Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume #3 is Marvel’s comeback! If you thought that Marvel phase 4 movies were sluggish, Guardians Volume #3 is the perfect remedy! Not only does it deliver an awesome sci-fi tale, it delivers emotional character arcs that perfectly close the stories to our beloved Guardians characters.
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SPOILERS FOR GUARDIANS OF GALAXY VOLUME #3!
Rocket Raccoon
In a lot of ways, this is Rocket’s movie. We get to see his origins. We get a better understanding as to why he is the way he is. Rocket’s been through a lot of trauma. He was captured by the High Evolutionary and experimented on in the first phase of his life.
In the comics, the High Evolutionary was a scientist from earth who left the planet because he wanted to conduct experiments that were deemed unethical.
In the movie, the High Evolutionary wants to experiment on animals to make them ‘perfect’. The movie doesn’t delve into the High Evolutionary’s backstory too much. Thankfully, it doesn’t need to. It’s implied that he didn’t come from a loving family. It’s not surprising why the High Evolutionary doesn’t have a moral compass.
It turns out, Rocket is one of his first experiments. We learn that Rocket went through several surgeries and experiments thanks to the High Evolutionary.
As a consequence, Rocket gained genius level intellect. As the movie progresses, we learn that Rocket basically grew up with the High Evolutionary’s experiments (each filled with similar baggage to Rocket). Rocket grew up with Lyla the Otter, Floor the Rabbit and Tooths the Walrus.
After all of the trauma and pain they went through, it was nice to see all of them support each other and give each other hope for an escape. They were kind to each other, they made each other laugh. Most importantly, they loved each other. Emphasis on the ‘loved’.
Rocket helped the High Evolutionary improve his experimentation process. The High Evolutionary did not need Rocket and his friends anymore. So, he kills them an attempts to get rid of Rocket.
At this point, it’s easy to see why Rocket is the way he is. On top of the pain from the experiments, everyone he loved died and his Father figure tried to dispose of him.
Rocket’s character arc is easily the most emotionally impactful arc in the movie. A lot of what this movie is about is Rocket recognizing his worth outside of the High Evolutionary’s expectations. At the end of the movie, Rocket recognizes who he is and what he needs. In fact, all Guardians recognize who they are and what they need.
The Guardians get their Happy Ending!
Peter recognizes that jumping from woman to woman is his attempt to fill a hole inside of himself. He lost his Mother at a young age. As a consequence, he tries to find love wherever he can.
At the end of the movie, Peter moves back to earth and reconciles with his Grandfather, the only person left in his family.
After Drax helps save young kids from the High Evolutionary, he fills his void by being a Father figure to these youngsters. This makes sense as Thanos killed his wife and daughter.
Mantis leaves the Guardians to go on a journey of self-discovery. She lived her whole life obeying Ego the Living planet and helping the Guardians. Her journey is to find her sense of self.
Nebula finally learned to give herself a break. After being raised by Thanos, she was consistently shown she wasn’t good enough. After every time she lost a fight to Gamora, she got a body part replaced with machinery. At the end of the movie, she finally started to be kind to herself.
Even Gamora got a nice ending. She found a family with the Ravengers and moved past her traumatic childhood with Nebula and Thanos. She lets herself be loved by others.
And Rocket and Groot decide to lead the new Guardians of the Galaxy lineup!
All in all, I thought that the movie is worth its praise!
The Good and the Bad
The movie really subverted my expectations in great ways! I definitely thought that at least one Guardian was going to be killed off. Instead, they all survived, went their own way and got happy endings!
You can also tell that James Gunn and the executives at Marvel had time to make this movie polished. The last Marvel movie, Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania, had some dodgy CGI and dialogue between characters. Thankfully, Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume #3 does not suffer from this. I especially love James Gunn’s commitment to put real prosthetic effects and makeup on his aliens instead of making them CGI messes.
The only thing I had issue with is with Adam Warlock. I wanted to see more of him! A lot of fans really hyped him up. In the comics, he basically a space-Jesus type of character. He’s extremely powerful and has a quasi-philosophical way of talking. I understand why he got a backseat in the movie. The priority for James Gunn was to wrap up this roster’s character arcs. Thankfully, there will be more time for Adam Warlock in future Marvel movies!
All in all, Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume #3 is super awesome! It’s got a story packed full of emotion and satisfying ends to character arcs!
What do you think? Do you agree?
Lemme know in the comments!