Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 Footage Reaction: Star-Lord And Gamora Share A Moment [CinemaCon 2023]
James Gunn may now be orchestrating the future of DC — he's got a full slate ahead of him, and he's directing the first of them, "Superman: Legacy" — but he's still personally invested in Marvel for a little while. The filmmaker is set to wrap up the trilogy that he kicked off almost a decade ago with "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3," which arrives six years on from its predecessor thanks to his firing over controversial old tweets, the COVID-19 pandemic, and Gunn's work on "The Suicide Squad."
Set following the events of last year's Disney+ TV special "The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special," the third and final film finds the Guardians — Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), Drax (Dave Bautista), Nebula (Karen Gillan), Mantis (Pom Klementieff), Groot (Vin Diesel), Rocket (Bradley Cooper), and Kraglin (Sean Gunn) — building a new life on Knowhere. But after Rocket's past comes back to haunt him, the Guardians are forced into a new mission.
Of course, there are other dangling threads to deal with along the way. Though Zoe Saldaña returns as Gamora, this is not the one who was a member of the Guardians — she died in "Avengers: Infinity War," if you remember. Instead, this Gamora is the one who time-traveled to the future in "Avengers: Endgame." Meanwhile, thanks to their actions in "Vol. 2," golden High Priestess Ayesha (Elizabeth Debicki) wants vengeance on the Guardians, and has created — as shown in a "Vol. 2" post-credits scene — Adam Warlock (Will Poulter) to exact it.
Still, Rocket is the heart of the third "Guardians" film and its "secret protagonist," according to Gunn. And given this is the end of this Guardians squad, expect some of them to die. Marvel Studios brought "Vol. 3" to CinemaCon 2023 in Las Vegas — where /Film's Ben Pearson is in attendance — and gave us more footage. Here's what was shown.
The third and final album
The Guardians are back, baby, and that includes Gamora (Zoe Saldana), or a version of her at least. In the footage shown at CinemaCon, the audience got to see a heartfelt reunion between Gamora and Star-Lord (Chris Pratt). The scene opens with everyone floating out into space in colorful spacesuits, headed towards a small planet in the vastness of the stars. They land on a spongy surface on the planet and Gamora and Star-Lord start to talk quietly. She doesn't remember him because that was a different Gamora (thanks to the magic of multiverses), and he desperately hopes to help her get close to him the way the old Gamora was. He tells her that even though she doesn't remember, the other Gamora was everything to him, and "I miss you so much." He thinks that maybe, just maybe, if she can open up a little bit, she can find a way to love him.
In a moment hearkening back to the "pelvic sorcery" interaction in "GOTG Vol. 1," when the original Gamora was almost charmed by Star-Lord and his Walkman but recognized she didn't want to catch feelings, this Gamora replies with "I don't think so." It's emotional, and a deeply vulnerable moment for poor Peter, but the other Guardians are quick to make things funny again. They interrupt to inform Peter and Gamora that they've been on an open line of communication the entire time, and everyone heard everything. Yikes. Drax, Mantis, and Nebula comically bicker about the communication options on the suits but Peter is furious that they didn't warn him that he was spilling his heart on a public line sooner. Nebula, non-plussed, tells him they thought they would let it end "organically."
"Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3" hits theaters Friday, May 5, 2023. It is the final entry in James Gunn's "Guardians" trilogy and the second chapter of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Phase Five.
Up next are "The Marvels" with Brie Larson, Teyonah Parris, and Iman Vellani in November 2023, "Captain America: New World Order" with Anthony Mackie, Tim Blake Nelson, Shira Haas, Liv Tyler, and Harrison Ford in May 2024, "Thunderbolts" with Sebastian Stan, Hannah John-Kamen, Wyatt Russell, Florence Pugh, David Harbour, Olga Kurylenko, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus in July 2024, and Mahershala Ali-led "Blade" in September 2024.