Now that James Gunn is back in charge of Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3, things are looking up for the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s bunch of cosmic a-holes. The filmmaker will return for the threequel once he’s finished directing DC’s The Suicide Squad, which is currently pulling together its cast of reprobates, which might lead you to think that the wait for Guardians 3 will be a long one. But according to The Hollywood Reporter, cameras could begin rolling on Vol. 3 in 2020 – months before The Suicide Squad’s August 2021 release date.
To be clear, The Suicide Squad will still shoot before Guardians 3 – which was originally due to film in 2019 before Gunn was ousted from the MCU over historic offensive joke tweets. But with the script already written, it seems the wheels will begin turning pretty swiftly on the team’s third outing. “I won’t say specifically [when Guardians 3 was coming out] but I will say we’re delaying when the film would have originally been,” Kevin Feige said in April. “But thankfully [Gunn] is back and he’s doing it and all is right with the world.”
As for when Guardians 3 will be set, we’re not yet sure. Guardians 2 was a direct sequel to the first Guardians, and hinted at a set-up for the third film involving fan-favourite comics character Adam Warlock – and with several years in the timeline between Guardians 2 and Infinity War, Guardians 3 could easily take place in the intervening gap. However, the conclusion to Avengers: Endgame also teased a tantalising potential set-up, with Thor leaving his Asgardian monarch duties behind to board the Guardians’ ship instead, and Star Lord hoping to track down the nine-years-ago-Gamora now let loose in the present day.
For the moment, we don’t have a release date for Guardians Of The Galaxy, Vol. 3 – Marvel hasn’t yet confirmed any of its slate beyond June’s Spider-Man: Far From Home. Depending on how late in 2020 it plans to shoot, we could be seeing Guardians 3 in 2021 or 2022.
