With The Suicide Squad in his rearview mirror and Peacemaker about to release, James Gunn is finally turning his attentions to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Marvel fans have been desperately waiting for the final chapter in the cosmic trilogy for years now, but at this stage, filming has still yet to begin. But at least the director is on hand to reveal the odd, not-all-that-spoilery detail about what we’ve got in store from the movie on Twitter.
His latest mini-revelation confirms when in the MCU timeline Guardians 3 will take place. One fan asked Gunn on Twitter if we’ll be seeing more of “mature Groot” in the film, to which the director responded, “Well years have passed.” This then caused another tweeter to ask for clarification on what year Vol. 3 is set in. Gunn followed that up with a brief but (somewhat) informative reply: “Now.”
We can likely take Gunn’s comment as confirmation that the threequel is set in the present-day of the MCU. However, his response is a little confusing given his previous tweet that it’s also years after Avengers: Endgame. That movie moved up the franchise’s present to 2023. With Vol. 3 releasing in 2023 itself, it’s probably more accurate to say it’s set in 2025 or 2026.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. The continuity specifics are something we can work out once we’ve seen the film. For now, it’s important to note that the plot will presumably kick off after the Guardians have been searching for the missing Gamora for years, following her disappearance after the battle against Thanos. So it’s possible that Groot won’t be the only one who has grown a lot over that time.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is thought to start shooting before the year is out ahead of its release on May 5, 2023. Remember, we’ve also got The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special coming Christmas 2022. James Gunn fans will likewise want to check out Peacemaker on HBO Max in January.