James Gunn Just Shut Down A Cute Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 Rumor

Guardians of the Galaxy and Thor in Avengers: Endgame

When we last left off with Thor in Avengers: Endgame, he’d hitched a ride to parts unknown with the Guardians of the Galaxy, and there was clearly some confusion between him and Star-Lord over who was in charge of the team. One would imagine that they’ll have decided who’s the proper leader of the Guardians by the time Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 arrives, but if any of you were wondering if the position would be decided by a dance-off, director and writer James Gunn has officially taken that off the table.

Over on his Instagram page, James Gunn shared in his Stories screenshots of a fan repeatedly requesting that Thor and Star-Lord have a dance-off in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, to which Gunn responded “Not gonna happen.” That’s not to say that we’ll never see these two heroes dance again in the MCU, but it won’t be in competition with each other while the events of the next Guardians movie unfolds.

Of course, anyone remotely familiar with the Guardians of the Galaxy movies will remember that Star-Lord previously challenged Ronan the Accuser in the first installment as a distraction while Rocket Raccoon was preparing to fire the Hadron Enforcer at the Kree radical’s Cosmi-rod, which held the Power Stone. Drax the Destroyer would later call this the “dance-off to save the universe” in Avengers: Infinity War, and a dance-off of any kind in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 would be a fun callback.

Quite frankly though, we still don’t even know if Thor will appear in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. If the threequel was still coming out this year as was originally planned, then there’s a good chance the God of Thunder would have participated in it since he’s already hanging out with these characters. However, a lot has changed since Vol. 3 was slated for a 2020 release.

In the months between being fired from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in summer 2018 and being rehired by Disney in early 2019, James Gunn was tapped to write and direct The Suicide Squad. As a result, Gunn won’t start filming Vol. 3 until the next Squad movie is completed. Additionally, Thor is next scheduled to appear in Thor: Love and Thunder, which will wrap up the MCU’s Phase 4 towards the end of 2021.

For now, those involved with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, including Chris Pratt, are staying mum on if Thor will show up. Maybe there’ll be a way for him to cross paths with the Guardians again after the events of Thor: Love and Thunder, or maybe because of the way the cards played out, he’ll just have to be absent from Vol. 3. Either way, it’s already been confirmed that Love and Thunder will take place before Vol. 3.

Avengers: Infinity War shook up the Guardians’ ranks, as in addition to Thanos killing Gamora so he could obtain the Soul Stone, Nebula and Rocket Raccoon were the only team members who survived when The Mad Titan wiped out half of all life in the universe. When Avengers: Endgame rolled around, Star-Lord, Drax, Groot and Mantis were all brought back to life by Hulk’s snap.

And though the present-day Gamora remains dead, her 2014 self aided in defeating Thanos and his forces during Avengers: Endgame, though following that victory, she disappeared. Star-Lord is now determined to find her, and one can infer this’ll be one of the main narrative hooks in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

As for Thor: Love and Thunder, while no specific plot details have been revealed yet, it will involve the God of Thunder reuniting with his ex-lover Jane Foster, who will obtain the Mighty Thor mantle. Tessa Thompson is reprising Valkyrie and Taika Waititi, in addition to writing and directing Love and Thunder, will reprise Korg. There’s also been reports about Christian Bale being in talks to play a villain.

Thor: Love and Thunder comes out on November 5, 2021, and we here at CinemaBlend will let you know when Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 gets a release date. Keep track of the rest of the MCU’s upcoming movies with our handy guide.

Adam Holmes
Senior Content Producer

Connoisseur of Marvel, DC, Star Wars, John Wick, MonsterVerse and Doctor Who lore, Adam is a Senior Content Producer at CinemaBlend. He started working for the site back in late 2014 writing exclusively comic book movie and TV-related articles, and along with branching out into other genres, he also made the jump to editing. Along with his writing and editing duties, as well as interviewing creative talent from time to time, he also oversees the assignment of movie-related features. He graduated from the University of Oregon with a degree in Journalism, and he’s been sourced numerous times on Wikipedia. He's aware he looks like Harry Potter and Clark Kent.