Summary
- Despite teasing a spin-off involving Star-Lord, it seems like the least exciting follow-up to the beloved Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy.
- Director James Gunn revealed that a Legendary Star-Lord movie could focus on him adapting to Earth, but this premise seems somewhat boring and lacks emotional weight.
- Other potential spin-offs from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, such as Rocket leading a new team or Gamora and the Ravagers, sound much more exciting and worth exploring than a Star-Lord fish-out-of-water story.
Despite the ending of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 teasing a spin-off involving Chris Pratt’s Star-Lord, it remains the case that this idea seems like the least exciting follow-up to the beloved trilogy. Since Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, many theories have been raised about how the future of the titular team will look in the MCU. Considering the team largely went their own way by the ending of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, the future of each character is somewhat uncertain in the franchise’s future stories.
That is except for Pratt’s Star-Lord, whose future MCU appearances were teased by Marvel Studios’ now-iconic “will return” end cards. At the very end of the film in the post-credit scene, Star-Lord was shown eating breakfast with his grandfather after reconciling with the latter on Earth. In true MCU fashion, an end text card teased the MCU return of the Legendary Star-Lord. Despite the promise of Pratt’s future endeavors in the franchise, the premise teased for this Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 spin-off seems like the weakest of the potential stories that can be told involving the film’s characters going forward.
James Gunn Has Revealed What The Legendary Star-Lord Movie Would Be
Following Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3‘s digital release, writer and director James Gunn teased what the Legendary Star-Lord spin-off could be about. In the director’s commentary for the film, Gunn stated:
“Chris and I, forever, have talked about how great it would be to be able to do a ‘Legendary Star-Lord’ movie, a story with Star-Lord on Earth trying to adapt to the environment of Earth in the same way that somebody else might try to adapt to the alien environment of outer space. He’s a fish out of water in just kind of regular water.”
These comments from Gunn prove that the return of Star-Lord teased at the end of Guardians of the Galaxy 3 was not simply to leave the character open-ended albeit with no clear plan as some Phase 4 projects have tended to do. Instead, Gunn and Pratt actually had a pre-established plan for where Star-Lord could go, that being a story focusing on him acclimatizing to a modern Earth after leaving in the 1980s. While Pratt’s Star-Lord is an incredibly beloved character and the idea of seeing him again in the future of the MCU is welcome, this premise unfortunately brings to light several reasons about why it would not necessarily work.
Why Star-Lord Can’t Justify His Own Movie
The core reason as to why a Legendary Star-Lord movie is difficult to justify is because of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3‘s ending. The satisfaction of Star-Lord’s ending was that his character arc became complete, he returned to Earth to reunite with the family he left behind in the 80s. As such, Quill turned his back on huge-stakes, galactic adventures to live a more simple life with his grandfather. This would mean that Star-Lord leaving once again to become embroiled in another MCU adventure straight away would strip Guardians of the Galaxy 3‘s ending of any emotional weight concerning his character.
Furthermore, the premise Gunn outlined for a Legendary Star-Lord movie frankly seems somewhat boring. A fish out of water story where the water is normal has already been explored in the MCU through Captain America, with much of the humor of The Avengers and Captain America: The Winter Soldier stemming from Steve’s new time period. The situation would be the same for Star-Lord as he grew up in the 80s, meaning the only thing he would need to acclimatize to is the modern enhancements of Earth which his cosmic environments mostly possessed anyway.
That said, one way this could work is through a Marvel Studios Special Presentation. Rather than tell an entire story of Star-Lord on Earth in movie format, a short 30-40 minute comedy could certainly work. This would reduce the stakes that would be needed for a movie and tell a shorter, more carefree story that could end with Star-Lord still at home with his grandfather. That could allow Quill to spend a few years with his relatives before being called back to the fight out of necessity through Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars.
Every Other Guardians Of The Galaxy Spin-Off Idea Is Better
Regardless, it remains the case that every other potential spin-off of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 sounds like a better idea. A story centered on Rocket as the leader of a new Guardians team also teased at the end of the third film would make for a much more exciting story. Then there is Gamora and the Ravagers, which could tell a more Guardians-like story of morally gray characters adventuring in the galaxy. While Dave Bautista’s Drax is unlikely to return, a limited series of Nebula building Knowhere from the ground up and encountering a new galactic threat is also highly intriguing.
All of these potential stories sound much more exciting and worth exploring than a Star-Lord fish-out-of-water story. This is not to say that Star-Lord’s return is unwelcome, and a story of him mentoring Sam Alexander as Marvel’s Nova could be one interesting possibility. However, this does not change the fact that the story outlined by Gunn simply does not sound all that interesting, and a more exciting story for the Legendary Star-Lord between Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and his potential appearance in Avengers 5 and 6 is necessary.