Following the release of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, the next movie to look forward to in Phase 5 of the MCU is Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3. Given that this is the third film featuring the superhero team, you can gather that there’s some homework involved before heading to the cinema, but which exact Marvel titles should you be watching before Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3?
Marvel movies to watch before Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 1
Go back to where it all began in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 1. The first movie, directed by James Gunn, explains how Star Lord, Gamora, Rocket Raccoon, Groot and Drax all come together to form their spacefaring superhero group and go up against the Kree war criminal, Ronan the Accuser.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2
As you’d expect from the title of this article, everything with Guardians of the Galaxy in the name is pretty much an essential watch prior to Vol. 3.
In the second Guardians film, it’s all about family. On their adventures, the group meets a strange man claiming to be Peter Quill’s father, and in doing so, they learn some interesting truths. It’s worth watching this one for Baby Groot alone.
Avengers: Infinity War
Avengers: Infinity War brings all of Marvel’s main superheroes together, but it features a particularly massive moment in the story for the Guardians team.
As Gamora’s father, Thanos, enacts his master plan to gather all the infinity stones and cull half the universe, he finds himself in need of a worthy sacrifice to retrieve the mysterious Soul Stone. The person he has in mind happens to be his daughter, and the events that follow have huge ramifications for the Guardians as a team.
Avengers: Endgame
The latest two Avengers movies basically work as a two-part experience, and following the events of Infinity War, Endgame sets up the new normal for the Guardians team going forward.
Due to some time travel shenanigans, a variant version of Gamora manages to make her way into the main timeline and joins the Guardians team, but she’s not the same Gamora that we’re used to, which has a ripple effect in the group, particularly for Peter Quill.
Thor: Love and Thunder
After Thor became an honorary member of the Guardians at the end of Endgame, we get a glimpse at what they were up to in Love and Thunder. The team aren’t in the movie for too long, but it does explain what they got up to during their time with Thor and why he parted ways with them.
The Guardians of the Galaxy: Holiday Special
The recently released Guardians of the Galaxy: Holiday Special takes advantage of Marvel’s new Special Presentation format on Disney+, which are essentially mini-movies about the same length as a TV episode.
The Holiday Special picks up with the Guardians after the events of Endgame and Thor: Love and Thunder, finding the group on the planet Knowhere, where they’ve set up a home base. Most of the film is fun buddy comedy as Drax and Mantis try to surprise Peter with the perfect Christmas gift, but it also drops some important revelations worth knowing going into Vol 3.
Now that you’ve got your watch list ready, you’ll be glad to know all the above Marvel movies can be found in one streaming home, that being Disney+.
You can then head to cinemas on May 4 to see Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
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