We don’t really know much about the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe beyond theuntitledAvengers 4, but we now have double-secret confirmation of theGuardians of the Galaxy 3release date. Last May, asGuardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2was hitting theaters, writer/directorJames Gunnhad already been confirmed to reprise his duties forGuardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3and the filmmaker revealedin a heartfelt Facebook postthat he’d be spending “the next three years” creating the third film in theGuardiansfranchise. That seemed to indicate theGuardians of the Galaxy 3release date as sometime in 2020, and indeed while Marvel Studios hasn’t confirmed a specific date, Gunn took to Twitter over the weekend and confirmed once again thatGuardians 3will hit theaters in 2020:
Marvel Studios has three release dates staked out in 2020 for untitled films:
August 21, 2025
July 11, 2025
August 11, 2025
The May release date would be in keeping with the debut ofGuardians 2, which worked quite well for the studio to the tune of $863.7 million, but an August release date would be something of a “throwback” as the firstGuardiansdebuted in the first weekend of August—at that time a bit of an oddity for a big blockbuster—and soared at the box office.
Gunn has said thatGuardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3will conclude the story of this iteration of the Guardians, which likely means the franchise will continue with a different lineup but likely with a different filmmaker at the helm as Gunn moves on to other things. The filmmaker is not only working onGuardians 3at the moment, but is also overseeing the creation and curation of the “Marvel Cosmic Universe,” which relates to Marvel movies that take place in outer space.
Indeed, while Marvel currently has five films in the can and another about to start production, they’re going to run through those movies in the span of just under a year and a half, and we knowzilchabout the movies coming after. This year we haveBlack Pantherin February,Avengers: Infinity Warin May, andAnt-Man and the Waspin July, then we getCaptain Marvelin March 2019 (which starts filming soon), the aforementioned untitledAvengers 4in May 2019, andSpider-Man: Homecoming 2in July 2019.
Marvel Studios presidentKevin Feigehas calledAvengers: Infinity WarandAvengers 4—which were shot back-to-back—a “culmination event” that will forever change the MCU and bring to a close the storyline that has permeated through all prior films, soGuardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3will be part of a “new” MCU that could look quite different. As a sequel that makes it one of the few familiar faces in what could be a lineup of new and unique superhero movies as folks likeRobert Downey Jr.andChris Evansreach the end of their contracts.
So yeah, while we know almost nothing about the future slate of Marvel movies beyond the already-announced sequels, fans can rest assured that if thingsaremarkedly different, we’ll get some comfort food in the form ofGuardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3sometime in 2020.
For a full list of upcoming superhero movie release dates,click here.
