Unlike the Avengers team, the new Guardians lineup took no time to get.

If you are reading this, I’m going to be under the assumption you have seen Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and so you know that the first end credit scene left us with our official new lineup for the Guardians. I don’t think many were too surprised at who we saw joining, but we’re going to go through all the new members and where we think they could appear next. If you haven’t had a chance to listen to our podcast episode about this topic, you can hit the button below to find your platform of choice or listen live by clicking play on the link provided.

The New Guardians of the Galaxy Roster

Rocket

If Rocket comes as a surprise to you, then it’s likely because you were someone who thought he wouldn’t make it through Vol. 3. Luckily, he did and we learned/confirmed that the Guardians franchise was actually Rocket’s story, rather than Quill’s. This being said it makes a ton of sense to have Rocket be the next leader of the Guardians. I mean, even before, he and Quill would constantly argue over who was the captain and who was in charge. But now Rocket fully runs the show and it does make sense. Of course, we got a very symbolic passing of the torch during the movie when Peter gives the Zune to Rocket after almost dying to retrieve it. We know Peter as the music guy, so giving Rocket the Zune at the end is a way of saying the legacy now continues with him. We also then see Rocket play a 2000s song rather than an 80s song, which indicates the new generation of Guardians is here.

Groot

I think I speak for many of us in saying that it would be really, really weird to have Groot without Rocket. Going all the way back to Guardians Vol. 1, we were even introduced to the two of them as a team before the others even come into the picture. They’re essentially a packaged deal. But Groot will definitely be different on the new team, as we saw quite a bit of development in this film, and then physical development in the end credit scene. Vol. 3 allowed us to see that Groot is much more versatile than his ‘father’ appeared to be, able to create wings and become octo-Groot to shoot various guns at the same time. He definitely comes across as a little more aware and definitely is a force to be reckoned with. I’m excited to see what they do with this monstrous version of Groot and honestly, how he fits on the ship now. It will also be fun to see if he keeps growing or if we have hit his final evolution, as we have seen a different Groot in just about every film he was in, including Infinity War and Endgame.

Kraglin

Joining the Guardians has been a long time coming for Kraglin. He’s been around since the first Guardians and has slowly been making himself a more and more prominent character. Obviously, since being gifted Yondu’s arrow after his death, Kraglin has become his own superhero. We see his journey during Vol. 3 with learning how to use the arrow and now that he does, the end credit shows his confidence has increased. He’ll be a great asset to the team and also a meaningful way to continue to have Yondu’s legacy wherever the Guardians go next.

Cosmo

Cosmo is another character that I’m not sure we should be too surprised in seeing join the team. She, like Kraglin, has been appearing in several other pieces of Guardians content and we really saw her become one with the team more in the holiday special. Cosmo has the power of telekinesis, making her an extremely powerful hero with a cute and fluffy body. She is a good dog, as we all know, and I think she will not only be a valuable asset to the team, but we will see more of her strength grow as we see her fighting along with the other Guardians.

Adam Warlock

I’m not sure I need to talk too much about Adam, since we did go pretty in-depth with him as a character in the predictions episode. I will say, no one was shocked on our side when we saw him suited up with the other Guardians during the end credit scene. We see him lose his mother at the hands of their maker, and that’s enough to turn anyone into a hero with a tragic backstory. He clearly has a lot of growing up to do from the version we saw in Vol. 3, but it will be a pretty fun ride seeing him grow into himself, sort of how we got to see the next generation of Groot grow into who he is today. I will predict now, though, that Adam is one of the few members of the Guardians that I’m not sure will always stay with the team. They’re a great fit for him now, but as he grows up, I wouldn’t be shocked to see him leave and decide to do some things on his own, maybe falling into some of those other Adam Warlock storylines he’s so well-known for.

Phyla-Vell

She is probably the most interesting character to come out of Vol. 3 and honestly very unexpected. She does have plenty of ties to the Guardians, but her other connection might have been partially a giveaway by her name. She has extremely strong connections to Captain Marvel and that whole cosmic crew. In the comics, she is the daughter of Mar-Vell, the person who predates Captain Marvel and who we sorta saw in Captain Marvel the movie. It’s pretty interesting that Phyla has these connections when two upcoming pieces of content are Secret Invasion and The Marvels. I don’t think it’s on accident, the timing, but I also think we can expect to see or be hinted at Phyla’s existence in one of these two pieces of content. Another pretty important thing to note about her is that she is one of the heroes who at one point wields the Nega bands, which are golden bracelets that draw energy from the negative zone. They were created by Kree intelligence, which makes sense with this whole cosmic line that started with Captain Marvel. Yet, I also want to point out that if this is something we see come true in Marvel, it is yet another piece of magical jewelry floating around. Oh, and one more thing. Ms. Marvel also wears the bands at one point. Could her bangle be an unofficial Nega band?

Where They Could Appear Next – Guardians Storyline

A possible next foe for these Guardians to face could be that of the Cancerverse. This is an extremely prominent storyline for the Guardians and since we didn’t see it with the OGs, it’s still very much on the table for the next group. We also have more heavy hitters in this group regarding powers, with many of the new talents having magical or cosmic abilities, so the stakes could be increased. The reason the Cancerverse also is so relevant is that the Cancerverse is created by Mar-Vell, indirectly. As to what I just explained, we now have, at least in the comics, his daughter as a player in this game.

To simplify the Cancerverse, Captain Mar-Vell was dying when mutated beings known as the Many-Angled ones corrupted his mind into killing Death. In doing so, he convinced the heroes who were mourning him to go kill Death, subsequently opening their universe to the Many-Angled ones. The heroes all turned demonic with the ancient powers the Many-Angled ones bestowed upon them and in turn worshipped them blindly. On Earth-616, the detonation of a T-bomb caused a fissure in the universe known as the Fault, which then allowed the Cancerverse to crossover into Earth-616 and invade. Here lies where the Guardians come in, as they enter the Cancerverse and take Thanos, aka the avatar of Death. The Guardians fight alongside Thanos before Death is summoned and wreaks havoc on the beings of the Cancerverse.

Now I know that is the Cancerverse in the world’s smallest nutshell and as you were reading that, I know you were thinking, “Well, cool, but Thanos is dead.” Yes, true, but death is only temporary in a Multiversal landscape. We might not have Thanos, but other universes do. With that being said, that also only matters if the MCU would play out the Cancerverse exactly as it did in the comics, which is something we already know they rarely ever do.

Where They Could Appear Next – MCU Storyline

Tying our new team into the larger MCU might not be as difficult as it looks. First and foremost, just to get it out in the open, we are assuming just about all the characters will be appearing in Kang Dynasty or Secret Wars. As they are the Infinity War/Endgame of these phases, it only makes sense, that those movies are the catch-all to wondering where a hero might appear next.

Otherwise, I think Phyla might make a guest appearance or at least be mentioned in either Secret Invasion or The Marvels, with the most significant emphasis on the latter. She has immense ties to that cosmic realm and as I said before, I don’t see it as an accident that she was brought in right before either of those show up.

The only other possible option could be Nova, whenever that comes out, but I think this is the least likely option. Nova seems very low on the list of things to worry about right now for Marvel and even beyond that, Nova tends to have more of a connection to Peter than the other Guardians, at least at the start. I wouldn’t put it past the Guardians to connect with Nova eventually, but I don’t think it will be our next appearance from them. We will just have to wait and see!

There you have it folks. Our new Guardians team has been given to us and it looks like we are going to continue some great adventures with them. It’ll be interesting to see where the franchise goes now after James Gunn, but I have faith the Guardians will remain as chaotic and hilarious as always. As for what’s next with us, believe it or not, Across the Spiderverse is coming in hot. Our predictions episode will be hitting the audio waves pretty soon, so keep an eye out and get your butt to the theater, since Marvel just blew your mind, so let’s talk about it.

Image: “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 End Credit”, Amitabh Mukherji, Wiki of Nerds