Right now, Marvel Studios is staying vague about their plans beyond 2019, but one movie that’s definitely on the way, despite all the drama that’s unfolded around it, is Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
The firing of Jame Gunn last July proved a major setback for the sci-fi threequel, not least because the recently reinstated filmmaker has since signed on to direct The Suicide Squad. Once the DC flick’s out the way, it’s currently expected that Vol. 3 won’t begin production until early 2021, making a 2022 release seem likely at this point. That’s a far cry from the May 2020 release that the movie was reportedly scheduled for before Gunn was kicked off the project, but in an interview with io9, Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige just seemed glad to have him back.
“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,” Feige said. “But thankfully [James Gunn] is back and he’s doing it and all is right with the world.”
Given the interconnectivity of the MCU, some have wondered whether the delay of Vol. 3 has required some rewrites of the film, but according to Feige, this isn’t an issue.
“I don’t think so,” the producer said. “I mean we were prepping a movie and then stopped prepping that movie when that happened. So that, obviously, naturally, delayed the film. In terms of storyline, the answer is ‘I don’t think so.’ Unless James comes back and says ‘Hey I learned this thing. I want to try this thing’ or adapts his script that he’s already written.”
While it was previously rumored that Gunn was supposed shepherd the cosmic end of the MCU before his firing, Feige has since stated in an interview with CinemaBlend that this claim was “slightly blown out of proportion.” Sure enough, Feige’s latest comments suggest that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is being treated more like a standalone outing than a universe-changing entry that sends ripples through the rest of the franchise.
In any case, there’ll be plenty of time for further details on Gunn’s upcoming film, but in the meantime, the director is getting an executive producer credit for Avengers: Endgame, which is expected to see the return of several Guardians when it comes out on April 26th.