Gone are the days when the Guardians of the Galaxy were among the more obscure characters in the Marvel Comics mythology. Thanks to the success of the team's 2014 movie and the sequel that was released earlier this year, Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax the Destroyer, Rocket, Groot and their supporting cast have soared in popularity and become pop culture icons. Shortly before Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 was released, director and writer James Gunn announced that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is coming down the pipeline, and it sounds like we can expect to see the threequel sometime in 2020. When a fan recently asked him when Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will be released, Gunn responded:
In a little under 3 years.
After thanking fans in the United Kingdom for buying an incredible amount of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Blu-ray and DVD copies, James Gunn answered a few questions on Facebook, which included giving a loose timeframe on when Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will arrive in theaters. While a 2020 release date (likely in the summertime) may not come as a shock to some given that there was a three year gap between the first two Guardians of the Galaxy movies, this revelation is interesting when taking into consideration that Marvel Studios has provided few details about what's in store for Phase Four, which will begin after Avengers 4. In fact, so far the only other Marvel movie that's been announced for the Phase Four period is Spider-Man: Homecoming 2, which is being released on July 5, 2019. Everything else is being kept under wraps, and it's unclear when Marvel will announce the rest of the lineup, be it one project at a time or at all at once like the studio did with Phase Three back in 2014.
Whenever Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is released, moviegoers can look forward to an especially important entry to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. James Gunn has said that the third movie will conclude the story centered around this iteration of the Guardians team and will be incredibly influential to cosmic-centric MCU projects that will follow in the decade after. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will take place place after the events of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers 4, and since both those movies are shrouded in secrecy, it will be a while until we learn concrete details concerning what the Guardians will deal with after teaming up with Earth's Mightiest Heroes. One of the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 mid-credits scenes seemed to indicate that Adam Warlock will appear in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, but Gunn recently cautioned that he never actually said that would happen.
We'll keep you updated on how Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is progressing as more news comes in. In the meantime, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is now available for purchase on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital HD, and the team will return on May 4, 2018 for Avengers: Infinity War.
