A Huge Bombshell Just Dropped For Guardians Of The Galaxy 3

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 might not even have a release date yet, but as the stars of one of the most beloved film series in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the ragtag team of reluctant space heroes continues to attract a lot of buzz. Disney fired and rehired the property's helmsman, director-screenwriter James Gunn. Groot voice actor Vin Diesel previously let slip that some of the Guardians may feature in Thor: Love and Thunder. There have even been rumors about Stranger Things star Dacre Montgomery appearing in the film as Adam Warlock. Gunn himself has also stated that the upcoming Guardians movie concludes his vision for the team, which means that Guardians of the Galaxy 4 may never happen. 

Clearly, Guardians 3 carries a lot of hype for a movie that'll likely be out sometime in 2022 or 2023. However, Gunn recently managed to send yet another round of shivers down fans' spines by insinuating that the third installment in the Guardians of the Galaxy series may have even more impact in the MCU than we've previously dared to believe. Let's take a look at the huge bombshell the director just dropped for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

While answering some fan questions on Instagram (via ScreenRant), Gunn was asked whether a character would die in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. He replied with a single word: "Yes." 

This, of course, is a huge, worrying nugget of information. Sure, plenty of people died in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 – just take a look at Peter Quill's mom (Laura Haddock); or his father figure, Yondu (Michael Rooker); or the villains of the two movies. It could be that Gunn was merely stating the obvious and couldn't be bothered with typing, "Well, duh, someone will die."

But if all the information we've gathered is even remotely correct, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is the exact type of Marvel movie to feature the death of a major character who's been a part of the mini-franchise since the beginning. In fact, one of the main characters has perished nearly every time the team has ventured on screen. In the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie, we lost Groot, though he came back as a baby and has continued to grow into childhood and adolescence. In the second flick, Yondu died. In Avengers: Infinity War, it was Gamora's (Zoe Saldana) time to go, though Avengers: Endgame effectively replaced her with a version from another timeline. What could be in store in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3? 

It's impossible to say which character James Gunn was referring to when he confirmed there will be a death in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Still, assuming that Gunn intends to give us yet another major death but doesn't want to repeat any of his previous beats, we can probably remove Groot, Gamora, and the seemingly definitively dead Yondu from the equation. That means we're effectively left with Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), Nebula (Karen Gillan), Mantis (Pom Klementieff), Drax (Dave Bautista), and Rocket (Bradley Cooper). 

Will we see Bradley Cooper's furry little gadgeteer perform a heroic sacrifice, perhaps to save his friends from whatever terrifying laboratory created him? Will some other major character perish during the team's galaxy-guarding duties? Or will every main character happily survive the events of the movie, confirming that Gunn was just passingly referring to the unfortunate fate of some random mook? There's no way to know what twists and turns Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 has in store until it hits theaters — which, if you ask us, can't be soon enough.