Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 has finally hyper-jumped into theaters, and we’d be hard-pressed to find a better sendoff for Marvel’s favorite found family. From the nerve-wracking sense of mortality to the high-octane space battles and everything in between and beyond, the final trial of the Guardians delivered exactly what it needed to deliver.
Of course, this is a Marvel movie, so audiences can only enjoy the actual film for so long before shifting to thinking about what could be coming next, but to the credit of both audiences and Vol. 3, the film’s two post-credits scenes have given us quite a lot to look forward to.
Warning: Spoilers for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 to follow.
What happens in the first post-credits scene?
With the Guardians, all alive and well, having disbanded after rescuing all the prisoners from the High Evolutionary, Rocket remains as the new leader of what appears to be the next iteration of the team. As the new squad gears up to defend a village from stampeding aliens, we see that it consists of veteran members Rocket, Groot, Cosmo, and Kraglin, as well as newcomers Adam Warlock, his adopted alien pet Blurp, and Phyla, a former prisoner of the High Evolutionary.
The existence of a new Guardians team would be enough to look forward to alone, but the surprise addition of Phyla is an especially interesting nuance. It’s not until the first mid-credits scene that we learn of her identity or the fact that she has superpowers, and given the character’s close comic ties to Captain Marvel, which seem to be honored in the MCU by way of the Captain Marvel-esque abilities she displayed in the scene, we could be seeing her again very soon given that The Marvels is the next film on the MCU docket.
What happens in the second post-credits scene?
Peter Quill’s departure from the Guardians saw him make a long-overdue visit to Earth, where he seeks out his still-healthy grandfather. Following the pair’s heartfelt reunion, we’re treated to a rather quaint scene of Peter sitting at the table with his grandfather, the former eating a bowl of cereal while the latter reads about Kevin Bacon’s abduction by aliens in the newspaper; a cheeky nod to The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special.
Free from having to deal with maniacal scientists and other Guardian-specific grievances, Peter engages in mundane conversation with his grandfather, discussing neighbors and their lawnmowing logistics of all things; indeed, we don’t think there’s been a more-deserved break to date.
However, the scene ends with large, screen-wide text declaring that Star-Lord will return in future MCU projects, so this isn’t the last we’ve seen of the former Guardians gaffer. It’s near impossible to say exactly how he could come back into the fold, but given that we’ve spent most all of our time with him in space, it would be infinitely interesting to see how he handles more Earth-centric adventures without the Guardians or the Ravagers at his side.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is currently playing in theaters.
