‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’ crybabies tear up over their own idiocy after believing a brutally misleading trailer moment

Warning: The following article contains spoilers for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

Seeing that Marvel likes to keep its cards close to its chest, those desperate to crack the plot of an upcoming film have to put on their Sherlock hats and piece together a story based on the few snippets served in the form of trailers and teasers. But for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 die-hards, this particular tactic has backfired big time as they forgot the MCU is infamous for telling massive lies in its trailers — either by keeping scrapped scenes or presenting sequences in a way that significantly alters the ultimate truth. 

So, we were all looking forward to finally witnessing Rocket’s painful past that had been teased on multiple occasions. We knew it wouldn’t be a pretty picture, but the inclusion of Lylla, the anthropomorphic otter, in the trailer gave many hope since she and Rocket are seen hugging each other with joy. Also, James Gunn had already confirmed that Rocket Raccoon was going to be the protagonist of Vol. 3. This combined with the fact that Lylla is his girlfriend in the comic books led many to conclude that Rocket’s story won’t be all tears, that there is space for romantic love in his life after all.

This is one of the rare occasions where we like to plan elaborate murder schemes for those advocating an optimistic view in life because anyone who has seen the film knows how this scene is the opposite of hope. Crushing our hearts and making it hard to breathe would be the right description if anyone is asking. 

But some are finding it hard to gulp down the betrayal…

In the film, this particular scene, set in the past, is followed by the High Evolutionary killing Lylla in cold blood in front of Rocket. His goons then shoot down Floors and Teef as well, leaving an enraged Rocket to claw out his tormentor’s face, kill everyone in sight, and make a run for his life all alone. 

Yes, the MCU keeping the Guardians around till Vol. 3 was torture on another level, but Gunn did us dirty by stamping down on our feelings like this.

I for one was quietly sobbing during this scene, only to switch to bawling my eyes out when I noticed everyone else in the theater was wiping tears too. But evidently, that barely scratched the surface of how much heartache Gunn managed to cause by alluding to a happy reunion and instead scarring us for life. 

The harsh truth, ladies and gentlemen. 

Because Gunn pitching us to the darkest pits of sadness isn’t enough, one decided to give us a whole new reason to sob about it. 

I don’t know about others but I certainly held out hope even after this scene. Seeing that these poor animals had survived cruelties of all kinds and banking on the High Evolutionary’s greed to get Rocket back, I was hoping Lylla would be revived and suddenly make an appearance, in the flesh, to hug her “friend” once again. But that afterlife scene… safe to say, Gunn crushed what remained of my severely dented heart. 

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is currently in theaters.