Rocket Raccoon looks ready to blast off into the stars in a new image from Marvel Studios' Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.A new promotional still from the upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe threequel has been released, showing Rocket inside the cockpit of an undisclosed ship. While writer/director James Gunn has confirmed that the Bowie -- first introduced in The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special -- will be the Guardian's primary ship in Vol. 3, it's unknown if that's actually where Rocket is in the image.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is confirmed to heavily focus on Rocket Raccoon's past, with the official synopsis for the film confirming that the inciting incident will be "the echoes of Rocket’s turbulent past." This will lead the titular team to embark on "a dangerous mission to save Rocket’s life—a mission that, if not completed successfully, could quite possibly lead to the end of the Guardians as we know them." The decision to center the film around Rocket came from Gunn, who has always viewed the fan-favorite cosmic raccoon as "the secret protagonist of the Guardians movies."
James Gunn Explains Volume 3's Long Runtime
Atomic Tickets' website recently listed the runtime for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 at 2 hours and 29 minutes, making the threequel one of the longest MCU films. Gunn has since confirmed the reported runtime, but clarified that it is "not exact yet." The director tweeted, "I promise, not a second is wasted. There's no fat." He explained that it "was necessary to experience the full arc for every major Guardians character, not only for this film, but for the trilogy (or, I should say, trilogy plus)," taking into account the Guardians' appearances in Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame and Thor: Love and Thunder. At 149 minutes, Volume 3 will tie Infinity War for the fourth-longest MCU film, with only Endgame (181 minutes), Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (161 minutes) and Eternals (157 minutes) running longer.
Who's Who in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3?
Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldaña, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Sean Gunn and Maria Bakalova star in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 as the titular cosmic team, reprising their roles from previous MCU projects as Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax, Nebula, Mantis, Groot, Rocket, Kraglin and Cosmo the Spacedog, respectively. The threequel also stars Chukwudi Iwuji as the High Evolutionary, Elizabeth Debicki as Ayesha, Will Poulter as Adam Warlock, Sylvester Stallone as Stakar Ogord and Michael Rosenbaum as Martinex.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 opens in theaters on May 5, as part of Phase 5 of the MCU.
Source: Twitter