters]

I was shocked they avoided making the awkward humor attempt until the tail end of that trailer.

[The Deadman]

Batista smacking that kid in the head with the basketball was hilarious.

[Autbot_Benz]

Batista smacking that kid in the head with the basketball was hilarious.

yes yes it was :lol:

[drgon78]

Might actually see this one.

[ZariusTwo]

These films just keep getting worse

[IMJ]

These films just keep getting worse

I thought the second one was really good but I'm still looking forward to "space superhero's" somewhere rather than "space pirates". It'd be great to see characters flying through space on-screen rather than flying a ship through space on screen.

[Andrew NDB]

Yeah, I'd say the second movie was actually better than the first. But boy, there's a Kevin Smith-like quality to these where it feels even a few movies in now, that we're mostly just treading water with the characters. There is no real interest from Gunn into elevating them into straight up superheroes.

Batista smacking that kid in the head with the basketball was hilarious.

I admit, I did do a spit-take on that moment.

[Autbot_Benz]

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[Cowabung-Gal]

Wait…did they just…tease Star-Lord X Nebula?

https://media4.giphy.com/media/WpaVhEcp3Qo2TjwyI1/giphy.gif?cid=ecf05e47lu30dogndm3qf0hl5luy64xwxby8 49ckbepy0s5j&rid=giphy.gif&ct=g

[ranger_scout]

We finally get to see Gamora speak in this trailer and how this past version of her feels about being with the team. I don't think she was talking in the last trailer.

[neatoman]

I was surprised to see how far down this thread was...

Anyway, I've seen it, so I might as well address some questions people have:
None of the major characters die, contrary to what some alleged leaks might have claimed.

Rocket is indeed confirmed to be a mutated earth raccoon. By the end he embraces his... Raccoon heritage? I guess?

The High Evolutionary's interest in Rocket is that while he is an otherwise crude prototype he didn't intend to be special, he is literally the only one of his creations that was able to innovate rather than just memorise formulas, so he needs to study Rocket's brain in order to learn how this came to be and how to implement it in future creations.

Despite the High Evolutionary explicitly using earth as a basis for his counter-earth, down to mutating its creatures and copying human technology for them to use, he is not from earth himself. He just kind of picked earth because he thought it was a suitable template.

Phyla-Vell is in this movie. In case you were wondering about her origin since she can't both be half-Eternal or Mar-Vell's daughter because the MCU had changed so much about them, she is a creation of the High Evolutionary. It is possible that he might have uncovered the Celestials' formula for the Eternals or maybe he used Kree as a basis but that is not stated.

[Cowabung-Gal]

My mom’s gonna bawl her eyes out at the part where it seems that…

Rocket has died

She blubbered at the end of Vol. 2. Better bring a tissue box with me to the theater.

[Andrew NDB]

I was surprised to see how far down this thread was...

Anyway, I've seen it, so I might as well address some questions people have:
None of the major characters die, contrary to what some alleged leaks might have claimed.

Rocket is indeed confirmed to be a mutated earth raccoon. By the end he embraces his... Raccoon heritage? I guess?

The High Evolutionary's interest in Rocket is that while he is an otherwise crude prototype he didn't intend to be special, he is literally the only one of his creations that was able to innovate rather than just memorise formulas, so he needs to study Rocket's brain in order to learn how this came to be and how to implement it in future creations.

Despite the High Evolutionary explicitly using earth as a basis for his counter-earth, down to mutating its creatures and copying human technology for them to use, he is not from earth himself. He just kind of picked earth because he thought it was a suitable template.

Phyla-Vell is in this movie. In case you were wondering about her origin since she can't both be half-Eternal or Mar-Vell's daughter because the MCU had changed so much about them, she is a creation of the High Evolutionary. It is possible that he might have uncovered the Celestials' formula for the Eternals or maybe he used Kree as a basis but that is not stated.

Huh.

I remember the "leaks" earlier that Raccoon dying was a fake-out, that actually Drax would die. Nobody dies? Meh. Does Gamora get her other self's memories, at least?

[neatoman]

Huh.

I remember the "leaks" earlier that Raccoon dying was a fake-out, that actually Drax would die. Nobody dies? Meh. Does Gamora get her other self's memories, at least?

No, she does start to kind of get why her alternate counter-part might have gotten along with the others but she does not gain any of those memories.

[neatoman]

I guess either nobody really cares enough to talk about this movie or it hasn't been released in enough areas yet, but I might as well post my thoughts on how the MCU tends to handle adaptation or lore and characters, since this movie can be considered a culmination of questionable decisions.
They made Rocket and Phyla-Vell both creations of the High Evolutionary. I get why in both cases but I'm not sure it had to be that way in either. Like sure, what Rocket is can be considered so similar to the New Men that he might as well be one of them, I just don't know if it was necessary because Half-World might be fine as is, it doesn't actually conflict with anything the High Evolutionary does. As for Phyla-Vell, yes she was going to be something else because her original origin would make no sense in the MCU, but they didn't need to make those previous changes, the Eternals did not have to be robots, Titan did not have to be a dead planet and Mar-Vell did not have to be a woman who dies before really doing anything.

Then there is the High Evolutionary who is made out to be an alien here because... He couldn't get onto a spaceship? The problem by having him be an alien here is that his decision to use human culture and other earth animals as the basis for his experiments seem somewhat random when he's not human himself. I understood why Drax and Mantis were made into aliens, it arguably wasn't that important for them to be human but the High Evolutionary not being human just seems... Off.

And finally, Peter's grandfather is named Jason... Not sure if that's just a reference or if they literally split J'Son into two characters. If it's the latter, are they seriously going to go as far as to say Peter is a Spartaxian after all?

[Andrew NDB]

So it kind of just sounds like more of the same, and the Star Lord-Gamora stuff goes nowhere? Is there at least a good amount of Stallone?

[neatoman]

So it kind of just sounds like more of the same, and the Star Lord-Gamora stuff goes nowhere? Is there at least a good amount of Stallone?

No, he effectively just briefs them on the mission plan when they are attempting to steal something that might save Rocket. I legitimately can't remember if he does anything after that.

[IMJ]

No, he effectively just briefs them on the mission plan when they are attempting to steal something that might save Rocket. I legitimately can't remember if he does anything after that.

Apparently he goes to "take a $#!(". There was a line where Gunn wanted Stallone to say that in the film, but apparently he refused to do it.

[CyberCubed]

I saw the movie, it was a fun, "feel good" movie. Some of the jokes again didn't land (and the camera lingers too long as a character stares blankly like it's some sort of punchline), but the theater was silent.

James Gunn has this problem where he makes characters scream their lines everytime they get angry. Gamora, Drax, Peter, Mantis and Nebula all have lines in the movie screaming back and forth constantly at each other, as well as the main villain, and it got irritating after awhile. After the first few scenes of this I got tired of it but it continued through the whole movie sadly.

Most of the movie is about Rocket's backstory which is fine. Gamora doesn't wind up back with Peter and stays a Ravenger. The group essentially splits up and goes their separate ways at the end besides Rocket and Groot. Also the movie was channeling 60's-70's sci-fi with all the little kids with gray hair in the movie locked up as experiments.

Definitely a better movie than most of the last few Marvel movies.

[IMJ]

So what's the final word on Phylla-Vell and the status of the Quantum Bands... anything? :roll: I mean.. I know she's in the movie, but....

[Sumac]

I am surprsied to hear they didn't do anything with eter and Gamora - unless they know both actors will return in the future, they could have done something with their romance.

[Coola Yagami]

Must suck to win a woman over, lose her tragically, kinda/sorta get a do-over except this time you didn't win her over. In essence, the Gamora they knew died and stayed dead.

[CyberCubed]

Well it really isn't the same person. The Gamora they knew was dead, and this one was from the past, basically an alternate timeline. It's fair to say they really are two different people.

If you go 13 years into the past and pick your 2010 self and bring them to 2023, you wouldn't be the same person either. My 2010 self is not who I am right now, same for most people I imagine.

[ZariusTwo]

I am surprsied to hear they didn't do anything with eter and Gamora - unless they know both actors will return in the future, they could have done something with their romance.

People don't seem to understand one of the themes of this movie is letting go and you can't always 'fix' people.

[Andrew NDB]

But it seemed like a huge dangling thread from Infinity War teased. The original Gamora still seemed trapped in that gem, somehow, after her death. We saw it. She was there. I thought for sure the idea would be to get back into that and somehow coalesce that Gamora into the plucked out of time Gamora. Not to invalidate the new Gamora, but give her those memories, too. That seemed so obviously the direction things would go. I suspect now that was maybe decided to be too "problematic." She's basically now even worse off than where they've left Vision, except with him they didn't even bother to try to follow up on that, even though he has a full download of the original Vision's memories.

[Sumac]

People don't seem to understand one of the themes of this movie is letting go and you can't always 'fix' people.
It makes sense thematically and logically, I mean she is different person after all, but still, I feel like their re-romance with Peter was in the cards at some point.

[neatoman]

So what's the final word on Phylla-Vell and the status of the Quantum Bands... anything? :roll: I mean.. I know she's in the movie, but....

The version of Phyla-Vell in this movie might as well be an entirely original character, as she is a creation of the High Evolutionary. There is no mention of her having any connection to Mar-Vell, Elysius, the Kree, the Titans or the Eternals in general.

[IMJ]

The version of Phyla-Vell in this movie might as well be an entirely original character, as she is a creation of the High Evolutionary. There is no mention of her having any connection to Mar-Vell, Elysius, the Kree, the Titans or the Eternals in general.

Yeah - don't care about any of that, but I get your point. Just care as to what they are going to do with the Quantum Bands and Quasar long-term.... :lol:

I suppose they will clear up in the Marvels whether or not Kamala's bracelets are "nega bands" or "Quantum Bands". I just want to see Wendell Vaughn's Quasar on screen doing cool $#!(. :)

[Andrew NDB]

It makes sense thematically and logically, I mean she is different person after all, but still, I feel like their re-romance with Peter was in the cards at some point.

Maybe they're saving the restoration of that for a "Steve Rogers going through time restoring the gems" movie or project.

[TigerClaw]

Saw it today and it was really good, Its a lot more emotional then the previous movies, Also were you like Ninja Turtle! when The High Evolutionary put in a turtle in the evolution chamber?

[neatoman]

Saw it today and it was really good, Its a lot more emotional then the previous movies, Also were you like Ninja Turtle! when The High Evolutionary put in a turtle in the evolution chamber?

It's possible that's a reference, I don't want to say for sure.

[CyberCubed]

Did nobody else find the characters screaming their lines constantly to be annoying? It would be one thing if only one character did it, but every character did it at some point. Mantis was screaming, Drax was screaming, Nebula was screaming, Gamora was screaming, the main villain was constantly screaming. It was ridiculous.

[Cowabung-Gal]

Did nobody else find the characters screaming their lines constantly to be annoying?.

Like how they constantly scream lines in 2003 TMNT?

[neatoman]

Like how they constantly scream lines in 2003 TMNT?

No? That's a better description of the "humor" in the 2012 TMNT show.

[Shark_Blade]

Did nobody else find the characters screaming their lines constantly to be annoying? It would be one thing if only one character did it, but every character did it at some point. Mantis was screaming, Drax was screaming, Nebula was screaming, Gamora was screaming, the main villain was constantly screaming. It was ridiculous.

I zoned out all of the annoyances. I only really care for Rocket and I was not disappointed by this movie. His scenes with his experimented animal friends are just excellent and heartbreaking.

When Star Lord was stuck in space and his face froze, I really thought he died. I didn’t mind if he dies but he got saved. The ending credit says “the legendary star Lord will return” and I’m like… that’s good for his fans but I want more Rocket tbh.

[Andrew NDB]

Just saw it. Definitely I was pleased. It really had a super tight script with not a lot of fluff and it showed. The High Evolutionary was a compelling villain, too.

[CyberCubed]

I see a lot of people online saying this was like a second Avengers Endgame to them, meaning now that they've seen this conclusion they're done with the MCU again.

I can agree, the last couple of movies before this have all been mediocre to bad (Ant-man 3, Thor 4, The Eternals, Shang-Chi, Doctor Strange 2 to an extent), I'll give Black Panther 2 a pass since unfortunately Chadwick died and the movie itself was pretty decent for what it was. And next Ms. Marvel 2 looks pretty bad as well.

Feels like the MCU is over again, with the only exception being whenever Fantastic Four, X-men or new Spider-man movies come out.

[Coola Yagami]

I see a lot of people online saying this was like a second Avengers Endgame to them, meaning now that they've seen this conclusion they're done with the MCU again.

I can agree, the last couple of movies before this have all been mediocre to bad (Ant-man 3, Thor 4, The Eternals, Shang-Chi, Doctor Strange 2 to an extent), I'll give Black Panther 2 a pass since unfortunately Chadwick died and the movie itself was pretty decent for what it was. And next Ms. Marvel 2 looks pretty bad as well.

Feels like the MCU is over again, with the only exception being whenever Fantastic Four, X-men or new Spider-man movies come out.

Just Spider-Man. You know FF and X-Men will be them in name only.

[sdp]

The MCU as it used to be is dead and it did die after End Game and will never be what it once was. Normies don't care about capesh-t. It was just a perfect storm of things that let the MCU become what it was. It began because Iron Man was a refreshing Superhero movie with Iron Man, it had the benefit of the novelty of a shared universe, smart phones made normies use the internet which made Geek culture pop culture and the cool trend of the decade, guys obviously enjoyed the superhero fantasy and the girls enjoyed the superhero actor's abs. Disney bought Marvel and with their expertise in marketing made it bigger than Marvel Studios alone would've never been able to achieve, it was a new concept to people and the movies were good. It all had a storyline that concluded with End Game which is why people also stuck around for so long, if not it might not have lasted a decade.

The fangirls are now married and or no longer interested in their hunky men since they're old now as well. The kids who grew up with the MCU are now wanting to move on to cooler or more mature stuff. Normies got their fulfillment of what the capesh-t was and won't want to follow. Just making good movies of the same cookie cutter stuff gets boring, Disney no longer has all the good faith it had in the 2010s, geek culture became consoomer culture, and this is going to crash sooner rather than later, the 2020s want their own identity. The new storylines aren't as engaging, it's all a rehash of a rehash as comics have been for decades.

Now fanboys get all upset when you bring this up and will tell you how the movies are still making a lot of money and that Galactus or whatever will change the tide or do mental gymnastics with the meme that capesh-t is actually "different genres". I mean these movies are not going to disappear from one day to another, big name movies or events will still make a lot of money, but it won't be hit after hit and counting how much the movies cost. Once studios/Disney start to see that more and more movies are underperforming (even if they make millions, remember businesses need a big Return of Investment to make the risk worth it) we're going to see less of them. Also things dont' go linearly, you'll see ups and downs but the trend is downwards. It's like those people who dont't understand stocks and can't think longterm. People will blame it on "going woke" or "using lesser known superheroes" but that's not it, things can only be a level of popular for so long.
TL;DR: I have no doubt the next Avengers/Spider-Man/X-Men will do great, that doesn't mean the MCU isn't on a downward trend and it won't recover.

[Andrew NDB]

Nonsense. Sure there is some genuine fatigue but it's largely due to the movies themselves. The ones that have failed objectively haven't been any good, or did anything new with the characters they're supposed to be about. Like how Ant-Man 3 seemingly only exists to put his daughter in the limelight, and Doctor Strange 2 just to gift us Captain Two Moms and nothing else. Looks like they want to do the same with Blade's daughter in the Blade movie, too.

[Xav]

How exactly was Doctor Strange 2 a failure? The film profited 100s of millions of dollars and got generally favorable reviews.

[Andrew NDB]

How exactly was Doctor Strange 2 a failure? The film profited 100s of millions of dollars and got generally favorable reviews.

Oh, it did fine, if lower-than-anticipated numbers. But nobody came out of that movie singing a lot of praises because there's no meat on the bones. Dr. Strange doesn't even have a character arc in the movie, or anything (at best, he kind of misses his ex-girlfriend and we get no pay off of that whatsoever). The movie solely exists to introduce Captain Two Moms because they have big plans for her and that's it.

[CyberCubed]

Doctor Strange 2 is a worse movie since Wandavision series existed D+. They tried to make her sympathetic in the TV series and then the movie just writes her as a one dimensional supervillain. Had the TV series never existed then maybe Doctor Strange 2 would fare better.

It's also odd because it proves all the TV series Marvel made are essentially filler because you can skip them and not miss anything from the movies. Nothing from the series mattered much with how Scarlet Witch was portrayed in the movie.

[Coola Yagami]

How exactly was Doctor Strange 2 a failure? The film profited 100s of millions of dollars and got generally favorable reviews.

So it either broke even or not even that then? People seem to forget that the more a movie costs to make, the more they need to make to make a profit. At this point, every MCU movie needs to break a billion or it's money tossed out the window.

[Cowabung-Gal]

Just saw it.

Was actually really good. Nebula sure has come a long way, definitely one of my favorite Marvel characters now. Not gonna lie, Rocket’s near-death scene got me emotional. My mom cried at least three times throughout the whole movie. :lol:

[Shark_Blade]

Is it wrong that I laughed when Star Lord face bloated, frozen and he supposedly died? I found him obnoxious in the past movies but in this one he’s a bit bearable. I know the guy next to me was shocked when I cheered (like I’m in disbelief, oh we’re really doing this? Ballsy move!) at that scene cause he’s like “oh no!” Lol :tlol:

[Galactus]

So it either broke even or not even that then? People seem to forget that the more a movie costs to make, the more they need to make to make a profit. At this point, every MCU movie needs to break a billion or it's money tossed out the window.

It made $955.8 million on an estimated budget of between $172–200 million. Whatever way you slice it that's a significant profit.

[ranger_scout]

HISE:

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[ToTheNines]

I saw this in 2023 and finally gave it a rewatch. Great movie and very emotional. Couple nitpicks I wanted to discuss:

- I feel like Quill going back to Earth wasn’t built up to properly. The fact that he visited Earth briefly in Endgame is completely glossed over, then they kinda telegraphed that ending for him throughout the movie. I guess him finally getting over Gamora informed his decision, but I kinda liked the idea of him and Nebula ending up together.

Also thought him almost freezing to death in space to rescue his Zune was too much of a retread of Volume 1.

- Loved Rocket’s arc, but why didn’t he kill the High Evolutionary? They framed it as him being of high morality, but it would have been more humane to just kill him rather than let him suffer until he gets blown up.

Unless they want to bring him back, which is feasible because we didn’t actually see the death. The MCU has the same “problem” as Mirage TMNT in that they often times kill their enemies (which they should), so I see the temptation to keep him around because he was a cool villain. But he absolutely deserved to be killed, both objectively and for Rocket’s vengeance.

- The soundtrack didn’t hit as hard as the first 2. I had hoped there would be a bunch of stuff that Yondu would have liked or evoked his memory somehow. I feel like Yondu’s legacy should have been felt a little more. LOVED his quick cameo during Kraglin’s big moment.

- It will feel weird with these characters having roles in Doomsday and Secret Wars with zero involvement from Gunn. He had a ton of input for Infinity War and Endgame. I also wonder what Groot will look like, kinda strange he was so large in the tag.

Also, that’s supposed to be Phyla-Vell?

[KaraiLover09]

I saw this in 2023 and finally gave it a rewatch. Great movie and very emotional. Couple nitpicks I wanted to discuss:

- I feel like Quill going back to Earth wasn’t built up to properly. The fact that he visited Earth briefly in Endgame is completely glossed over, then they kinda telegraphed that ending for him throughout the movie. I guess him finally getting over Gamora informed his decision, but I kinda liked the idea of him and Nebula ending up together.

Also thought him almost freezing to death in space to rescue his Zune was too much of a retread of Volume 1.

- Loved Rocket’s arc, but why didn’t he kill the High Evolutionary? They framed it as him being of high morality, but it would have been more humane to just kill him rather than let him suffer until he gets blown up.

Unless they want to bring him back, which is feasible because we didn’t actually see the death. The MCU has the same “problem” as Mirage TMNT in that they often times kill their enemies (which they should), so I see the temptation to keep him around because he was a cool villain. But he absolutely deserved to be killed, both objectively and for Rocket’s vengeance.

- The soundtrack didn’t hit as hard as the first 2. I had hoped there would be a bunch of stuff that Yondu would have liked or evoked his memory somehow. I feel like Yondu’s legacy should have been felt a little more. LOVED his quick cameo during Kraglin’s big moment.

- It will feel weird with these characters having roles in Doomsday and Secret Wars with zero involvement from Gunn. He had a ton of input for Infinity War and Endgame. I also wonder what Groot will look like, kinda strange he was so large in the tag.

Also, that’s supposed to be Phyla-Vell?

Haven't seen it yet, but I guess eventually will.

I think there was too much real life overlap with people hating Chris Pratt and them not wanting him back with Gamora due to 'toxic masculinity' and blah blah. Like the woke crowd could not put their Chris Pratt hatred aside long enough to see that within the context of the movies, yes it would hurt like a bitch to lose the woman you love and then meet a version of that woman that doesn't love you. It's not as easy as 'oh get over it' just so Chris Pratt's character doesn't 'get a win'.

Also removing Nebula's boobs was just.... weird. Um... take that male gaze I guess? At least for me, I was never really looking at Nebula that way even when she had boobs.

[Andrew NDB]

The Star Lord Gamora stuff is fairly baffling. All that lead up in 1 and 2 and then now here's a version of Gamora that doesn't know him again. I'd love to hear what went on with all of that behind closed doors. Did Feige insist on killing Gamora over Gunn's wishes? And the Gamora plucked from earlier in the timeline sticking around was the compromise? Between the "soul" of original Gamora seen still in that Infinity Gem and all it seemed like there was a plan to reunify her memories but it never happened. I wonder if the controversy at Marvel would be that the "new" Gamora is surely her own person, so filling her head with the old one's memories would be tantamount to some kind of invasion of her autonomy? Probably something stupid like that.

[ToTheNines]

I dunno man. Everyone wanted them to end up together again. I think Gunn just wanted to subvert expectations.

I don’t think her soul is ever coming out of that gem. They made a point to show it was impossible to bring Natasha back, even with the complete gauntlet. I don’t think they want to cheapen Thanos’ or Natasha’s sacrifices.

As for the new Gamora. She never lived through the events of the first two movies and her instinct was to just run away. She made her own way in the world and Quill had to accept that.

But they’re both still alive. Anything could happen.

[Andrew NDB]

They made a point to show it was impossible to bring Natasha back, even with the complete gauntlet.

They told us that but they didn't show us that. What happened when Steve visited that planet to return the stone is still something we have no idea about.

[neatoman]

Oh don't worry about whether or not they will ruin the Natasha thing, they'll probably ruin it by making a clone they'll pretend is the same as the original, they did that in the comics.

[ToTheNines]

They told us that but they didn't show us that. What happened when Steve visited that planet to return the stone is still something we have no idea about.

Very good point. Fun to think about him putting them all back, especially the Soul Stone.

[Andrew NDB]

Very good point. Fun to think about him putting them all back, especially the Soul Stone.

And him -- of course -- running into the Red Skull. Surely we have to get this at some point?