After Rewatching Guardians Of The Galaxy 3, I Need The MCU To Follow Up On The Team’s Most Underrated Member

After giving Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 another watch, I can"t help but seriously hope that the MCU brings back the team"s most arguably underrated member after the fascinating way their story ends in the film. While the third Guardians of the Galaxy movie serves as an ending of sorts for the MCU team, it"s one that also offers new beginnings, both by bringing a new version of the Guardians to life, and by letting the original group go their separate ways. However, it"s less clear whether the MCU timeline will follow up on some of these stories compared to others.
For example, the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 ending makes the future of Star-Lord pretty straightforward, giving us text that directly states that "The Legendary Star-Lord Will Return". Though that clears things up as much as possible for one member of the roster, the fates of the rest are still in relative flux - but hopefully the Guardians character who"s arguably the most underrated will also make a return at some point in the franchise, both because of where their story ends, and because of what the future could easily hold for said hero in upcoming MCU releases.
Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 Ended The Stories Of Most Of The Original Team To Begin A New Version Of The Group CloseNew Guardians team in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 mid-credits sceneMantis waving to Drax in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3Gamora being hugged by Ravagers in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3Drax looking emotional in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 After a successful MCU trilogy that takes place over nine real-world years, the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 ending sees the roster of its original team go their separate ways - with the exception of Groot and Rocket, who become the sole remaining members of the group. Though this adds some sense of consistency to the faction, it does mean most characters finish the story by going off and doing their own different things.
Guardians of the Galaxy began the movie trilogy in 2013, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 concluded it in 2024.
In the final act of the movie, Star-Lord goes to reunite with and live with his grandfather on Earth, Gamora goes back to live with The Ravagers, Nebula begins overseeing Knowhere - with Drax taking care of the Star Children who now live there - and Mantis heads off to explore space, armed with her powers and some new allies in the form of the three Abilisks she befriended in the High Evolutionary"s lair before its destruction. This adds an extra emotional punch to the final scenes of the trilogy, and provides a solid reason for a new Guardians roster to come to fruition in the film"s finale.
Mantis' Ending Makes Her MCU Story's Future Seem More Much More Interesting CloseMantis waving to Drax in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3Mantis leaving the Guardians of the Galaxy in Vol. 3 While all of the respective story updates Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 provides for its main cast are majorly interesting ones, Mantis" is perhaps the most interesting. This is in part because it"s one of the endings that seems most ambiguous in terms of whether we will ever see her again, since the movie closes with confirmation that Star-Lord will return, Rocket and Groot are in the new Guardians team, and Drax and Nebula still live on what looks like it will remain the Guardians" home base of sorts.
Given Mantis goes out to explore the wider cosmos to find herself, it"s not clear where or even whether we"ll see her again - as this setup makes it possible she could appear in one of the next crossover MCU installments, or never again in the franchise. With MCU Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy director James Gunn now operating as one of the two current DC Studios co-CEOs alongside Peter Safran and overseeing the DC Universe, Mantis reappearing would seemingly require another creator to take on her arc and move it forward, which others may not wish to do due to the poignant conclusion the third movie has.
However, hopefully Mantis" story is followed up on in some form, since the premise of someone with empath powers realizing they"ve never learned to live for themselves or what they want from life is a genuinely interesting concept, and one that the MCU could use to great success either by itself, or as part of a bigger ensemble story, much as it has historically been in the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy itself. This is doubly true given Mantis leaves with three Abilisks, who are not only seriously strong seeming of their own accord, but also suggested to be able to travel dimensions.
Indeed, Mantis ends the Guardians movie trilogy as something of a wild card in terms of where she goes next and in terms of her power level, since her powers were previously able to neutralize Thanos for a brief period, and her now adventuring around armed with three loyal alien behemoths is likely only set to make her a more imposing force whenever and wherever she may lend a hand. Though the MCU has a lot of plates to spin at this stage of its overall run, there are plenty of reasons to hope we get to see a follow-up for the character after where her story ends in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
I Truly Hope We Get To See Mantis Again In The MCU Closepom klementieff as mantis in the mcu looking offscreenStar-Lord hugging Mantis in The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday SpecialMantis looking surprised in the MCU The addition of Mantis to the Guardians of the Galaxy"s story in the series" second movie arguably played a major role in what allowed the sequel to feel just as strong as the original 2013 sci-fi film. This is both because Pom Klementieff is able to perfectly balance making Mantis a source of comic relief while fleshing her out as an endearing and three-dimensional character, and because Mantis" dynamics with the Guardians add further depth to all of their own stories.
While Mantis" fascinating ties to her brother Star-Lord and best friend Drax offer story opportunities to follow up on in terms of having an excuse to bring her back into future installments, these don"t seem strictly necessary to draw on in order to make Mantis" future interesting. In the comics, Mantis" arc takes her in several fascinating directions that the MCU would arguably benefit from replicating, including spending some time as an Avenger, having the planet she was living on targeted by Galactus, and becoming the "Celestial Madonna" - a person prophesied to give birth to a Celestial Messiah.
These stories provide a further fascinating backdrop for the MCU to draw upon, even though simply showing Mantis exploring the universe while backed up by her Abilisk allies by itself after the events of Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 sounds as though it could be interesting enough all on its own, particularly because so many of the best moments Mantis" character are her being placed in truly larger-than-life scenarios, and taking them mostly in her stride in a way that only someone who was raised by a malicious living planet really can. As such, whatever the case may be, it"s clear there are a huge number of ways the MCU could perfectly pull off bringing Mantis back into its story.
109 8.8/10 9/10 Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 10 stars 9 stars 8 stars 7 stars 6 stars 5 stars 4 stars 3 stars 2 stars 1 star Like Follow Followed PG-13 Science Fiction Adventure Action Release Date May 3, 2023 Runtime 150 minutes Director James Gunn Writers James Gunn Producers Kevin Feige, Louis D'Esposito, Nik Korda, Victoria Alonso, Simon Hatt Prequel(s) Guardians of the Galaxy, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Franchise(s) Guardians of the Galaxy, Marvel Cinematic Universe Cast See All Chris Pratt Peter Quill / Star-Lord Zoe Saldana Gamora
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