Guardians of the Galaxy 3's post-credit scene confirms MCU character's future
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3's post-credit scene unexpectedly confirmed the future of Chris Pratt's Star-Lord.
While the MCU threequel (now available to watch on Disney+) marked the end of this particular Guardians team, the credit scene did reveal that Star-Lord will be back in the future. At the moment though, we just don't know when yet.
So let's get speculating on when we might be reunited with Star-Lord and how it could happen, if it's not going to be in a potential Guardians of the Galaxy 4.
Guardians of the Galaxy 3 post-credit scene explained
The emotional finale of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 sees Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) reveal to the team that he needs to take some time away, leaving the Guardians in the capable hands of Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper).
Peter heads back to Earth to reunite with his granddad Jason (Gregg Henry) who he hasn't seen since he was abducted by the Ravagers. It was the same day that Peter's mother died, so he hasn't been back to Earth since (except for that one time when he was busy saving the world from Thanos).
The post-credit scene catches up with the two of them settled into everyday life, with Peter eating his breakfast as he moans about having to mow the lawn. It's mostly a typical MCU post-credit scene where it's more of a joke scene than anything important, but there is a critical bit of information.
As we hear Peter continue to chow down on his breakfast, we get a variant of the '...will return' MCU title card which reads: "The Legendary Star-Lord Will Return."
The fact that it specifies Peter, rather than the entire Guardians as the other two movies have, is interesting.
It doesn't rule out his fellow Guardians returning at some point, although both Zoe Saldaña and Dave Bautista appear to have ruled out comebacks as Gamora and Drax. But it does confirm that, right now, there are only plans for Chris Pratt to return as Peter Quill, aka Star-Lord.
Talking to GamesRadar+, Pratt seemed to suggest his return as Star-Lord isn't a guaranteed thing though as he said it'll be "important to honour" the work that James Gunn has done over the trilogy.
"I don't want to be cynical in the approach and if that's the case, I just wouldn't do it at all. So maybe down the road if something makes sense I would do it but it would really have to check a lot of the right boxes," he explained.
In the commentary track for Guardians 3, Gunn revealed that he's always talked to Pratt about doing a "Legendary Star-Lord" movie.
"[It would be] 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," he explained.
If it's not this kind of solo movie, Star-Lord might get back into the galaxy-saving action again and this will probably include reuniting with the new Guardians team, which now includes the likes of Cosmo, Kraglin and Adam Warlock.
Right now, the most obvious answer for Star-Lord's MCU return is the next Avengers double-bill of Avengers: The Kang Dynasty (May 1, 2026) and Avengers: Secret Wars (May 7, 2027).
Aside from a quick adventure with Thor in Thor: Love and Thunder, the Guardians have only crossed over into other MCU adventures in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. So the next big world-saving mission seems the likeliest time to expect Peter, and potentially other Guardians, to return.
But maybe the fact that Peter is currently living on Earth opens him up to a cameo in another upcoming Phase 5 movie. Star-Lord butting heads with the new Cap in Captain America 4? We'd be here for it.
For more Guardians of the Galaxy 3 coverage, check out:
• How long is Guardians of the Galaxy 3?
• Everything we know about Guardians of the Galaxy 4
• Guardians of the Galaxy 3 ending explained
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 is available to watch on Disney+.
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