Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 is coming in May, and Marvel has released a new Super Bowl trailer with some new footage of the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji)—and a crush that none of us saw coming.
The High Evolutionary is a being who’s obsessed with using genetic engineering to create “the perfect society.” We got a glimpse of him in the first trailer, in which we could see that he’s made extensive modifications to himself. But now, the new trailer reveals more of his history with Rocket Raccoon.
Rocket Raccoon and the High Evolutionary
There’s a lot in this trailer, but the most exciting part might be Rocket’s backstory. We know that Rocket gained speech and human-like intelligence after he was experimented on as a baby, and the first trailer showed us a harrowing image of a hand reaching into baby Rocket’s cage. Now, the new trailer confirms that it was the High Evolutionary himself who experimented on Rocket. “He doesn’t want to make things perfect,” Rocket says in a voice over during the trailer. “He just hated things the way they are.”
Rocket is one of the most complicated and interesting characters in the Marvel universe. He loves guns and stealing things! He’s insecure because people keep calling him names like “vermin” and “trash panda!” But he also cares deeply for Groot, first as a friend and then as a parental figure, and sees the Guardians as his found family. He and Nebula also have a funky, touching friendship after surviving the Blip together. Case in point: she stole Bucky’s arm to give to him for Christmas.
Seeing more of Rocket’s past—and a potential love interest in Lylla the otter—is going to be a satisfying (and maybe devastating?) cap on the Guardians saga. We’re Team Rocket forever.
The love triangle no one asked for, but now we all kind of want?
At the beginning of the trailer, Peter tells Gamora she came back from the dead as a total dick. Wow! That’s a horrible thing to say to her and I love it!
The end of the trailer seems to circle back to that scene, in which Gamora tells Peter that the version of Gamora he loved sounds more like Nebula. Then Peter seems to get lost in Nebula’s eyes. What is happening!? I truly didn’t have “Peter Quill suddenly falls for his old flame’s prickly sister” on my 2023 bingo card.
Okay but does Peter die at the end!?
One of the last shots is of the Guardians carrying Peter’s body. There’s been a lot of talk about how not all of the Guardians are going to make it to the end of the film, but this shot may be a misdirect. Don’t believe everything you see in the trailers!
Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 comes out May 5, 2023!
(featured image: Marvel Entertainment)
