Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 Cast Didn't Have To Play Pretend In One Emotional Scene

This post contains major spoilers for "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3."

With the recent box-office disappointments of "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" and DC's "Shazam! Fury of the Gods," worries of "superhero fatigue" amongst mainstream audiences are stronger than ever — and yet the hype for "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" is real. Nine years ago, 2014's "Guardians of the Galaxy" offered something refreshing and new amongst the Marvel Cinematic Universe formula, and in 2023, during an even more aimless phase of the MCU, "Vol. 3" feels especially unburdened by its peers.

One can argue that even though they were born to service the greater MCU, the "Guardians" trilogy ultimately belongs to writer-director James Gunn, who is now one of the most important names in the comic book film industry since Kevin Feige himself. From Gunn's perspective, it was never just about superheroes. "It's a space opera. A family drama... I felt like movies were getting a little repetitive," Gunn explained in a feature for Rolling Stone, "and you needed a science-fiction epic that was colorful and bright, what 'Star Wars' was to me when I was 11. Instead of a Chewbacca and a C-3PO, it was a talking tree and a gun-wielding raccoon."

As Gunn moves onto bigger things at DC Studios, "Vol. 3" serves as one big farewell to the flawed found family that stole our hearts and a victory lap for Gunn's time working within the MCU. And for the actors that make up our Guardians, those goodbyes felt very authentic. In the Rolling Stone feature, Nebula actress Karen Gillan explained that for the whole cast, filming the pivotal grand finale moment hardly felt like acting.

"There's a scene towards the end of the film that's somewhat of an ending-of-an-era scene," Karen Gillan said. "And everyone was crying in the scene. When you see it, just know that none of us are actually acting. Like, everyone was very emotional. It did feel like a goodbye. And it felt real."

Indeed, all of our beloved Guardians thankfully survive The High Evolutionary's (Chukwudi Iwuji) wrath and live to see their home base on Knowhere once again. James Gunn has emphasized before that it's not always necessary to kill off characters in order to achieve an authentic emotional response, and that really comes to mind here as he delivers on the main promise for "Vol. 3" — this is the final chapter for our Guardians, and in the film's closing moments they must go their separate ways.

First off, Gamora (Zoe Saldaña), or rather, the alternate-universe Gamora from "Avengers: Endgame," is forging her own path. At the beginning of the film, it's established that she has formed a family relationship with the Ravagers. And while she comes to admire Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) and the bond between his gang of misfits over the course of "Vol. 3" — in the end, this Gamora is not the one the Guardians knew, and her heart belongs with other people. Saldaña said she has covered her ground with the character, and if we do see Gamora in the future, she personally hopes the role would be recast. Safe to say, Gamora's grand exit feels definitive.

Throughout the entirety of "Vol. 3," Peter's survivor's guilt over the people he's loved and lost begins to weigh on him — and Mantis (Pom Klementieff) starts to question why he has never returned to Earth to reconnect with his grandfather ever since his abduction? There's a whole universe of people out there that are willing to love you, if you open yourself up to it. In the final moments of "Vol. 3," Peter takes that lesson to heart and announces to his fellow Guardians that he's going back to Earth.

Similarly, Mantis decides it's time for her to break away from the group as well. Her whole life, she was a servant to Ego the Living Planet (Kurt Russell) and then devoted her life to the Guardians as a unit — at the end of "Vol. 3," Mantis embarks on a journey of self-discovery, along with the three Abilisks monsters she befriended.

Nebula and Drax (Dave Bautista) decide to stay on Knowhere together and raise the experimented children that they saved from The High Evolutionary. It's a fitting, and healing endpoint for both of these characters, as Drax gets to once again become the father he was meant to be, and Nebula gets to nurture a positive home that she never got to have.

Finally, Peter makes Rocket (Bradley Cooper) the new captain of the Guardians in his absence. James Gunn once said Rocket is the "secret protagonist" of the trilogy, and this entire film solidifies him as one of the most nuanced characters the MCU has to offer. Gifted with Peter's Zune, our Guardians take their respective exits as Florence + the Machine's "Dog Days Are Over" highlights the overwhelming emotional catharsis.

And just like that, the misfit characters we've been following for over a decade are finally on their way to finding their own individual peace and purpose. The Guardians of the Galaxy, as we know it, have officially disbanded, all just with one conversation in a bar in Knowhere. Just like James Gunn's best work, it's a scene that is bursting with sincerity and overwhelming, complex emotions.

As much as we love the group dynamic and could watch Mantis and Drax go back and forth forever, in the end, this is a film about Gunn bookending his characters and laying them to rest on his own terms. Sometimes love, whether romantic or familial, means having to accept the reality of parting with one another one day.

As Karen Gillan puts it, this scene hardly felt like acting in the moment because the love between the cast is real. When Gunn was famously fired from "Vol. 3," the entire lead cast signed an open letter to have Gunn reinstated on the project. For everyone involved, the "Guardians of the Galaxy" franchise has been a deeply personal project and the bonds they've forged as characters and as scene partners have been immortalized on film.

Perhaps "superhero fatigue" exists, but I get the sense that audiences are searching for something real as well.