'Guardians 3' Isn't Coming Anytime Soon

Guardians of the Galaxy 2 comes out May 5, but there's already so much chatter from eager viewers about when the third movie in the franchise will arrive. Over the past couple of years, the Guardians have given theaters an out of this world spacefaring adventure, and now that the second movie is here, it's time we get some info on James Gunn's promise for a GotG 3, which, according to an interview with Slash Film, will be the last in the series. So just when will Guardians of the Galaxy 3 come out? We fans need to know.

In a recent tweet, director Gunn told his followers that we can expect the third film to be released after the third and fourth Avengers movies hit theaters. What this tells us is that since the currently untitled fourth Avengers film will be released May 3, 2019, we should expect the return of the Guardians to likely be sometime in 2020 or 2021. In other words, please keep yourself busy with other Marvel favorites that are set to be released in the meantime.

So far, according to Entertainment Weekly, we've got Spider-Man: Homecoming (July 7, 2017), Thor: Ragnarok (Nov. 3), Black Panther (Feb. 16, 2018), Avengers: Infinity War (May 4, 2018), Ant-Man and The Wasp (July 6, 2018), Captain Marvel (March 8, 2019). That's a lot of movies to get excited about, which is good considering how long a wait there is until Guardians 3 arrives.

In an interview with Toronto-Sun Gunn explained how the GotG trilogy will help in establishing the next 10 years of Marvel films.

“I will be helping to plant the seeds that will lead to the next decade. I’m helping to decide what projects we’ll be pursuing outside of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3… and what the next cosmic characters we will focus on.”

Though fans will be sad to see GotG eventually bid a final farewell, it will be a treat to see what else Marvel has in store and if Gunn's influence will carry on post-Guardians. The director has already made a big impact on the MCU, having made a cameo in the first GotG movie and having written and produced both films in the series. For now, we can relish in him directing Guardians 2, and stay energized for the third movie's eventual release down the line.