Guardians of the Galaxy 3 to have MORE deaths after Avengers 4? James Gunn drops hint

Film-maker James Gunn has ominously confirmed the third and final part of his Marvel trilogy will “end this iteration” of the ensemble – does that mean many of them won’t survive?

Gunn confirmed on Twitter overnight that Guardians 3 will “end the trilogy”, later clarifying: “Well I mean Vol 3 will end this iteration of the Guardians and complete the story of the three films.”

How worried fans should be depends largely on when exactly the film is set.

For the time being, many of the Guardians are – in the wake of Infinity War – dead.

Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), Mantis (Pom Klementieff), Drax (Dave Bautista), and Groot (Vin Diesel) all fell victim to the Snap, while Gamora (Zoe Saldana) was killed by Thanos as he obtained the Soul Stone.

That leaves only Nebula (Karen Gillan) and Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper) still alive and kicking – unless, as predicted, the deaths are somehow reversed in Avengers 4.

It’s been floated by the Russo Brothers, however, that Guardians 3 could be set before Infinity War.

Whilst this would guarantee all the heroes survived the duration of the movie, surely it would also lose the peril of their lives being in danger.

“Here’s the thing, I think it’s important to remember anything is possible in the MCU,” Anthony Russo told Huffington Post.

“Just because there’s a sequel on the books doesn’t mean… people become accustomed to time moving linearly in the MCU. That doesn’t necessarily have to be the case.

“There’s a lot of very inventive ways of where the story can go from here.”

Joe Russo pointed out that the previously-announced sequel could take place before Infinity War – like, for example, this summer’s Ant-Man and the Wasp, and next March’s Captain Marvel.

“There’s four years between Guardians 2 and Infinity War,” he said. “That’s a long time, and a lot of Guardians stories to tell.

“Again, as Anthony said, don’t expect everything to move forward in a linear fashion in the Marvel universe.”

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 is out in 2020.