'Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3' Didn't Influence How 'Avengers: Endgame' Ended
Avengers: Endgame concludes with a pretty clear set-up for what might happen in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. It's so explicit, in fact, that you might assume Guardians mastermind James Gunn played a big part in shaping how Endgame would lead into his sequel. But that's not what happened. According to Endgame directors Joe and Anthony Russo, they haven't even read Gunn's script, and were given the freedom to do whatever they wanted.
In a new interview with the podcast Happy Sad Confused, the Russo Brothers continue their "let's explain everything that happened in our movie!" tour by delving in the connections between Endgame and the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Specifically that there are no connections.
Many, myself included, assumed that Endgame's conclusion – in which the Guardians and Thor team up, presumably to go look for Gamora – was meant to influence Guardians 3. But that's not the case – at least according to the Russos. That's not to say that set-up won't be used in the film, but the Russo Brothers contend that they were never once told to have their ending lead directly into Guardians.
The filmmaking siblings say that Kevin Feige runs Marvel Studios under a "one movie at a time" rule – he wants every single movie to have the freedom to become whatever it wants. I'm going to call bullshit on this – I don't buy it. Marvel absolutely has their future movies in mind when making something else. I'm sure Feige allows for some wiggle room, and is okay with the filmmakers not remaining rigid. But to say that they completely ignore films to come is clearly not true.
That said, the Russos add that they haven't even read James Gunn's Guardians 3 script, simply because they haven't had the time (they've been a bit busy, in case you haven't noticed). So what happens if the Endgame ending paints Gunn's movie into a corner? They're not concerned. Because they think that James Gunn is smart enough to get himself out of that corner.
With all this in mind, is it safe to assume Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will have some of the narrative threads set-up at the end of Endgame? I'm going to go out on a limb and say yes. It would be too jarring to have those elements in place at Endgame's conclusion and not follow through with them at all. We're just going to have to wait and see how it all pans out. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 doesn't even have an official release date, and likely won't start shooting until next year. So you might want to hunker down for a long-haul if you're dying for answers.