Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 (2 Viewers)

[Sean Bryan]

I loved it.

 

[jayembee]

We loved it as well. Loved the Kingo poster in one shot in L.A. And noticing that one of the presents in the animated section was addressed to "TazrFace". And Nebula's gift to Rocket.

Also got kick out of The Pogues' "Fairytale of New York" opening and closing the special, although Gunn cleverly passed over the middle of the song, where the male and female singers get nasty and refer to the other as a drunk or an old slut on junk.

I'm curious about Groot looking like a guy in a rubber suit. Maybe they didn't have the budget to fully CGI both Rocket and Groot.

And Kraglin was rockin' that "mohawk".

 

[Jeff Flugel]

That was a whole lot of fun.

 

[Sam Favate]

Regarding the supposed retcon in the special relating to two of the characters, apparently there is sufficient reason to believe Gunn always planned this.

Spoiler

 

[Sean Bryan]

Regarding the supposed retcon in the special relating to two of the characters, apparently there is sufficient reason to believe Gunn always planned this.

Spoiler

It works for me.

Spoiler

Ego had a lot of children that he sought out and tested to see if they could wield his power. I can easily buy that while Mantis couldn’t do it, she was special enough so that she at least survived the attempt unlike the others. So Ego kept her. And as she said, she was embarrassed of that connection and worried about what Peter would think of her given his history with Ego.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I would not consider this plot point to be a retcon. Presenting an audience with new information they didn’t previously have isn’t really a retcon.

A retcon is when you tell an audience that something they’ve seen firsthand from an objective point of view didn’t happen as they saw it happening before their very eyes. The first Spider-Man trilogy is often cited as being the easiest example to explain. In the first Spider-Man film, we see one character kill Uncle Ben. In the third Spider-Man film, the same murder is shown again, now with a different character committing the crime. We’re told what we saw with our own eyes the first time around didn’t actually happen. That’s a retcon.

Merely saying “this is something about a character we hadn’t told you about before” isn’t a retcon; that’s character development.

 

[Sean Bryan]

I'm curious about Groot looking like a guy in a rubber suit. Maybe they didn't have the budget to fully CGI both Rocket and Groot.

I don’t love Groot’s new/current look, but I don’t hate it either. It may be more of just needing to get used to it. I never thought he looked like a man in a suit, although I think I could see how you would see that because of how he is wider and not as elongated. But he is a different Groot than the adult Groot from the first movie, so his fully grown form may be this different, more squat shape. Or maybe this is still just another in between form. Or maybe he has some choice in his outward appearance as he matures, and this version living closely with a humanoid family during his formative years May have influenced his growth to look more like Peter and Drax.

 

[Sean Bryan]

I also wanted to add that I really like the new status quo of the Guardians.

Before the first film came out I read a run where they were based out of Knowhere and Cosmo was part of the group, so it’s fun to see the films bringing us there.

It’s great that this was so much fun, especially because the final movie is supposed to be pretty heavy.

 

[jayembee]

I would not consider this plot point to be a retcon. Presenting an audience with new information they didn’t previously have isn’t really a retcon.

Actually, it is. "Retcon" is short for "retroactive continuity", i.e introducing new information that changes what you think you know about the continuity. Since the term was first introduced into the Usenet comics newsgroups back in the day, it's been used to mean either (a) altering the information that you were given previously, or (b) presenting new information that alters what was previously thought to be true.

So, from the beginning of the MCU, we'd been under the assumption that Iron Man was the first super-hero. Then, in Ant-Man, we found out that Ant-Man and the Wasp preceded Iron Man by a few decades. Then, in Captain Marvel, we found out that Fury knew about Carol Danvers and the Kree in the 1990s. Then, in Eternals, we found out there have been super-powered beings on Earth for millennia. All of these are retcons as much as the Spider-Man example you gave.

By the by, in the comics, Mantis was human.

 

[Josh Dial]

"Ohhh...I'm gonna get that arm."

He did!

This was fantastic. I loved every second of it.

"GoBots killed his cousin" might be the funniest line in the entire MCU.

 

[Jeff Flugel]

I really enjoyed the special, and this isn't really any complaint about the special itself, but more about the general direction that James Gunn has taken the character of Drax. He's been transformed from a literal-minded yet noble, grieving husband-and-father, as he was depicted in the first Guardians movie, into a complete buffoon from Vol. 2 on. Obviously, some of this has to do with taking advantage of Bautista's facility for comedy, amply demonstrated in the first film, and building on that...but I wonder if I'm the only one who is slightly disappointed with how Drax's character has been dumbed down, to the extent that he now seems relegated to mere comic relief.

Don't get me wrong...I found the Drax-and-Mantis "space toddlers on a rampage" shenanigans in the Holiday Special very funny...but personally, I think that's probably about as far as we need to go in that direction. I hope that Gunn brings back some of the seriousness and gravitas Bautista displayed in the first film for Vol. 3 - at least for key dramatic moments.

 

[Sean Bryan]

I watched this twice this weekend, and I’ve probably watched the opening song and the song at the finale four or five more times on their own. This is just so good, and just what I and many others need this time of year. I think I may watch it each weekend through December since it flies by.

I also really liked the soundtrack. Gunn did it again with a great choice of music, which isn’t surprising.

I also can’t help but think about how Disney screwed up so epically by over reacting and firing Gunn when they did. We’re fortunate that they at least came to their senses to bring him back for Volume 3 (and by extension The Holiday Special) but that’ll be it for Marvel. At least it worked out well for him now that he’s running DC Studios, and hopefully he’ll be able to inject more heart and joy into those films.

 

[Joe Wong]

Spoiler

By the way, in the GotG holiday special, is that Mark Hamill sitting by himself, drinking? Would be a nice throwback to the Star Wars Holiday Special!

Edit: it’s not him.



Edit 2:

 

[Wayne_j]

Is this the first time a DC character was specifically named in an MCU movie? If so makes sense that it was put in by the now president of DC films.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Is this the first time a DC character was specifically named in an MCU movie?

Eternals mentioned a DC character - can’t recall if it was Superman or Batman.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Eternals mentioned a DC character - can’t recall if it was Superman or Batman.

You're right. It was Superman.

I think Gunn doing this was a coincidence. The special had certainly been completed before Gunn was hired for the DC job.

 

[Joe Wong]

Also, Iron Man 3 mentioned the Super Friends, which is a team based on DC's Justice League.

Super Friends - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Jake Lipson]

"From director James Gunn":

 

[Josh Dial]

Once again, Marvel creates an amazing trailer.

Just from the few scenes shown, it looks like it's going to be an emotional conclusion to this trilogy.

 

[Sam Favate]

Wow. This is one of my most anticipated movies of recent years. To say I’m looking forward to this is an understatement.