We can all relax: none of the Guardians died this time around - although, I was worried for Rocket for a minute there, and I was definitely caught off guard by Peter's grisly near-death experience retrieving his Zune.
Instead, James Gunn's trilogy-closer tugged at the heartstrings by splitting the Guardians up. Peter returned to Earth after Gamora rejoined the Ravagers, Drax and Nebula are helping to assimilate everybody they rescued from the High Evolutionary on Knowhere as Mantis heads out on her own solo adventures, whilst Rocket and Drax put together a new Guardians line-up.
Everybody survived, but the Guardians of the Galaxy as we have known them are no longer. So, is this really the last we'll see of them, or should we expect a grand MCU return?
The Legendary Star-Lord Will Return
We'll start by going to the very end, after Gunn has made us sit through ten minutes of credits just to watch Peter and his granddad bicker about mowing the lawn over breakfast. This doesn't hold any Easter eggs about the character's future in the MCU, although it does directly tie back to the events of the Holiday Special, with Kevin Bacon on the cover of the newspaper Peter's granddad is reading, giving an exclusive interview about Drax and Mantis kidnapping him.
But then, we get the surprise title card closing out the scene: "The Legendary Star-Lord Will Return." With no future Guardians projects announced, this will likely prompt audiences to ask one question at the screen - "where?"
It makes sense that they'd want to keep Chris Pratt's fan favourite character firmly within the universe, but I suspect it will be a few years before we see him in action again. If he does choose to stay on Earth, then he's in a good position to join the Avengers for The Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars, if needed - although, considering he triggered the cataclysmic events of Infinity War, this might not be for the best.
Guardians 2.0
But then, having already fought alongside the Avengers, the same could be true of the Guardians' new leader Rocket and Groot. The first post-credit sequence shows us that our favourite motormouthed raccoon has taken the reigns of the team, who have been given a significant makeover.
Not only is Groot a giant again, but they're joined by Kraglin (Sean Gunn), the villain-turned-hero Adam Warlock (Will Poulter), and Phyla (Kai Zen), one of the young children the team saved from the High Evolutionary. Cosmo the Space Dog has also joined them, even though the film's ending sees her stay in Knowhere, a sign that this mid-credits stinger takes place some time after the movie's conclusion.
So, whilst we don't get confirmation as to if and when we'll see this new super team again, there is a clue in the form of Phyla, if you look back to the comic books.
Phyla-Vell was the daughter of the original Captain Marvel, Mar-Vell (who Annette Benning played a variation of in Captain Marvel), and eventually became Captain Marvel in the comics.
This is a particularly intriguing character introduction, although it's important to remember she also went by the monikers Quasar and Martyr, and within the source material, remained an integral part of the Guardians line-up. Basically, this means that it's safe to assume this iteration will not be Captain Marvel Jr, considering how drastically Captain Marvel departed from the comic book interpretation of Mar-Vell.
Even though her origin story has likely been transformed completely to fit within this universe, there are ways she can help the team slot into future stories. The obvious one would be The Marvels, the next MCU outing to arrive in cinemas, but I doubt it - it seems unlikely Marvel would re-introduce them immediately after we've said goodbye.
Plus, only Star-Lord, and not the wider Guardians team, has been promised to return, so expect nothing concrete about the rest of the gang until further down the line. However, and stay with me here, there could be another way in which they're welcomed back into the fold.
Blurp
Let's turn back the clocks to an Empire interview James Gunn gave last month, where he boldly proclaimed that “Probably the most important character to the Marvel Universe going forward is Blurp." But was this just a gag, saddling the MCU with a silly character whilst he made his way over to DC?
Well, Blurp can be glimpsed with the new look Guardians in that first post-credits sequence as their new mascot/pet joining them on adventures. Gunn seemed convinced that the furry l'il guy would stick around for phases five and six, so maybe he wasn't entirely joking when he told the film magazine that: “He’s a great character and offers a lot to the Guardians universe.”
So, if we take Gunn's word at face value, Blurp will be central to Marvel going forward - which, in a roundabout way, seems to confirm that the new Guardians line-up will also remain within the fold. Or, it could all just be an elaborate joke to keep himself amused as he prepares to make Superman: Legacy, we'll find out in due course.
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