The Guardians now live on Knowhere.
2022's "Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special" briefly revealed that the Guardians' headquarter is now located inside of the abandoned, floating Celestial head that was introduced in the franchise's first installment.
According to press notes, the Guardians bought Knowhere from the Collector/Taneleer Tivan (Benicio del Toro) and are in the process of fixing it up as a haven for any outsiders and refugees in the galaxy after Thanos' (Josh Brolin) attack.
In the recent "Guardians of the Galaxy" comics, started in 2008 by creators Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, the group also established their base on Knowhere.
At the film's start, Mantis dances to an acoustic version of Radiohead's "Creep" while Drax refuses to join.
In "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2," Drax tells Peter that there are two types of beings in the universe — "those who dance and those who do not" — while explaining that Gamora isn't the one for him.
Drax is one who does not (at least until the movie's end).
Peter is seen drinking inside the Boot of Jemiah.
The Guardians visited the bar in the first film as they waited to meet with the Collector to hand off the Infinity Stone.
The bar was named after Jemiah the Analyzer, a Celestial who helped create the universe.
Jemiah was briefly shown in Marvel's 2021 "Eternals" movie.
Karen Gillan, who plays Nebula, isn't really carrying Chris Pratt in the opening scene.
Director James Gunn told IGN a realistic 35-pound doll was built for Nebulato carry near the film's start to carry Peter Quill (Pratt) to bed after getting drunk.
"I had it in my office for a long time and people would come in and scream," Gunn said.
Part of the Milano ship is in Peter's bedroom on Knowhere.
When Nebula brings a drunken Peter to bed at the beginning of the movie, you can spot his custom cassette tape player with one of his "Awesome" mixtapes in it on the wall behind his bed.
Peter and Mantis are siblings.
This is mentioned by Nebula early on, when she tells Mantis, "He's your brother."
If this revelation took you by surprise in "Vol. 3," 2022's "Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special" revealed that Mantis and Peter share a father, Ego (Kurt Russell).
By the special's end, Mantis informs Peter she's his half-sibling.
Cosmo the Spacedog may be a new addition to the Guardians, but she's been in the franchise since the first film.
Cosmo briefly appeared as a part of the Collector's vast collection on Knowhere in the first "GotG."
In press notes, director James Gunn said he was trying to find a way to add Cosmo to the franchise for years.
Since the Guardians now live on Knowhere, this felt like a natural way to introduce the pup.
A golden retriever named Slate was Cosmo's stand-in on set.
The finished version of Cosmo is CGI and voiced by "Borat 2" star Maria Bakalova.
Ayesha tells the High Evolutionary that Adam Warlock was removed from his cocoon too early.
At the end of "Vol. 2," Ayesha (Elizabeth Debicki), the leader of The Sovereign, plots revenge on the Guardians of the Galaxy for stealing a few valuable batteries.
As a result, she creates Adam Warlock (Will Poulter), who you can read more about here, in order to defeat the Guardians.
In the comics, Warlock was an artificial human created by scientists in the hopes of creating the perfect human specimen.
In "Vol. 3," Ayesha references the cocoon Warlock was grown inside of in both the comics and the MCU. The cocoon was briefly seen in an end-credits scene for "Vol. 2."
Stakar Ogord appears with his group of Ravagers, a nod to the original Guardians of the Galaxy.
First appearing in "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2," Stakar's (Sylvester Stallone) group includes Martinex (Michael Rosenbaum) who was a part of the original 1969 "Guardians" lineup.
The crew also includes Mainframe and Krugarr, the red Lem sorcerer.
Miley Cyrus doesn't return to voice Mainframe.
The singer voiced the disembodied head that's a part of Stakar's Ravager group in a post-credit scene of "Vol. 2."
Instead, prominent voice actor Tara Strong, who also voices Miss Minutes in "Loki," took over the role here.
The Guardians' new ship is called the Bowie.
Presumably named after singer David Bowie given Peter Quill's love of music, the ship first appeared in 2022's holiday special, replacing the group's previous ship, the Benatar.
The Bowie was previously used to kidnap Kevin Bacon and bring him to Knowhere.
Mantis' practical joke on Drax was foreshadowed at the film's start.
When the Guardians break into Orgocorp, Mantis uses her powers to make an employee believe he's in love with Drax.
Mantis' practical joke is foreshadowed early in the sequel.Near the film's start, Drax references a different time Mantis made him fall in love with his own sock.
Peter mentions that Gamora was thrown off a "magic cliff."
Peter references the Infinity Saga and Gamora's death at the hands of Thanos while at Orgocorp.
After squabbling with the version of Gamora from the 2014 timeline, Peter explains to Ura that the two of them used to be in love.
"She was my girlfriend, only she doesn't remember it because it wasn't her, because her dad threw her off a magic cliff and she died and then I lost my temper and nearly destroyed half the universe," Peter says. "And she came back, out of the past, there she is. Everyone else who died in the past stayed dead, not her. Why? Was it the magic cliff? I don't know."
Peter also mentions an "Infinity Stone scientist" and calls himself a "dumbass Earth dude who met a girl, fell in love, that girl died, and then came back a total dick."
Rocket's friend Lylla is voiced by MCU veteran Linda Cardellini.
Cardellini also plays Laura Burton, the wife of Clint Barton/Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner).
Lylla was first hinted at in 2014's "Guardians of the Galaxy," listed as one of Rocket's known associates.
In the comics, the anthropomorphic otter was Rocket's soulmate.
Rocket's other friends, Teefs and Floor, have Marvel comic roots.
Floor (voiced by Mikaela Hoover), a rabbit, appears to reference an enhanced bunny named Blackjack O'Hare. In the comics, Blackjack eventually marries Lylla.
Teefs (voiced by Asim Chaudry) may be a nod to Rocket's comic friend Wal Rus who traveled with Groot and the raccoon.
Both Blackjack and Wal Rus were first introduced in 1982's Incredible Hulk Vol. 1 issue No. 271.
The adorable creature who follows Adam Warlock is named Blurp.
Director James Gunn revealed the name of the cuddly alien creature on Twitter. Specifically, Blurp is a furry f'saki.
Blurp's name isn't said in the movie and the creature doesn't talk.
Dee Bradley Baker, who has voiced characters for "Spongebob Squarepants," "Star Wars Rebels," and more, voiced the alien's noises.
Sean Gunn voices young Rocket Raccoon in flashbacks.
Bradley Cooper usually voices Rocket, but a trio of actors split the role in "Vol. 3."
In April, Gunn tweeted that his brother Sean, who plays Kraglin and the on-set version of Rocket Raccoon, is one of three actors to provide the voice of a younger Rocket in "Vol. 3."
Sean voices young Rocket and Noah Raskin voices baby Rocket. Cooper, meanwhile, lends his voice to "adolescent Rocket."
The High Evolutionary references the Guardians' plucky spirit.
As the Guardians scramble to rescue Drax, Mantis, and Nebula, High Evolutionary says: "You almost have to admire their pluck."
This feels reminiscent of Tony Stark/Iron Man calling the misfits' plan of attack against Thanos "plucky" in "Avengers: Infinity War," which Star-Lord took issue with.
"Dude, don't call us plucky. We don't know what it means," Star-Lord retorted.
Star-Lord refers to the High Evolutionary as RoboCop.
The Marvel villain resembles the protagonist of the 1987 film that came out a year before Peter Quill was kidnapped from Earth.
Quill doesn't realize it at the time, but the High Evolutionary and RoboCop share a bit in common.
In the dystopian film, a killed cop, Alex Murphy, is brought back to life and turned into a cyborg policeman, named RoboCop.
In "Vol. 3," the High Evolutionary has his face mauled off and replaced with a fake one. Both Murphy's and the High Evolutionary's faces are attached to robotic frames.
Director Lloyd Kaufman, the man who gave Gunn his start in Hollywood, appears as a character named Gridlemop.
Kaufman's appearance is a nod to where Gunn received his start at Troma Entertainment.
The company's cofounder, Kaufman, directed the first film Gunn served as a screenwriter on, 1997's "Tromeo and Juliet."
Gunn revealed on Facebook in 2016 he was paid $125 to write the film.
The language spoken by the human animals (aka humanimals) is called Orbose.
According to the production notes, the filmmakers created the language for the characters.
One of the words heard repeatedly, "joob," means friend. Another word, "domo," means run. Marvel Studios sent a list of 10 words in Orbose to press.
Drax can understand everything the Vampire Bat people are saying to the Guardians as Star-Lord and the others struggle to communicate with them.
It's not just the humanimals who speak Orbose. According to the film's captions, Phyla and her species speak the same language. That's notable because Drax reveals to Nebula and Mantis that he knows the language, speaking freely to the children.
This realization makes the entire scene earlier in the movie funnier upon a second watch since Drax lays on the couch as Peter Quill struggles to communicate with people who speak a language in which he's fluent.
Kraglin plays cards with two familiar faces from the "Guardians" franchise.
Howard the Duck (Seth Green), who briefly appeared in the first two "Guardians" films, is noticeably seen on Knowhere with Kraglin and Cosmo the Spacedog.
The Broker, to who Peter originally tried to sell an Infinity Stone in "Guardians of the Galaxy," is also seen at the same table playing cards.
Drax says a line from "Star Wars."
As Drax contemplates the danger his friends may be in aboard the High Evolutionary's ship, he says, "I've got a bad feeling about this."
Drax then tricks Mantis into getting on a motorcycle to ride towards Peter, Nebula, and Groot.
The line is a running gag in the "Star Wars" franchise, which, in addition to Marvel Studios, is also owned by Disney. The entire "Guardians" trilogy shares a lot in common with the George Lucas story.
Mantis, Nebula, and Drax come face to face with a group of Abilisks on board the High Evolutionary's ship.
The Guardians faced off against an Abilisk at the start of "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2."
In "Vol. 3," Mantis remembers their previous encounter and recalls that the creatures eat batteries, not people.
To show she's not a threat, Mantis approaches one of the Abilisks and embraces it.
Mantis, Nebula, and Drax then escape the High Evolutionary's ship by riding the Abilisks.
Groot seemingly breaks character at the film's end and says, "I love you guys." But it's actually the film's best detail.
Despite the audience hearing Groot vocalize something other than "I am Groot," he's not changing up the way he speaks. Instead, the audience is finally understanding Groot for the first time in the same way Rocket Raccoon, Peter Quill, and the rest of the Guardians comprehend him.
As i09's Germain Lussier pointed out first, and Gunn later confirmed, we can finally understand Groot because the audience is now part of the family.
Peter shows up at his grandpa's house with the backpack he left Earth with.
When Peter returns to Earth to visit his grandpa, Jason Quill, you can see him carrying a dark-green JanSport backpack.
It's the same one we saw him leave Earth with back in 1988 when he was kidnapped.
The backpack was also seen on the Guardians' ship when Gamora noticed the Polaroid of Peter and his grandpa.
The movie introduces Phyla-Vell.
The movie's first end-credits scene shows a young girl exhibiting powers similar to Captain Marvel.
In the comics, Phyla-Vell is an artificial child of Mar-Vell (a character played by Annette Bening in "Captain Marvel") who has taken on the mantle of Captain Marvel, but also goes by the superhero name Quasar.
Here, she's played by Kai Zen and is part of the next iteration of Guardians of the Galaxy.
Rocket Raccoon becomes the leader of the new group of Guardians, a nod to a recent comic lineup.
The first end-credits scene shows off the new group of Guardians.
Under the leadership of Rocket, the new group consists of Kraglin, Groot, Adam Warlock, Cosmo the Spacedog, Blurp, and Phyla-Vell.
The group resembles the modern comic team, starting in 2008, which also includes Warlock, Phyla-Vell, Groot, and Cosmo.
The newspaper Jason Quill reads contains a nod to the 2022 "Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special."
The paper's headline reads: "Alien Abduction: Kevin Bacon Shares All."
Mantis and Drax kidnapped Bacon, Peter's favorite actor, in the holiday special in order to cheer up Peter during the holidays.
The movie likely takes place in early 2026.
During the second end-credits scene, Peter mentions he's 45.
Since earlier films confirmed Peter was born in 1980, we can assume it's at least the year 2025.
If we take the newspaper Jason Quill reads into account, it's likely the following year. It mentions Kevin Bacon's abduction, which occurred in 2022's "Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special" where the group celebrates Christmas.
"Vol. 3" definitely takes place after the holidays.
Peter was from Missouri, where his grandpa likely still lives. Since the weather seems favorable, and Peter discusses mowing the grass regularly, we'd guess it's spring 2026.
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