Guardians of the Galaxy 3's post-credit scene confirms MCU character's future
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 is the final team outing in the MCU – Guardians 4 probably won't happen, sorry – but the threequel does confirm that we'll at least see one Guardian again in the future.
In order to go into who it is and where they might pop up though, we need to go into spoilers for Guardians of the Galaxy 3's post-credit scene. If all you want to know is how many credit scenes there are, we've got you covered here.
But if you've seen the movie and just want to know more about the credit scene, then read on.
Guardians of the Galaxy 3 post-credit scene explained
The emotional finale of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 sees Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) reveal to the team that he needs to take some time away, leaving the Guardians in the capable hands of Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper).
Peter heads back to Earth to reunite with his granddad Jason (Gregg Henry) who he hasn't seen since he was abducted by the Ravagers. It was the same day that Peter's mother died, so he hasn't been back to Earth since (except for that one time when he was busy saving the world from Thanos).
The post-credit scene catches up with the two of them settled into everyday life, with Peter eating his breakfast as he moans about having to mow the lawn. It's mostly a typical MCU post-credit scene where it's more of a joke scene than anything important, but there is a critical bit of information.
As we hear Peter continue to chow down on his breakfast, we get a variant of the '...will return' MCU title card which reads: "The Legendary Star-Lord Will Return."
The fact that it specifies Peter, rather than the entire Guardians as the other two movies have, is interesting.
It doesn't rule out his fellow Guardians returning at some point, although both Zoe Saldaña and Dave Bautista appear to have ruled out comebacks as Gamora and Drax. But it does confirm that, right now, there are only plans for Chris Pratt to return as Peter Quill, aka Star-Lord.
Talking to GamesRadar+, Pratt seemed to suggest his return as Star-Lord isn't a guaranteed thing though as he said it'll be "important to honour" the work that James Gunn has done over the trilogy.
"I don't want to be cynical in the approach and if that's the case, I just wouldn't do it at all. So maybe down the road if something makes sense I would do it but it would really have to check a lot of the right boxes," he explained.
The question is in which MCU movie will Star-Lord return, assuming that he doesn't get a solo movie of him doing household chores.
He's sure to get back into the galaxy-saving action again and this will probably include reuniting with the new Guardians team, which now includes the likes of Cosmo, Kraglin and Adam Warlock.
As mentioned above, a fourth Guardians movie without Gunn seems unlikely though. So right now, the most obvious answer for Star-Lord's MCU return is the next Avengers double-bill of Avengers: The Kang Dynasty (May 2, 2025) and Avengers: Secret Wars (May 1, 2026).
Aside from a quick adventure with Thor in Thor: Love and Thunder, the Guardians have only crossed over into other MCU adventures in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. So the next big world-saving mission seems the likeliest time to expect Peter, and potentially other Guardians, to return.
But maybe the fact that Peter is currently living on Earth opens him up to a cameo in another upcoming Phase 5 movie. Star-Lord butting heads with the new Cap in Captain America 4? We'd be here for it.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 is out now in cinemas.
You Might Also Like