TV/Movies

Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 – Easter Eggs You Missed

May 10, 2023

James Gunn’s final trilogy of the Guardians of the Galaxy series is finally here. While the Marvel Cinematic Universe has gotten absolutely bananas in the last few years there’s still one franchise that is staying true to its roots. Guardians of the Galaxy has always had its own style, humour and cast of characters.

And just like any Marvel and superhero movie, this one is chock full of Easter Eggs, deep cuts and hints for upcoming movies. Did you manage to catch all of these?

– Warning For Spoilers –

Bowie

In Guardians of the Galaxy ships take a lot of damage and now in Vol 3. we’re up to our third ship named The Bowie. The ship is named after the legendary David Bowie.

In previous movies, the ships were also named after iconic pop icon figures. The first ship being The Milano, after Quill’s childhood crush Alyssa Milano. And after The Milano was destroyed in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2., they got a new ship named The Benatar, named after singer Pat Benatar.

Xeronians and Ani-Men

The High Evolutionary Name Drops the Xeronians and Ani-Men in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3.

While, in the comics, the Xeronians have no connections to the High Evolutionary, Guardians of the Galaxy 3 made them one of the species created by the mad scientist in addition to the Sovereign. Ani-Men, on the other hand, is the name of several teams in the comics. Four of them are villain groups, and one of them consists of a group of agents created by the High Evolutionary as his servants.

Is this a hint for future races to come in the MCUverse? Probably.

Introducing Warlock… and Magus?

Adam Warlock is a kind of ultimate humanoid/Sovereign and was designed to be the ultimate weapon. He’s created by Ayesha and the High Evolutionary to kill the Guardians of the Galaxy. On his first mission to capture Rocket Raccoon his mother Ayesha was killed and he was rescued by the Guardians. Eventually being recruited into joining and becoming one of them.

In the comics, there exists a future evil version of Warlock named Magus. It’s all a very timey-wimey temporal paradox as to how these two exist. But safe to say that Magus is a potential contender to the rogue’s gallery of Marvel villains.

Phyla-Vell

In the comics, Phyla-Vell is conceived from the DNA of Kree warrior Mar-Vell, who was the first Captain Marvel that predated Carol Danvers. She is one of the white-haired children created by the High Evolutionary.

Phyla-Vell is the daughter of the original Captain Marvel, Mar-Vell, and Elysius, an Eternal from Titan. After Mar-Vell passed away from cancer, Elysius combined their genetic materials to create a son called Genis-Vell, who, at one point, lost his mind. He then created Phyla-Vell using the same DNA to fight him. However, as seen in the film, her origin story had a minor change by linking her power to High Evolutionary’s experiments.

At some point, she also crosses paths with the aforementioned Magus, which should make for a great upcoming storyline.

Kevin Bacon

You have to wait all the way until the last end-credits scene to find Vol. 3‘s funniest Easter egg. While eating breakfast, Peter’s Grandfather is reading a newspaper with the headline “Alien Abduction: Kevin Bacon Tells All!”

This is a reference to Peter’s favourite actor getting kidnapped by Drax and Mantis in the Guardians Holiday Special. It looks like Kevin Bacon is ready to tell everyone what life was like up in space for Christmas.

We all know what this means. Kevin Bacon is canon in the Marvel Cinematic Universe so I’d expect him to make more appearances later on.

The Legendary Star-Lord

The Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3. end-credits display that “The Legendary Star-Lord will return”.

The name “Legendary Star-Lord” actually refers to the comic book series of the same title that followed Peter Quill, aka Star-Lord, and his solo adventure after he leaves the Guardians. The series primarily deals with the familiar complicated family history and megalomaniac fathers who are hungry for power.

This tease feels like it’s leading to more than just a cameo in some Earth-based adventures like Secret Invasion. Whether it’s confirming Star-Lord for the upcoming Secret Wars or branching out even further in his own for a Disney+ series, Gunn’s MCU departure doesn’t mean Star-Lord is going anywhere yet.