Get ready for one last ride in the first emotional trailer for 'Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3'

Hot off their Christmas kidnapping of Kevin Bacon, our favorite comic book space-travelers are back to save the cosmos in the first trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (arriving in early May of next year). While not without plenty of light-hearted moments, this initial collection of footage hints at a serious tear-jerking finale to the breakout trilogy written and directed by James Gunn.

"Don't forget where we came from," says Mantis (Pom Klementieff) as the trailer briefly flashes back to Rocket's (Bradley Cooper) traumatic origin story as a mad science experiment. Things aren't looking great for the prosthetic-pilfering trash panda who says stuff like "I'm done running" and "We'll all fly away together one last time." That definitely sounds like something a character with a death sentence would say. Rocket's origin is a tale Gunn has been keen to tell ever since he first introduced the gun-toting fan favorite to the MCU, and it seems we're finally going to see it. Oh, well — here come the waterworks!

We also get our first look at Will Poulter's golden god, Adam Warlock (whose introduction was set up by Vol. 2 a little over five years ago) and Chukwudi Iwuji's High Evolutionary (Iwuji previously worked with Gunn on HBO Max's Peacemaker). The Guardians are also sporting their new, comic-accurate costumes, as we see them try to make first contact with an alien world. Note to self: always make sure you're on the same dodgeball team as Drax (Dave Bautista).

Chris Pratt (Peter Quill/Star-Lord), Karen Gillan (Nebula), Vin Diesel (Groot), Sean Gunn (Kraglin), Zoe Saldana (Gamora), and Maria Bakalova (Cosmo) round out the roster of galactic protectors. It'll be interesting to see how Gamora is handled in this film, given the fact that the original version from Earth-616 was sacrificed by Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War. The Gamora glimpsed in the trailer below is the version from the alternate timeline in Avengers: Endgame who mysteriously disappeared following the Mad Titan's defeat.

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The only question we really have now, though, is what else can we expect from the soundtrack? We get some bars of Spacehog's "In the Meantime" in the trailer, so that's one track we can mark on the list. This particular tune was released in the late 1990s, suggesting that the latest "Awesome Mix" playlist — cultivated from the Zune gifted to Peter in the second movie — will comprise songs from beyond the '60s and '70s.

Fans should make the most of Vol. 3, as it not only marks the end of Gunn's Guardians trilogy, but also the beloved director's swan song at Marvel Studios. The director turned mega-producer is transitioning over to a new gig at DC Studios to take the helm of the entire film and TV slate, where he'll map out the next several years of what's to come with heroes like Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Black Adam, Shazam, Aquaman and more. He already showed he could connect the film and TV worlds at DC with his breakout hit Peacemaker (itself a spinoff of Gunn's The Suicide Squad), so it'll be interesting to see what he does with the entire sandbox at his disposal.

Vol. 3 was produced by Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige. Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Nikolas Korda, Simon Hatt, and Sara Smith are executive producers.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 arrives on the big screen May 5, 2023.

Looking for more sci-fi comedy? The first two seasons of Resident Alien are now streaming on Peacock.