Title: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Content: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (marketed as Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3) is an upcoming American superhero movie based on the Marvel Comics superhero team Guardians of the Galaxy. It is produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The movie is intended to be the sequel to Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) and the 32nd movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The movie is written and directed by James Gunn. It stars an ensemble cast featuring Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldaña, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Will Poulter, Elizabeth Debicki, and Sylvester Stallone. In the movie, the Guardians embark on a mission to defend the universe and protect one of their own. == Schedule == James Gunn said in November 2014 that he had initial ideas for a third movie in the series, and announced his return to write and direct in April 2017. Disney fired him from the movie in July 2018 following the resurfacing of controversial posts on Twitter. However, the studio rehired him by that October and reinstated Gunn as director. Gunn's return was publicly revealed in March 2019, with production resuming after Gunn completed work on his movie The Suicide Squad (2021) and the first season of its spin-off series Peacemaker (2022). Filming began in November 2021 at Trilith Studios in Atlanta, Georgia, and lasted until early May 2022. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is scheduled to be released in the United States on May 5, 2023, as part of Phase Five of the MCU. == Cast == * Chris Pratt as Peter Quill / Star-Lord: The half-human, half-Celestial leader of the Guardians of the Galaxy who was abducted from Earth as a child and raised by a group of alien thieves and smugglers called the Ravagers. * Zoe Saldaña as Gamora: An orphan who seeks redemption for her past crimes, and was adopted and trained by Thanos to be his personal assassin. The original version of Gamora, a member of the Guardians, was killed by Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War (2018). However, she returned as a younger version of the character who travels to the present in Avengers: Endgame (2019); Saldaña reprises the latter role in this movie, now serving as the leader of the Ravagers. * Dave Bautista as Drax the Destroyer: A member of the Guardians and a highly skilled warrior whose family was slaughtered by Ronan, under the instructions of Thanos. * Karen Gillan as Nebula: A member of the Guardians, a former Avenger, and Gamora's adoptive sister who, similarly to her, was trained by their adoptive father Thanos to be his personal assassin. * Pom Klementieff as Mantis: A member of the Guardians with empathic powers, and Quill's half-sister. * Vin Diesel as Groot: A member of the Guardians who is a tree-like humanoid and the accomplice of Rocket. * Bradley Cooper as Rocket: A member of the Guardians and a former Avenger who is a genetically modified raccoon bounty hunter and a master of weapons and military tactics. The movie completes a character arc that was established in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017), and continued in Infinity War and Endgame. * Will Poulter as Adam Warlock: A powerful artificial being created by the Sovereign to destroy the Guardians. * Elizabeth Debicki as Ayesha: The golden High Priestess and the leader of the Sovereign people. In that role, she had Adam Warlock created to destroy the Guardians. * Sylvester Stallone as Stakar Ogord: A high-ranking Ravager. Additionally, Sean Gunn reprises his MCU role as Kraglin Obfonteri, a member of the Guardians and Yondu Udonta's former second-in-command in the Ravagers, while Chukwudi Iwuji will appear as the High Evolutionary, a scientist specializing in evolution who seeks to forcibly enhance all living beings into a "special race". Maria Bakalova voices Cosmo the Spacedog, a member of the Guardians who is a sentient dog that developed psionic abilities after being sent into space by the Soviet Union. Gunn changed Cosmo's gender from male, as depicted in the comics, to female for the movie. This was made as a tribute to the character's original inspiration Laika, a Soviet space dog who became one of the first animals in space. In addition to voice acting, Bakalova provided motion capture for the character. Cosmo was previously portrayed by dog actors Fred and Slate in the first two Guardians movies and The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (2022), respectively. Michael Rosenbaum reprises his MCU role as Martinex, while Daniela Melchior and Nico Santos are cast in undisclosed roles, with Melchior's part said to be a small role. Callie Brand will appear as an alien. == Release == Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is scheduled to be released on May 5, 2023. The movie was previously set for release on May 1, 2020, before it was dropped from that date. It will be part of Phase 5 of the MCU.