Even before James Gunn took a job as the co-CEO of DC Studios, he was saying that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 would be his last movie with that particular set of characters. That doesn’t mean the end of the Guardians team — someone else could always make a Guardians Vol. 4 — but it does put that possibility out into the universe. Dave Bautista has already said Guardians Vol. 3 will be his last time as Drax as well. So even if the Guardians show up somewhere else, it could be in a drastically different form.
Some of the Guardians have already died; Gamora was killed during Avengers: Infinity War, although a variant of her from a past timeline wound up appearing in Avengers: Endgame, and then stuck around in the MCU to appear in Guardians Vol. 3. Gamora(s) is (are) played by Zoe Saldana, who in a new interview with Variety says that she would be okay with retiring from Marvel soon — or at least retiring from wearing all of Gamora’s elaborate makeup.
As she put it:
I can never say no to anything, but that green makeup? I wouldn’t be upset if it didn’t happen again. I miss Gamora but I don’t miss 3:30 a.m. calls and five-hour makeup sessions and trips to the dermatologist afterwards.
She did concede that the hassles of the makeup are somewhat offset by her meetings with “that 8-year-old or that dad and mom or those generational fans that remind me that what I did was special to them, it makes me not be cynical about Marvel.” Still, you have to wonder how many hours Saldana (or Bautista, for that matter) has spent in a makeup chair between three Guardians and two Avengers. It must be hundreds of hours. That can’t be fun.
The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special premieres on Disney+ on November 25, 2022. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is scheduled to open in theaters on May 5, 2023.
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