Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (stylized as Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3) is a 2023 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 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 was written and directed by James Gunn. It stars an ensemble cast featuring Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, 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 premiered at Disneyland Paris on April 22, 2023, and was 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 Saldana 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); Saldana 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.
Sean Gunn as Kraglin Obfonteri: A member of the Guardians and Yondu Udonta's former second-in-command in the Ravagers.
Chukwudi Iwuji as the High Evolutionary: A scientist specializing in evolution who seeks to forcibly enhance all living beings into a "special race".
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.
Maria Bakalova as 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.
Sylvester Stallone as Stakar Ogord: A high-ranking Ravager.
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. Also slated to appear in the movie is Lylla, an anthropomorphic otter who is an associate and love interest of Rocket.
Release
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 had its world premiere at Disneyland Paris on April 22, 2023, and its North America premiere at Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California on April 27. It was released in the United States on May 5. The movie was previously set for release on May 1, 2020, before it was dropped from that date. It is part of Phase 5 of the MCU.
References
Marvel Cinematic Universe movies
2023 movies
2023 superhero movies