Now that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is out in the world, it’s time to dive deeper into that ending. Warning: Spoilers!If you’re reading this, we can only assume that you have seen Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and cried your eyes out. If not, we recommend you go watch the film first and then return to this article as we’re about to dissect that explosive, surprising ending.Still here? Great! Proceed at your own risk, there will be spoilers galore from here on out.
What’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 about?
We tried to be coy in our review and not reveal what the central plot was about as none of the trailers spoiled it either. But since you’ve now seen the film and that’s why you’re reading this article, you know that much of Vol. 3 revolves around the Guardians attempting to save Rocket.
After being attacked by Adam Warlock (Will Poulter), the Guardians find out that Rocket has a killswitch inside him which will kill him in approximately 48 hours. It was placed there by the High Evolutionary, a mad scientist set on creating the perfect species and perfect society. The remaining Guardians race against time to find the passkey that would hopefully save Rocket’s life.
How does Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 end?
The Guardians manage to revive Rocket after Quill and Groot retrieve the passkey from the High Evolutionary’s servant’s head. Nebula, Mantis and Drax are still on the High Evolutionary’s ship, but Mantis manages to tame the Abilisks, whom we remember well from the beginning of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Kraglin and Cosmo come to their rescue with Knowhere, which is being attacked and infiltrated by the High Evolutionary’s monstrous creations.
Kraglin finally masters the telekinetic arrow and he and Cosmo make up, with Kraglin finally admitting that Cosmo is, in fact, a good dog. After reuniting, Rocket says he’s done running and leads the Guardians of the Galaxy to battle against the High Evolutionary. They rescue the children on board the High Evolutionary’s ship and Drax even rescues Adam Warlock, who later asks why he would do such a thing. READ MORE: James Gunn and the cast say goodbye to Guardians of the Galaxy: “I’m going to miss these characters”The answer? “I am Groot” which translates to “Everyone deserves a second chance”. Rocket refuses to kill the High Evolutionary after his true, scarred face is revealed, claiming he is a Guardian of the freaking Galaxy and his name is Rocket Raccoon.Rocket then ushers them to save the remaining species on board. He opens the cage containing fellow raccoons; the door has a sign that clarifies where the raccoons come from, with Rocket finally knowing and accepting who he is.
Baby Rocket. Credit: Marvel Studios
Quill very nearly doesn’t make it off the exploding ship and is almost frozen to death in space, but Adam Warlock saves him, signalling his transformation into one of the good guys. Back on Knowhere, the Guardians ultimately decide to break up; Peter heads back to Earth to find his grandpa, Mantis needs to find out who she is on her own, Nebula decides to lead Knowhere and make it into the home she never had, Gamora reunites with the Ravagers and Rocket becomes the leader of the new Guardians. And as a cherry on top, Groot says “I love you, guys”. Like, for real, not just “I am Groot”. The film ends with a massive dance party set to Florence & The Machine’s ‘Dog Days Are Over’. Even Drax, who earlier in the film claimed “Only idiots dance”, joins in!
Does Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 have end credits scenes?
Obviously! The first one shows the new Guardians; Rocket, Groot, Cosmo, Kraglin, Adam Warlock and one of the High Evolutionary’s perfect kiddos. They all share their favourite music while we see something coming in the distance. People around them panic and start running, but our heroes are pretty relaxed about all the commotion.
Rocket then plays ‘Come and Get Your Love’, the very first song we heard back in 2014 in Guardians of the Galaxy. The newly formed Guardians of the Galaxy get to work and charge at their newest foe. READ MORE: Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania ending explained | How many end credits scenes are there?The second post-credits scene finds Peter back on Earth with his grandfather. Peter is eating cereal while his grandpa is reading the newspaper which boasts a headline about Kevin Bacon being abducted by aliens, referencing the Guardians’ Christmas special. The words “The Legendary Star-Lord will return” appear. Guess this isn’t the last we’ll be seeing Chris Pratt in the MCU.
How James Gunn found the perfect ending for each Guardian
As we emphasised in our review, Vol. 3 is a much darker, more violent entry into the otherwise colourful and cheerful franchise, but the thing that sticks long after the credits have rolled and all the post-credits scenes are done, is the amount of empathy there is to be found in the film.In the months leading up to the film’s release, many speculated at least one major character would die in the film. Rocket seemed like the obvious choice, just from the trailers, but Dave Bautista and Zoe Saldaña publicly said they would not return to reprise their characters after Vol. 3, sparking rumours they might meet their end in the film. Instead, no one dies in Vol. 3. It’s a kindness, really. No one had to die for Vol. 3 to be an incredibly powerful film. To understand the extent of Gunn’s creative choice here, you’ll need to understand where each character came from. Peter was abducted from Earth after losing his mother, then his father turned out to be a murderous planet (it makes sense, we promise). Nebula was tortured by her father Thanos and pitted against her sister Gamora, who was the favourite but also abducted as a child after Thanos massacred her people. Rocket, as we see in Vol. 3, was cruelly experimented on and Groot was, well, a tree who sacrificed himself in the first film. Mantis had always lived under Ego as his servant. Drax had his entire family killed by Thanos.
To give each and every one of them a kind, truly happy ending is an unexpected, but a welcome choice. It was not what we expected and many will argue it might undersell the film’s conclusion, but if anything, it only amplifies everything that has made Gunn’s groundbreaking trilogy such a hit at Marvel. Vol. 3 also seems like a response to Gunn’s firing and re-hiring by Marvel. Gunn initially lost the Vol. 3 job over some old, distasteful tweet that resurfaced. The entire cast came to the director’s defence; he had apologised for the tweets before and was doing so again. Guardians of the Galaxy was always a story about redemption and Gunn’s firing seemed to go directly against the very essence of the films. “Everyone deserves a second chance,” Groot says about rescuing Adam Warlock, who up until that point had been the film’s secondary villain.
The Guardians of the Galaxy franchise embodies this exact sentiment. Everyone is deserving of another chance, everyone deserves a happy ending. Drax gets to be a dad again, Gamora has found herself a new family and a place she belongs in, Nebula gets to make a home she never had for others. Rocket, who has perhaps suffered the most, finally gets to be the captain and to lead the new Guardians. Even Kraglin gets an emotional ending as he hears Yondu’s voice say “Use your heart, boy” and then sees him in the distance. And Peter finally returns home to his grandpa after having accepted that the current Gamora isn’t the one he fell in love with, but that’s okay. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is James Gunn’s magnum opus. As a film, it might be flawed but as a story, it’s about as powerful as it gets. It values kindness and empathy above violence and manufactured emotional release. In this day and age, we should not take that for granted.
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After being attacked by Adam Warlock (Will Poulter), the Guardians find out that Rocket has a killswitch inside him which will kill him in approximately 48 hours. It was placed there by the High Evolutionary, a mad scientist set on creating the perfect species and perfect society.
The remaining Guardians race against time to find the passkey that would hopefully save Rocket’s life.
Kraglin finally masters the telekinetic arrow and he and Cosmo make up, with Kraglin finally admitting that Cosmo is, in fact, a good dog.
After reuniting, Rocket says he’s done running and leads the Guardians of the Galaxy to battle against the High Evolutionary. They rescue the children on board the High Evolutionary’s ship and Drax even rescues Adam Warlock, who later asks why he would do such a thing.
Quill very nearly doesn’t make it off the exploding ship and is almost frozen to death in space, but Adam Warlock saves him, signalling his transformation into one of the good guys.
Back on Knowhere, the Guardians ultimately decide to break up; Peter heads back to Earth to find his grandpa, Mantis needs to find out who she is on her own, Nebula decides to lead Knowhere and make it into the home she never had, Gamora reunites with the Ravagers and Rocket becomes the leader of the new Guardians. And as a cherry on top, Groot says “I love you, guys”. Like, for real, not just “I am Groot”.
The film ends with a massive dance party set to Florence & The Machine’s ‘Dog Days Are Over’. Even Drax, who earlier in the film claimed “Only idiots dance”, joins in!
To give each and every one of them a kind, truly happy ending is an unexpected, but a welcome choice. It was not what we expected and many will argue it might undersell the film’s conclusion, but if anything, it only amplifies everything that has made Gunn’s groundbreaking trilogy such a hit at Marvel.
Vol. 3 also seems like a response to Gunn’s firing and re-hiring by Marvel. Gunn initially lost the Vol. 3 job over some old, distasteful tweet that resurfaced. The entire cast came to the director’s defence; he had apologised for the tweets before and was doing so again. Guardians of the Galaxy was always a story about redemption and Gunn’s firing seemed to go directly against the very essence of the films.
“Everyone deserves a second chance,” Groot says about rescuing Adam Warlock, who up until that point had been the film’s secondary villain.
The Guardians of the Galaxy franchise embodies this exact sentiment. Everyone is deserving of another chance, everyone deserves a happy ending.
Drax gets to be a dad again, Gamora has found herself a new family and a place she belongs in, Nebula gets to make a home she never had for others. Rocket, who has perhaps suffered the most, finally gets to be the captain and to lead the new Guardians. Even Kraglin gets an emotional ending as he hears Yondu’s voice say “Use your heart, boy” and then sees him in the distance. And Peter finally returns home to his grandpa after having accepted that the current Gamora isn’t the one he fell in love with, but that’s okay.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is James Gunn’s magnum opus. As a film, it might be flawed but as a story, it’s about as powerful as it gets. It values kindness and empathy above violence and manufactured emotional release.
In this day and age, we should not take that for granted. 
