Thor: Love and Thunder is coming out July 8, and everyone in the universe is going to be in it! Thor will go up against Gorr the God Butcher and Zeus. Korg, Miek, and Valkyrie will be playing their parts. Even Loki will be back, albeit played by Matt Damon in another Asgardian play. Now, the teaser trailer has given us our first glimpse at a crossover everyone’s been excited about: the Guardians of the Galaxy.
Thor first met the Guardians in Avengers: Infinity War, when Thanos destroyed the Asgardian refugee ship escaping Ragnarok. The Guardians received the Asgardians’ call for help and picked up Thor from the wreckage. After that, Thor and the Guardians teamed up to prevent Thanos from getting more Infinity Stones and forge a new weapon that Thor could use to kill him.
At the end of Avengers: Endgame, Thor abdicated the throne of New Asgard and decided to continue traveling across the universe with the Guardians, which is why the movie will most likely open with Thor aboard the Guardians’ ship, following them on their adventures. Sure enough, we get a small taste of what they’ll all be up to in the teaser. We see Thor and the Guardians going into battle against a race of blue-skinned people, implying that we’ll get at least a few scenes of Thor and the Guardians together.
However, don’t expect the Guardians to have a huge role in Love and Thunder. The teaser also shows the ship leaving a planet through a jump point, with Thor staying behind to find and reinvent himself. The Guardians’ involvement in the movie will most likely be a cameo, with the rest of their story continuing in Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3, due out in May 2023.
Here are all the Guardians who are confirmed to appear in Thor: Love and Thunder!
Peter Quill, AKA Star Lord
Peter got blipped along with half the universe at the end of Infinity War, but he and the other Guardians are back! As captain of the Benetar and self-proclaimed leader of the Guardians, Peter has a bit of an ego on him (rare in superhero movies, I know), and he and Thor had quite the turf war in Infinity War. Thor helped himself to the Guardians’ rations and shuttle while Peter lowered his voice to sound manlier and tried to maintain control of his ship and crew.
The two were at it again at the end of Endgame, and it looks like they’ll keep up the ribbing in Love and Thunder. We see Peter seemingly rolling his eyes at Thor (although it could be a misleading camera cut), but it also looks like the two have bonded over their adventures. Peter also gives Thor some lovely advice: “You ever feel lost? Just look into the eyes of the people you love.” Peter’s looking at the rest of his team when he says it, but then Thor then tries to catch Peter’s eye. Are they flirting? It’s probably just platonic, but the dynamic between them is still great.
Drax
We haven’t seen much of Drax since Infinity War, when he got blipped. Drax was obsessed with getting revenge for the murder of his family (I mean, who wouldn’t be?), and even after Ronan was killed in the first Guardians of the Galaxy, Drax’s focus just shifted to Thanos. Now that Thanos is dead, too, it’ll be interesting to see where Drax goes from here. Love and Thunder probably won’t get into that, though, since Drax’s appearance will likely just be a cameo.
Groot
Groot’s still looking like a teenager in the teaser, although he does seem to have grown. This implies that a bit of time has probably passed since Thor first joined the Guardians. Groot, you’ll recall, supplied the wood for the handle of Thor’s axe Stormbreaker when Eitri the Dwarf couldn’t find the handle he’d already made.
Mantis
We also see Mantis standing with the Guardians, although like the rest of the team, she probably won’t play a big role in the movie. The Guardians met Mantis on Ego, the Living Planet, who was also Peter’s father, and now she’s an official Guardian herself. Mantis is an empath with the power to read people’s emotions and even put them into a trance.
Nebula
Nebula’s redemption arc was a slow burn in Phase 3, with her and Gamora’s reconciliation in Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2, and her ill-fated effort in Endgame to convince her past self that she could break free of Thanos’s grip. She seemed to bond with Rocket in Endgame, traveling with him during the five years of the Blip when the rest of the Guardians were gone, and it’s nice to see that she’s still kicking around with them even though the universe is back to normal. If anyone in the universe needed a friend, it’s Nebula.
Rocket
The Guardians of the Galaxy just wouldn’t be the Guardians of the Galaxy without Rocket Raccoon, and sure enough, we see him standing alongside the others. I hope he gets a little screen time in Love and Thunder. I love that alarmingly violent little rascal.
But Wait! Where is Gamora?
Also, who is Gamora? Why is Gamora? Sorry, couldn’t resist.
Endgame was a huge reset button for all the characters who died in Infinity War, and Gamora was one of the characters who came back to life through alternate timeline shenanigans. The problem, though, was that this new Gamora, having hopped forward almost ten years from the past, never joined the Guardians or fell in love with Peter, so she doesn’t have the same relationships with them all as her other self did. As a result, she’s conspicuously absent during Tony’s funeral scene. It’s no surprise that she isn’t pictured with the rest of the team in the Love and Thunder teaser. It’s likely that her whereabouts, and whatever new relationship she’ll have with Peter and the rest of the team, will be fleshed out in Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3. Unfortunately, though, that means it’s highly unlikely that she’ll make an appearance in Love and Thunder.
Which Guardian are you looking forward to seeing in Love and Thunder? Let us know in the comments!
(image: Marvel)
