The dog days are over — Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 has finally come to fruition. Marvel fans have been able to feast their eyes upon James Gunn’s magnum opus and witness the magnificent bow he’s wrapped around the storylines of our favorite band of ragtag superheroes. Now, it’s time to do it all over again from the comfort of our home.
This time around, Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) is grappling with the heartache of losing Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Nebula (Karen Gillan) is settling in as a permanent member of the Guardians family post-Thanos, Mantis (Pom Klementieff) and Drax’s (Dave Bautista) friendship is at its strongest, Groot is at his most powerful, and Rocket — oh, Rocket: He is the backbone of the movie and the storyline upon which it is carried.
The High Evolutionary is the big bad this time around, and thanks to Chukwudi Iwuji’s impeccable performance and the character’s ruthless zeal in creating the perfect species, the Guardians are challenged with their biggest opponent yet. Sure, Ego from Vol. 2 was a Celestial and thus more powerful, but the High Evolutionary holds the key to the Guardians’ survival. In this movie, the stakes have never been higher.
Millions of moviegoers flocked to the theaters to see the film, proving that superhero fatigue is truly just a myth. Sporting a Rotten Tomatoes freshness score in the 80s and a near-perfect audience score, this beloved threequel is the MCU’s secret sauce, and hopefully a sign of upward trajectory for the franchise. Now, the only question is when it’ll be available on Disney Plus, either for those who can’t wait to re-watch it or the folks who weren’t able to see it in theaters.
When will Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 release on Disney Plus?
The good news is that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will be available to stream on Disney Plus starting Aug. 2. The bad news is that it marks the second MCU movie to drop three months after its theatrical release, when past precedent had that timeline at around a month and a half.
Marvel’s relationship with its Disney Plus releases has grown harder to predict with every passing film. In the past, the MCU’s Disney Plus releases fell somewhere around the 60-to-70-day mark. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the streaming standard became 45 days; Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness met that standard with its 47-day post-theatrical Disney Plus release.
Eternals, Thor: Love & Thunder, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania were all released between 70 and 80 days after their worldwide premiere. Quantumania was 89 days. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is scheduled to follow in Quantumania‘s footsteps with an 89-day post-theatrical streaming release, thus making three months the gold standard for Marvel’s Disney Plus releases.
Should Marvel continue this trend, all of Phase 5 will have a three-month wait between cinemas and streaming, meaning The Marvels will drop some time around Feb. 7, 2024, Deadpool 3 on July 31, 2024, and Captain America: Brave New World on Oct. 23, 2024. Of course, that’s if the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes don’t completely screw with Marvel’s timeline. That’s not the kind of multiverse of madness we want.
For now, you can sleep easy knowing that come Aug. 2, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will be available to stream on Disney Plus. As they say, it’s the little things in life.