When does ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’ take place in the MCU timeline?

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is due to warp into theaters in just a few weeks, and this is going to be one adventure that’s packed to the brim with some tearjerking goodbyes; to James Gunn, who’s jumped the Marvel ship for DC, to the Guardians trilogy, which has been perhaps the greatest success story in comic book film history, and to some of the Guardians themselves, which seem to include anyone but the obvious red herring of Rocket Raccoon, according to some fans.

Indeed, Vol. 3 will no doubt end up being a capstone moment in the MCU timeline; unfortunately, that timeline is about as cohesive as wet soap, making the exact question of when such a capstone moment will take place a lot more tricky than it needs to be.

Luckily, we eat tricky questions for breakfast.

When does ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’ take place in the MCU timeline?

Dissecting the specifics of the MCU timeline is something we’ve thought about quite a bit; so much so that we’ve put together an infinitely more precise watch order than what Disney Plus may pitch to you.

And during this particular dissection, it became clear that The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, which we know for sure comes before Vol. 3, takes place in December 2025, or roughly two years after the events of Avengers: Endgame.

This would likely put Vol. 3 somewhere in the middle of 2026 as far as the MCU timeline goes. Our other benchmark is the film’s fellow 2023 release Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, which clearly takes place in the spring/summer months judging by the weather of the film’s outdoor scenes; it’s perhaps a shaky judgement call given that the Ant-Family lives in the always-sunny California, but given that Quantumania is definitely the less crucial of our two benchmarks, it’s one we feel safe making.

Going back to Vol. 3, we doubt Marvel would get too crazy with its time skips in the current context of Phase Five, and given Gunn’s previous assertion that Vol. 3 takes place, and we quote, “now,” it’s no far stretch to imagine that the Guardians’ swan song takes place between March and August of 2026.

Of course, given the non-linear, multiversal, time-travel-centric shenanigans that will no doubt permeate the lifeblood of the Multiverse Saga before long, it’s just as safe to say that any and all timeline tracking might start to lose its legs as we look ahead to The Marvels, season two of Loki, and beyond. Nevertheless, the fans demand answers, and we’re happy to oblige.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will release to theaters on May 5.