WMG / Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

Beware of Spoilers from the previous Guardians of the Galaxy Films, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, and The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special in this thread!

As a WMG subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.

---

Pre-Release

Who will die in Vol. 3

James Gunn have a tendency of killing off a Guardian in GOTG movie (example: Original Groot in Guardians of the Galaxy and Yondu Udonta in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2) and since this movie is going to be very emotional than first two GOTG movie, someone will die in Vol. 3, so who will die in this movie?

• Drax, as he lacks any purpose since his only purpose, other to provide comical moments, was to kill Thanos but Tony Stark already beat him in Avengers: Endgame.
  • Dave Bautista has been quite blunt on leaving the role, ever since Gunn was initially fired. It would be more of a plot twist, if Drax actually survived this film.
  • In one of the trailers, in what appears to take place during a prison breakout scene Drax is shown to be celebrating while a character a couple of feet away who appears to be a guard can be seen holding a large gun right behind him for a split second. A few scenes later, in the same setting, Drax now has a significant chest injury showing through his uniform, requiring Mantis and Gamora to keep him up.
• Rocket Raccoon, due to being the sole Guardian to have never died before, though given how the trailer hints at him being the Guardian who kicks the bucket, perhaps it's trying to mislead us?
• Nebula, maybe pulling a Heroic Sacrifice if Gamora comes into any harm.
• Alternate Past Gamora. The Variant of Gamora will sacrifice herself to bring the original Gamora lost in Avengers: Infinity War.
  • Zoe Saldaña has also admitted her desire to stop playing the role. Namely over her desire to portray a wider range of roles and her skin suffering from the make-up for Gamora.
• Kraglin
• Peter Quill
  • Quill dies and is reunited with the Orignal Gamora in the Afterlife.
• Groot, whose death will bookend the trilogy and lead to Groot the III.
• Cosmo. Because the film needs to show how cruel and apathetic the High Evolutionary truly is.
• Mantis. Everybody assumes she is safe, as she is still considered a new hero. But her death would reinstate that Anyone Can Die in the MCU. Plus, they can bring Pom Klementieff back as a Mantis Variant.
• Nobody. James Gunn will subvert any main crew death and give them appropriate send-offs in a way that doesn't interfere with the main MCU conflicts and to pave the way for newer members of the guardians. This would also allow any of these previous characters to occasionally return. If there are any new characters introduced that are of importance, they will probably be featured in flashbacks to indicate that they are no longer alive.
  • Confirmed!
• All of the Guardians. They will pull a huge Heroic Sacrifice together.

Gamora will seek out the Watchers to find out more about her dead counterpart's life.

And they end up giving her the memories of her Variant, allowing her to effectively 'live on' through her.

• Jossed.

Ayesha will become the Big Bad.

Given that it's revealed in a post-credits scene that Ayesha is plotting her revenge on The Guardians of the Galaxy, she will likely be sending her creation, Adam Warlock, to stop them while planning on killing as revenge for humiliating them.

• She aid the High Evolutionary, but is only a supporting character in Vol. 3.

Adam Warlock will be a Kid from the Future.

In the future, the Sovereign will rule most of the universe under his guidance as "Magus". However, there will be some cataclysm that he comes back in time to stop. In the end, he realizes the Sovereign aren't exactly good guys and averts the future he came from, maybe by crushing his cocoon in the present day. With his birth now an impossibility in our timeline, he becomes a point with no true chronological origin, rendering him Immune to Fate. Worried about the implications, he'll find a way to bring Thanos back to balance him out.

• Jossed.

Casting Choices for the voice of Wal Rus if he appears in Vol. 3.

• Ed Helms
• Zach Galifianakis
• Justin Bartha
• Jamie Hyneman
• Justin Long
• Billy West
• Ed O'Neill
• John DiMaggio
• Reggie Lee
• Kevin Michael Richardson
• Masi Oka
• Eric Bauza
• Michael Che
• Sean Schemmel
• Dave Coulier
• All Jossed. Asim Chaudry will play a version of the character, now called "Teefs".

Ship/Aurora will appear in Vol. 3.

Aurora will either be an A.I. of the Guardians' ship a la the cartoon, or a Sapient Ship like in the comics. If she's the latter, she'll turn out to have originally been a Celestial, which got turned into a ship by the Master of the Sun who's also a Celestial here. It'll be revealed that she and Peter had history some time between being captured boy the Ravagers and stealing the Orb from Planet Morag.

• Jossed.

Drax's daughter, Moondragon, will appear

What better way to end the character's story (since Dave Bautista won't be returning after this one) than having him learn that his daughter is still alive and sacrificing himself for her?

• Jossed. But she is mentioned by Drax in the film.

Adam Warlock will return in Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars.

Adam Warlock is a character that has a lot of potential in the MCU, Adam played a very important role in the stories of The Infinity Gauntlet and Avengers: Infinity War, but in the MCU, Adam was not part of the stories from Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. So after Warlock is officially introduced in the third Guardians of the Galaxy movie, maybe Adam Warlock will play a big role in Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars.

• Possibly, as James Gunn confirmed that part of Will Poulter's casting, was from Marvel needing a younger actor, for future appearances in the MCU.

This will be the end of Guardians of the Galaxy.

According to James Gunn, this will be the last movie in which we will see the Guardians of the Galaxy together, it is likely that the Guardians will retire, die or separate and it will be the last time we will see the team together.

• Mixed. End of the current lineup, not team.

Alternatively, it's the end of this exact lineup, with one or several members being replaced.

• Gunn has previously said that the third film would be the end for it's current line-up. This could mean that Marvel plans to reboot the team in the future.
• Confirmed! The new lineup is Rocket, Groot, Kraglin, Cosmo, Phya-Vell, Adam, and Blurp.

The planet of Humanoid Animals was the creation of the High Evolutionary.

From the little we know and saw from the first Trailer, maybe the planet that is inhabited by the humanoid animals, where the Guardians of the Galaxy land, maybe the Humanoid Animals were created artificially by the evil High Evolutionary, where he would combine the DNA of humans and animals from planet Earth in a species very similar to humans and perhaps Humanoid Animals have a relationship with the origin of Rocket, since perhaps Humanoid Animals were the last creation of the High Evolutionary to create intelligent animals.

• Related to this, Rocket will hail from Counter-Earth rather than Halfworld.

• Confirmed. However, Rocket never got the chance to live on Counter Earth

Casting choices for Lylla.

It is already confirmed that we will see Lylla and she will be part of Rocket's origin story, so it would be interesting to think about who will do the voice of Lylla.

• Lady Gaga
• Daisy Ridley
• Daniela Melchior
• Linda Cardellini
  • Confirmed.

High Evolutionary will receives Adaptational Backstory Change

James Gunn has made it very clear that he doesn't want other humans in Guardians movies as he want Quill to be Token Human in otherwise a movie about aliens. So unlike his comic counterpart whose real name is Herbert Wyndham and was an English biologist from 1930s, MCU High Evolutionary will be full-on alien.

• Confirmed. While the High Evolutionary's backstory is never fully explained, he mentions of visiting Earth, meaning he is not a human.

Adam Warlock will get a different power as a result of Adaptational Superpower Change

In the comics, Adam Warlock is the bearer of Soul Gem that grant him an ability of souls but since MCU Infinity Stones are destroyed by Thanos in Endgame before Adam can use Soul Stone, he will instead get a different power to show that he's powerful but different from his comic counterpart.

• Adam's powers remain mostly the same, however he doesn't use magic or manipulate energy in the film. In addition, his healing powers are implied, but are never seen on screen.

Nebula will try to get Gamora and Peter back together during the film.

Because she misses the woman her sister used to be, Nebula believes that having Peter and Gamora become an item again will make everyone happier. Whether or not she succeeds has yet to be seen.

• Jossed.

Ayesha will have a Redemption Equals Death moment.

She will still start off using Adam to get the Guardians, but seeing that High Evolutionary is a greater threat, she will help them fight him and end up getting killed.

• Jossed, but she does die. However, the allies of the High Evolutionary do qualify for the tropes. His 2nd in command lead a failed mutiny.

Possible potential members to be the new Guardians of the Galaxy.

In Vol. 3 will be the last time we see the original Guardians team, so we would need new members to replace the original Guardians of the Galaxy team.

• Adam Warlock
• Lylla
• Cosmo
  • Implied to be a member in The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special.
• Bug
• Richard Rider/Nova. But instead of being a human like in the comics, he will be one of the last living xandarians following Thanos' attack on Xandar. Maybe even THE last Xandarian
• Moondragon
• Captain Sale
• Wal Rus
• Notably jossed for Layla and Wal Rus\Teefs, but Confirmed for Adam & Cosmo.

The High Evolutionary will be Rocket's Arch-Enemy in this film.

Specifically, he was the one who created and experimented on him many years ago, which Rocket resents to a great degree. It would make Rocket's lines about being "tired of running" from the trailer make sense.

• Confirmed!

Possible Halfworlders of the High Evolutionary's experiments.

• Wal Rus
  • Confirmed, with the character's named changed to 'Teefs'.
• Blackjack O'Hare or Lepain
  • While neither charcter appears, Floor the Rabbit is likely a Composite Character for both Rabbits.
• Dyvyne
• Judson Jakes
• Lepain
• Pyko
• Sale

The movie will explain why Rocket collects prosthetics, and it won't be funny.

• Undetermined. James Gunn has since stated that Rocket's relationship with prosthetics is "complicated".

Cosmo will be "genetically altered" during the events of the third installment.

Cosmo's voices actress, Maria Bakalova, revealed she did motion capture for the third filmThis implies that Cosmo won't entirely be played by an actual dog. The High Evolutionary will capture Cosmo and alter her into a Humanoid/Bipedal form like Rocket.

• Jossed.

Groot and possibly other Flora Colossus will be revealed to be speaking with an Elective Broken Language

Groot (Jr.) will unexpectedly use proper English in third installment, revealing that he has been able to do so, since his birth in first film. Groot (and potential other Flora Colossus) just prefer using "I am Groot".

• If other Flora Colossus can speak other languages, this would explain why Groot (Sr.) was able to say "We are Groot".
• Jossed. Groot still speaks normally until the end of the film, when he says "I love you guys!". Word of God is that this is because the audience has bonded sufficiently with Groot to finally understand him.

The Original Gamora's death will be undone and rendered a Disney Death.

Much like the comics, Gamora's Soul will leave the Soul World and the character will be resurrected in the third installment.

• Jossed. The original Gamora is still dead.

The screaming goats from Thor: Love and Thunder are one of the High Evolutionary's failed experiments.

Namely, they were his first attempt at making Mix-and-Match Critters between animals and humans, only for him to abandon them when they wouldn't stop shrieking no matter what he did to them.

The High Evolutionary will try to barter with Nebula

The High Evolutionary will offer Nebula the chance to restore her to pre-cyborg self.

• Jossed.

Eros will cross paths with his "nieces", Gamora and Nebula. And it will be a Family Disunion

Despite being "The Brother to Thanos", Eros has yet to interact with any of Thanos's "family". When their paths do cross, both sisters will hold Eros countable for not interfering with Thanos's past massacres, their abductions and for Thanos efforts to obtain the Infinity Stones.

• Jossed.

Peter and Gamora will not get back together

This version of Gamora is very clearly different and may not have the same interests as her counterpart. Accepting that she isn't the woman he fell in love with will be part of Star-Lord's arc for this movie.

• The theme for third installment appears to be about "letting go". Peter has to accept that his version of Gamora is gone.

Confirmed.

Starlord and Nebula will become an official Crack Pairing

The joke at the end of the recent trailer, is actually foreshadowing them as a couple.

• Jossed.

Adam Warlock will go by simply 'Adam' for most of the film, acquiring his last name along with something modeled after his Jim Starlin-era very glam rock-inspired later costume as part of his Heel–Face Turn when Peter wins him over with The Power of Rock.

Indeed, Adam may only get both in a post-credit stinger, showing off his new duds and declaring to Peter that he is now 'Adam Warlock', with Peter showing his approval of both choices.

• Another possiblility will be a case of Accidental Misnaming. Adam will refer to both his name and role as "Adam. Warlock". Somebody foolish (most likely Drax) will view this as his name, "Adam Warlock". Adam won't correct it and the name sticks.
• A third possibility is that Adam won't gain his surname for awhile in the MCU (similar to the long process of Wanda becoming the Scarlet Witch). Adam will eventually come to Earth and enroll at Kamar-Taj. During his stay on Earth, the academy will award him with "Warlock status", which becomes his surname, as he lacks one.
• Jossed. He only goes by Adam as a name, but also has "the Warlock" as a title, and uses it separately from his name (eg. "I'm the Warlock" but not "I'm Adam the Warlock"). At least in this movie, he's only Adam Warlock on the cast list.

Mantis will access her untapped Celestial Powers.

It would make sense that Mantis has untapped Celestial powers as she is the daughter of Ego, and her past role as "The Celestial Madonna" in the comics.

• Not sure if this could happen now though, given that Peter lost his Celestial powers after Ego died, meaning the same must apply to Mantis as well.
• Mantis having celestial powers could have been the basis of a now scrapped GOTG themed episode of ''What If...". Marvel allegedly had to scrap this story, as the episode had accidentally matched the final act of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
• Jossed, but her antennas do glow white during the movie, much like Peter glowing with Ego's power in Vol 2....

Bucky's robotic arm will be a Chekhov's Gun for the third installment

While Bucky's arm may initially come off as a silly Call-Back joke, it could be vital in the third installment, with someone donning the arm in the final battle against the High Evolutionary.

• Jossed.

Adam Warlock will have a Heel–Face Turn

Despite being created by Ayesha as well as being sent by her on taking down The Guardians of The Galaxy, he doesn’t know that The Guardians we’re actually trying to save everyone in Vol.2 when Ego was trying to kill them as well as everyone.

With him appearing in the film as well as once one of The Guardians encounters or the other way around, it could be highly likely that he will pull off a Heel–Face Turn on helping them stop The High Evolutionary.

• Semi-Confirmed. Adam does turn good, but not until the end of the film, when he saves Star-Lord in space.

Ayesha will have a Heel–Face Turn

Despite wanting revenge on The Guardians of The Galaxy for humiliating her as well as creating Adam Warlock on taking them down, including thinking they are still treason for stealing the batteries, she doesn’t know that The Guardians we’re actually trying to save everyone in Vol.2 when Ego was trying to kill them as well as everyone.

With her appearing in the film as well as once one of The Guardians encounters her or Adam encounters her, it could be highly likely that she will pull off a Heel–Face Turn on helping them stop The High Evolutionary, as well as likely sacrifice herself to save everyone including her creation.

• She will show care for her creation before she sacrifices herself.
• Jossed.

Rocket will finally stand up to The High Evolutionary

Because of how it is heavily implied at least that The High Evolutinary is the reason why Rocket became a lethal jerkass criminal, it can be highly likely that once Rocket has a chance, he will stand up to The High Evolutionary for abusing him his whole life.

• Confirmed.

The High Evolutionary will be defeated and killed

Because of how he, along with Ronan, and Ego was nothing but a control freak jerkass, it is highly likely that he’ll be defeated and be killed by Rocket for good.

• The High Evolutionary is defeated and likely dies during the collapse of his spaceship. Despite the High Evolutionary's supposed death, Rocket actually refuses to kill him.

Theories over The Stinger for the film:

• Peter reunites with the Quill family on Earth.
  • Mixed. It happens as one of the last scenes in the movie. But the 2nd stinger features Peter eating breakfast with his Grandfather.
• The Collector and the Grandmaster make a visit to The Beyonder.
• Drax's daughter (Moondragon) is still alive.
• A Guardian meets an Asgard named Aldrif...also better known as Angel.
• Adam goes to Earth and becomes a student at Kamar Taj.
• The collector's cacoon finally breaks open and reveals a future version of Adam Warlock. This future version was put in the cacoon in the "past" via time travel (Avengers: The Kang Dynasty).
• The film's stinger will not tease anything (like Iron Man 3) but serve as a funny epilogue.
• The Eternals cross paths with the Guardians and/or Ravagers.
  • Guardians cross paths with S.W.O.R.D.
• Nova is teased.
• Skrulls make another cameo.
• The incursion from the Teaser Trailer in The Marvels appears in space and/or the Guardians get caught in one.
• The original Guardians of the Galaxy from the comics will appear.
• The Guardians are hired to save a planet from Galactus.

I am Groot.

• We are Groot
• I am Groot: I AM Groot. I am groot: “I love you guys.” I am GROOT.

Post-Release

There is nothing special whatsoever about Rocket's brain

The real reason he was able to advance so much was because of his connection to the other test subjects, which allowed him to develop on his own instead of instead of according to The High Evolutionary's ideas. The reason that The High Evolutionary could never replicate this is because Evil Cannot Comprehend Good.

• It's probably worth noting that his test subjects are placed in conditions that couldn't be more antithetical to creativity if he tried: empty cages and a testing regime overseen by a Control Freak followed by a meticulously planned society he destroys if it diverges from his design, and when his creations make a videogame he dismisses it as derivative of others immediately. It's possible his subjects are perfectly capable of creativity and it's just stifled, ignored, or exterminated; the reason he acknowledges it in Rocket is because Rocket bested him.
  • We can arguably see this with Ayesha of The Sovereign. She deliberately created Adam Warlock who is a Flying Brick and more or less a Super-Soldier. This would take at least some level of creativity and inventiveness, but it's ignored.

Rocket is The Legendary Star-Lord

Peter seems very happy just living his days out on Earth, Rocket seems to be very happy taking over his role, and the "Legendary" prefix does tend to make the prefixes used to differentiate certain Legacy Characters such as "The Mighty Thor" and "The Superior Spider-Man"

Several Guardians will die in either in Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and/or Avengers: Secret Wars

Much similar to Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, none of the Guardians actually die in the film. However, this may have been a deliberate choice to keep them alive until the fifth and six Avengers film. This would be similar to how Gamora was almost killed off in Vol.2, but her death was delayed to Avengers: Infinity War for story purposes.

Drax and/or Gamora will be recasted or remain written out in future MCU properties.

Both Zoe Saldaña and Dave Bautista have expressed that Vol. 3 will be their last Guardians/Marvel film (namely because of the makeup process and their wishes to pursue other work). Marvel could recast either roles with new actors or they may indefinitely keep said characters out of the main story arcs, with Drax raising the High Evolutionary's children and Gamora leading the Ravagers. Marvel could also bring either actor back, on the condition that their characters are killed off.

• Both Saldana and Bautista expressed interest in Gamora and Drax being subject to The Other Darrin in the future, so the former option is a possibility.

Kraglin mastering the Yaka Arrow was left over from Endgame.

A very common piece of trivia for Avengers: Endgame was that Kraglin was originally present in the final battle and one deleted scene was a dogfight in which we saw him using Yondu's Arrow. With Endgame having a sense of closure for several characters and story arcs, it’s likely that Kraglin will have mastered the Yaka Arrow and would have used it as opposed to a gun.

Love and Thunder reveals that Kraglin is still really bad at the Arrow. It’s likely that Gunn's plan was for him to perfect the Arrow in Vol. 3 through Yondu encouraging him and told the Russos such.

This was not the reason Kraglin's scene in Endgame's finale was cut, but it’s likely Gunn would have vetoed him using the Yaka Arrow.

"Lyla" in the heaven sequence is the One-Above-All disguising themselves as Lyla to communicate with Rocket.

The language Lyla uses in the latter part of her talk with Rocket is far to formal and impersonal for a friend talking with an old friend. This, paired with the fact that "she" is telling him about the purpose he still serves on Earth, suggests that "she" might know more than she's letting on.

• Maybe it isn't a disguise. In the comics, it is made clear that the "One-Above-All" is a collective self-insert of the writers, artists, editors, and other people involved in comic production. In the case of the films, Lyla can have become a part of One-Above-All and served as a self-insert for the Director, James Gunn. She tells Rocket that her and Teefs and Floor have moved on to another place, but that he needs to be around for the rest of his life before he could join them, as a metaphor about James Gunn going to be the head of DC's films as he leaves the Guardians trilogy finishing on a high note that reveals it all to have been an entire trilogy about Rocket as he finds his new found family.

The High Evolutionary isn't an Evil Genius. He's a Tech Bro CEO.

While the The High Evolutionary advertises himself as one of the greatest scientists in the universe we never actually see him doing science of his own. He's there micromanaging Rocket's procedure, but he doesn't really get his hand's dirty. He's smart enough to teach him advanced mathematics, but soon Rocket surpasses him when he finds the flaw in his evolution pod. He has a giant team of underlings who do the calculations and physical labor for him. He has a suit that gives him gravity powers, but he could have just paid some grunt make it. He manages t create an entire planet of animal people, but it fails to be the perfect society he advertised and then blows up the planet instead of putting in the work to fix it. Time and time again we see the High Evolutionary pull stupid moves or let his ego get the better of him, often punished his underlings for the sin of pointing out that his ideas are irrational and are either impossible or pointless. All he really is is the intergalactic Elon Musk; a nepo-baby who convinced everyone and himself that he's an Omnidisciplinary Scientist wo singlehandedly uplifted everyone else with his super-brain, when all he does is come up with ridiculous proclamations and forces all of his underpaid engineers to make it work.

Thanos' grunts were all Orgocorp products.

As clever a leader Thanos is, can you really call him scientifically minded enough to have been the one to make all of his tech all by himself? Do you think he just got off a ship all by himself, kidnapped a few scientists and demanded they build him an evil factory to mass produce the Chitauri and the Leviathans? No. Thanos is the last known survivor of a planet, which probably means that what remained of the wealth on Titan afforded him resources necessary to pay Orgocorp to manufacture an army for him. Thanos pays the High Evolutionary to provide disposable soldiers for his campaign of "balance", Orgocorp gets a big chunk of annual blood-money to fund High Evolutionary's no-doubt expensive pet-projects. The Chitauri are cyborganic grunts who all operate on some sort of hivemind, implying that they were all artificially made, and the Gorillas from Endgame looks an awful lot like the Evolutionary's grunts when Knowhere attacks his ship in Vol. 3. It's even likely that when Thanos's forces leave a planet with half its dominant lifeforms exterminated, Orgocorp swoops in to take test-subjects and other resources like vultures to the carcass, no doubt hiding their true intentions under the veneer of humanitarian aid.

Counter-Earth is the world of Zootopia.

I'm sorry, everyone.

• And also the world of Beastars, as well as The Berenstain Bears.
• And the Evergreen Forest. Gotta do something with those raccoons.
• And also Chicken Little, though if the High Evolutionary had heard about Oakey Oaks or the Fantastic Racism in Zootopia and Beastars, he'd have obliterated Counter-Earth a lot sooner.

High Evolutionary cut his own face off

Rocket couldn't have peeled his entire face off in the time he had with the tiny claws, but HE getting angry at any facial reconstruction not being sufficient and literally cutting off his own nose to spite his face and prefer a mask seems in character.

Nebula wasn't annoyed or angry at Peter flirting and looking at her...

... she's actually being Tsundere because she actually DOES like Peter too. She's just not sure of herself yet or thinks romance is not her priority right now. Or even thinks with the kind of person she was, she thinks she doesn't deserve love yet.

Peacemaker is in the MCU to some extent.

According to Gunn here, the bald eagle seen on the High Evolutionary's ship wasn't a reference to Eagly, it was Eagly. Now exactly how DC characters can exist in this universe when Eternals had two references to their universe as a work of fiction is a different question.

• No question at all. The DC multiverse *has* all of the DC comics within it already. Harley Quinn collects her own series. A major villain (who has even caused a crisis event), Superboy Prime, literally became a villain in the first place because, as a life-long fan of the comics, he didn't like any of the newer interpretations of the characters that he met once he found himself inside of DC comics. The same is true of any Marvel comics, which are legal documents in court for She-Hulk in the comics.

Pyko Is The Uplifted Turtle.

The uplifted turtle seen and killed for being violent is the MCU's version of Uncle Pyko. Though obviously do to his short life he never got named, become a inventor or get called uncle.

Sequel Theories

Lylla, Teefs and Floor will all return as multiversal variants

In the comics, both Lylla and Wal Rus (Teefs' inspiration) were Rocket's occasional adventuring buddies, with Lylla even being the heiress to a successful toy entrepreneur. Drawing inspiration from those portrayals of the characters, Lylla, Teefs, and Floor can all return through the multiverse, with the possible add-on of them joining the Guardians in the future.

• One good way to do this would be to have Blackjack O'Hare appear, and then later be revealed to be a Floor variant with numerous upgrades, possibly one whose Rocket died.
• Another Blackjack O'Hare theory is that the experiment that became Floor in the Sacred Timeline received the more advanced upgrades of Batch 89, and some differing sequence of events led to that timeline's Rocket (if he chose that name) betraying the rest of the batch, embittering the once sweet rabbit.
• Theory for a timeline in which Lylla survives but is a bit closer to the Sacred Timeline than Blackjack's: the for-want-of-a-nail is that Rocket sees the High Evolutionary's ambush coming, but only just soon enough to shove Lylla aside and take the blaster bolt that was meant for her. The High Evolutionary is furious at the loss of 89P13 but decides to dissect and examine 89Q12's brain as a backup plan. Lylla ultimately escapes, but Teefs and Floor are killed amidst the skirmish as normal.

Star-Lord will die for real in a sequel story - on screen

Just as Tony Stark/Iron Man (who was the de facto leader of the Avengers) died on-screen during Avengers: Endgame, Star Lord is slated to die leading a hero team against a future foe.

Star-Lord being on Earth is how the Guardians of the Galaxy will be involved in the fight against Kang

Star-Lord will hear about the Avengers fighting Kang and will call the Guardians both old and new to join the fight.

Moondragon will be the main adversary of the new team's next outing, whenever and whereever that may be.

Although frequently an ally of the team/the Avengers in the comics nowadays, Moondragon got her start as a villain/morally ambiguous character who was just as likely to be the one trying to take over the universe as she was to be fighting to save it.

Moondragon is one of the High Evolutionary's other test-children, who he performed more advanced tests on to try and "enhance her beyond common capabilities".

This way, Drax is still her "father", and it would explain her powers. She might even be one who was closer to the High Evolutionary, similar to how Rocket was in his youth, and her taking on some of his personality traits would lead to her comics-accurate sense of perfectionism and competitiveness with others in her adulthood. ^note Though this retcon would definitely complicate her comics relationship with Phylla, though this could be hand-waved by saying that Phylla working with Rocket/the new Got G means she sees them as family more than Drax and the other children.

• Her real name could also still be Heather, with Drax naming her after Heather Langenkamp, whom Peter mentioned to the team at some point as "a badass who fought a murderer with knives on his glove" (with Drax not understanding that she's an actress like with Kevin Bacon.

The new team will become the MCU's equivalent to the Infinity Watch post-Secret Wars, cleaning up after whatever cataclysm that movie creates.

Star-Lord will have his own Disney+ series

J'Son of Spartax will be an antagonist, but in the MCU continuity, he will be Peter's brother instead of his father, having been conceived by Ego. Ego impregnated his mother knowing that the Spartoi Empire could prove useful for providing resources for him, so Ego buttered J'Son up to stay on his good side. After learning that Peter killed him and robbed him of his Celestial powers, J'Son tracked him to the ends of the Galaxy. At the end, Peter and J'Son team up against a common enemy, and the latter gets killed. In his dying moment, J'Son gifts Peter the Element Guns.

The High Evolutionary LIVES

Highly farfetched but this is one of those villains that can NOT be a one-time use. Given the scientist's unfettered attitude, he would've found some way to survive like a makeshift escape pod. His next suit would be more akin to the comics, leaning on the metallic silver and reddish colors.

• According to Word of God, Confirmed. The High Evolutionary was rescued by Drax and is currently imprisoned on Knowhere.

Rocket's Guardians will next appear in a cameo in Avengers: The Kang Dynasty or Avengers: Secret Wars

They won't really get any focus though, not even getting any lines. It would be for the sake of demonstrating the scope of the threats being dealt with.

The High Evolutionary will return in either Avengers: The Kang Dynasty or Avengers: Secret Wars

They wouldn't confirm THE's survival if they didn't have some plans for him in the future. Given that there are currently no plans for future Guardians of the Galaxy films, it's only logical to save a villain of his scope and popularity for the next Avengers films. If so, he'll be recruited by either Kang or the Council of Kangs and serve as a Dragon with an Agenda looking to hijack their plans for the multiverse.

Mantis will next appear in James Gunn's DCU

In the comics, Mantis was created by writer Steve Englehart, originally appearing in The Avengers in the early 1970s. When he left Marvel Comics and moved over to DC, where he wrote classic Batman stories such as "The Laughing Fish" and "Strange Apparitions." However, in the pages of Justice League of America, Englehart also introduced the character Willow... who was obviously Mantis by another name.

Similarly, with James Gunn moving into a key creative executive role in the new cinematic DCU, and with the end of the movie having Mantis leave the team to explore the universe, who's to say her travels won't take her to another multiverse?

Will we be able to understand Groot from now on?

According to WordOfGod, Groot's last line is an indication that we the audience can now understand him. Will they have Groot's lines translate for us in future works, or will they keep his "I am Groot" for RuleOfFunny?

• Alternatively, most of the time when we focus on Groot and his closest allies, we will hear him speak normally. And then on occasion, we'll shift to the perspective of a confused outsider who is just hearing "I am Groot".

The High Evolutionary will be brought back to introduce Mr. Sinister

With the High Evolutionary being several hundred years old and having been to Earth in the past, there is a chance he ran across Nathaniel Essex, who is better known as Mr. Sinister. Both have interests in evolution and genetic alterations. However, (much like in the comics) they are not on friendly terms. While the High Evolutionary strives for creatures with the "perfect" evolution, Mr. Sinister desires to genetically alter Humans and Mutants. The High Evolutionary will be brought back to reveal Mr. Sinister's origin, but will now serve as the lesser of the two evils compared to Mr. Sinister, just to perfectly show how more evil Mr. Sinister is.