James Gunn says Guardians Vol. 3 will set up the next 10-20 years of the MCU

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

By the time AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR opens in theaters next year, it will have been a decade (almost to the day) since we were first introduced to Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) in IRON MAN and the Marvel Cinematic Universe was born. Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has made no secret that AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR and AVENGERS 4 will serve as "the culmination of the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe," but that raises the question, what's next? It turns out that we'll get our answer, or at least part of it, in the upcoming GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3. While promoting the home-media release of GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2, director James Gunn popped into Facebook Live to answer some fan questions.

When asked whether they were considering putting Richard Rider, aka Nova, in future MCU films, James Gunn responded with:

Yes, definitely. Nova comes up occasionally as someone we might use. One of the things I’m doing with creating Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, it will take place after the next two Avengers movies and it will help to set up the next 10, 20 years of Marvel movies. It’s going to really expand the cosmic universe. We’re going to be setting up new characters. It will be the last movie of this version of Guardians of the Galaxy.

Kevin Feige has previously said that the MCU will look "very, very different" post-INFINITY WAR, and that it might not even be Phase 4, but something different altogether. The third phase is still far from over, with six more movies still to be released, but James Gunn's comment that GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3 will be setting up the next decade, or two, of Marvel movies seems to point that the Cosmic Universe will start playing a much bigger part in Marvel's future.

James Gunn also dropped a few more tidbits about GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2, including what would have been a cameo from the late David Bowie. Gunn reveals that he did talk to David Bowie's people about him making in a cameo in the GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY sequel, but that Bowie unfortunately passed away before much had happened. Had David Bowie been able to appear, Gunn says that it "would have been as one of the Ravegers, along with Michelle Yeoh, Ving Rhames, Sylvester Stallone, and Michael Rosenbaum."

As of today, GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2 is now available on DVD/Blu-ray/4K Ultra HD.