James Gunn has revealed extra details about the upcoming The Guardians of the Galaxy: Holiday Special and revealed where it sits on the MCU timeline.
Over on Twitter, Gunn replied to a fan when they asked where the film sits in the MCU. According to the Comic-Con announcement, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania will kick off Phase five while Black Panther: Wakanda Forever will conclude Phase four. According to Gunn, The Guardians Holiday Special will be the epilogue of the Phase four timeline.
According to Gunn, he too was in the dark about where the films sit in the MCU timeline as he didn’t know that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was in Phase five. He only found out during Comic-Con.
If you think that this special is irrelevant to the MCU, you’d be wrong. Gunn told fans that this special is canon to the MCU and that it’s a must-watch before the release of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3.
James Gunn has worked on both previous The Guardians of the Galaxy films in 2014 and 2017. The film director has gotten himself into some controversy back in 2018 that involved ‘poorly-tasteful’ tweets. This led to him getting fired by Kevin Feige, with Marvel Studios receiving backlash from fans, and Gunn working with DC and directing The Suicide Squad in 2021. Gunn released a public apology while the cast of The Guardians of the Galaxy rallied behind him, which eventually led to his return to the MCU.
The Guardians of the Galaxy: Holiday Special is scheduled to come out in December 2022.