By George Bate & Josh Bate
WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 has been out for a week in theaters, meaning it’s about time to discuss spoilers, including the film’s post-credits scenes. A staple of MCU films at this point, mid-credits and post-credits scenes often tease what’s to come with a given film’s characters, end the film on a final joke, or a bit of both. Let’s take a look at the two post-credits scenes in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
Mid-Credits Scene
The mid-credits scene follows the events of the film in depicting a new crew of Guardians. Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper) is the captain leading Groot (Vin Diesel), Kraglin (Sean Gunn), Cosmo the Spacedog (Maria Bakalova), Adam Warlock (Will Poulter), and Phyla-Vell (Kai Zen). For those unfamiliar, Phyla-Vell is a character from the comics who is seen earlier in the film as an experimental subject of the High Evolutionary.
In typical Guardians of the Galaxy fashion, the team cue up a song before going to battle. Fittingly, Rocket’s choice of music here is “Come and Get Your Love” by Redbone, which is the song Peter Quill danced to at the beginning of the first Guardians of the Galaxy film.
James Gunn has made it clear Vol. 3 is the end of his tenure in the MCU and, in turn, the ending of the Guardians team as we know it. That being said, the Guardians team, as this scene hints, is unlikely to be retired. If a Vol. 4 comes to fruition, it will likely feature the team members from this mid-credits scene with a few additions.
Post-Credits Scene
The post-credits scene, meanwhile, features Chris Pratt’s Quill and has a neat reference to The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special. Quill is back on Earth, eating breakfast with his elderly grandfather played by Gregg Henry. Quill’s grandfather is reading a newspaper that references Kevin Bacon being abducted by aliens, a reference to the aforementioned Holiday Special and some of the antics by Nebulla and Drax in that MCU special.
Quill and his grandfather exchange some banter over breakfast, debating why (or why not) a neighbor’s adult son can’t mow his mother’s lawn. Any deeper meaning to the scene is perplexing, although it is followed by a tag saying, “The Legendary Star-Lord will return.”
This post-credits scene in conjunction with the team implied in the mid-credits scene suggests that Chris Pratt as Quill will return, but in a project separate from Guardians of the Galaxy. Given the team’s dissolution at the end of Vol. 3, it makes sense that characters go their own ways and chart new paths free of the team they once bonded over.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is now in theaters. Check out our review below: