Breaking Down the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Post-Credits Scenes
And what they say about the characters' futures in the MCU
Warning: This post contains spoilers for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is a heartwarming goodbye for Marvel’s beloved superhero group. At the end of the movie, we see each member of the team decide to venture out on their own path. Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), their leader, makes Rocket (Bradley Cooper) the new leader of the Guardians after the former decides to spend more time with his maternal grandfather. Nebula (Karen Gillan) and Drax (Dave Bautista) agree to stay back on Knowhere and run the city to help with all of the kids they saved from the High Evolutionary’s (Chukwudi Iwuji) ship. Gamora (Zoë Saldaña) rejoins the Ravagers, and Mantis (Pom Klementieff) tells the group that she wants to decide her own fate and go off on her own for a while. Groot (Vin Diesel) sticks with Rocket and finally says his first actual words: “I love you guys.”
[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]
But before Quill returns to Earth, he hands Rocket an iPod with playlists from different decades. Rocket scrolls down to the 2000s playlist and starts playing “Dog Days Are Over” by Florence + the Machine. As the song plays, the civilians of Knowhere, the kids, Groot, Drax, and Rocket, start a dance party in the street. At the same time, the Guardians, as we know them, disband. Although this movie marks the end of the original Guardians, with no future Guardians movies on Marvel’s upcoming slate, viewers did get a hint of what the future looks like for the group members—old and new—in the two post-credit scenes.
Here’s what happens in the mid- and post-credits scenes after Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
Read more: What to Remember Before Seeing Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
What happens in the mid-credits scene?
The mid-credits scene shows Rocket and Groot in a desert with the newest iteration of the Guardians of the Galaxy. The group, which now consists of Kraglin (Sean Gunn), Cosmo the Spacedog (Maria Bakalova), Adam Warlock (Will Poulter), and Phyla-Vell (Kai Zen), are seen waiting as a horde of aliens approaches a desert village. Rocket plays “Come and Get Your Love” by Redbone, a full-circle way to close out the trilogy, as that song played at the beginning of the first movie.
Phyla-Vell is one of the most peculiar characters in this new gang of heroes, and her presence certainly raised some eyebrows for Marvel superfans. In the comics, Phyla-Vell is the offspring of the Kree warrior Mar-Vell and a super-scientist named Elysius and uses Quantum Bands (which were nodded to in Ms. Marvel on Disney+).
In Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, it seems this character is a creation of the High Evolutionary who was trying to build the perfect life form. Her future in the MCU is still uncertain. But it makes sense that she was introduced here before her role in The Marvels later this year alongside Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel, Teyonah Parris’ Monica Rambeau, and Iman Vellani’s Kamala Khan.
What happens in the post-credits scene?
The post-credits scene seems a bit more innocuous than the mid-credits scene, but there’s a small Easter egg that eagle-eyed viewers will catch. Viewers see Quill enjoying some quality time with his grandfather (Gregg Henry), and they are having a conversation over breakfast. Grandpa is reading a newspaper, and one of the headlines reads: “Alien Abduction: Kevin Bacon Tells All.” It’s a fun nod to The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, where Mantis and Drax abduct Kevin Bacon from Earth to bring to Quill to cheer him up on Christmas.
After the scene, the words “Star-Lord Will Return” are the last text to appear on the screen. It’s still unclear how Quill will be making a return to the MCU; Marvel promises he will be back. Pratt told GamesRadar+ that he’s open to returning to the MCU as Star-Lord. As for the other Guardians, Saldaña told the Hollywood Reporter that this is “the end for [her] as Gamora,” and Bautista also gracefully bowed out when he appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, “With Drax, I got to end the perfect way.” He said, “I would never sign up for another job as Drax just to get a paycheck. I would tarnish that [perfect ending], and I won’t do it.”