Movie · Phase 3

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

2017 · 136 min

Three months after Xandar, the Guardians are working as expensive contractors and Rocket steals from the client, which is how a golden race called the Sovereign ends up hunting them. Rescued…

The Infinity SagaDisney+85%Released
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 poster art

The story

Three months after Xandar, the Guardians are working as expensive contractors and Rocket steals from the client, which is how a golden race called the Sovereign ends up hunting them. Rescued mid-crash by a man calling himself Ego, Peter finally meets the father he spent thirty years imagining.

Ego is a Celestial who seeded a thousand planets and needs a second Celestial heart to convert the universe into himself, and who killed Peter's mother to keep him focused. The film's actual subject is Yondu — the abusive smuggler who kept Peter because he could not bear to deliver him — and it earns one of the two or three best endings Marvel has.

Key facts

Release date
5 May 2017
Status
Released
Phase
Phase 3
Saga
The Infinity Saga
Runtime
136 min
Certificate
PG-13
Director
James Gunn
Writers
James Gunn
Streaming
Disney+
Timeline placement
2014 — a few months after the first Guardians film

Cast

ActorRole
Chris PrattPeter Quill / Star-Lord
Zoe SaldañaGamora
Dave BautistaDrax
Kurt RussellEgo
Michael RookerYondu Udonta
Pom KlementieffMantis
Karen GillanNebula

Characters

Gamora poster art

Gamora

Gamora Zen Whoberi Ben Titan

Easter eggs

  • Five separate post-credits scenes, including Ayesha creating a cocoon she names Adam and Stakar Ogord reassembling the original comic Guardians line-up.
  • Sylvester Stallone, Michelle Yeoh, Ving Rhames and Michael Rosenbaum play Stakar, Aleta, Charlie-27 and Martinex from Guardians of the Galaxy's 1969 debut team.
  • Stan Lee cameos as an astronaut telling stories to a trio of Watchers, confirmed by Gunn as the in-universe explanation for every Lee cameo.
  • David Hasselhoff appears as himself, paying off Peter's childhood lie that Hasselhoff was his father, and sings on the soundtrack.
  • Howard the Duck reappears at the Contraxia bar, drinking alone.
  • Ego's brain-tumour metaphor and Celestial physiology come from Jack Kirby's Eternals mythology, later expanded in Eternals.
  • Yondu's 'He may have been your father, boy, but he wasn't your daddy' is delivered over Cat Stevens' 'Father and Son'.
  • Baby Groot dances to ELO's 'Mr. Blue Sky' over the opening credits while a battle happens behind him — a structural joke Gunn reused in Vol. 3.

Trivia

  • James Gunn built the story around a 'planet dad' concept and wrote Ego for Kurt Russell from the outset.
  • Russell was digitally de-aged for the 1980 Missouri prologue using reference from his Used Cars-era performances.
  • Pom Klementieff performed Mantis' antennae reactions against reference markers, and Gunn cast her after a single audition.
  • The Ravager funeral was built with practical pyrotechnic rigs and thousands of individually programmed lights before CG extension.
  • The film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Visual Effects.
  • Gunn has said the entire film was written before the first one released, with the Yondu ending locked from the first draft.
  • Sean Gunn again performed Rocket on set, and the Awesome Mix Vol. 2 tracks were again selected before shooting.

Box office

Budget
$200 million
Worldwide
$863.8 million
Domestic
$389.8 million

Reviews

Critics

85%

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 isn't as fresh as its predecessor, but remains a highly entertaining follow-up thanks to abundant humour and an emotionally satisfying story.

The MarvelGossips verdict

Messier and more sentimental than Vol. 1, and it lands a harder emotional punch than any Marvel film before Endgame. The Sovereign are a running joke that overstays, and the middle act sags into everyone bickering in separate rooms. Then Yondu says the line about Mary Poppins and it does not matter.

Related titles

Frequently asked

Who is Peter Quill's father in the MCU?
Ego, a Celestial who manifests a human body and seeded offspring across a thousand worlds to fuel his Expansion. This differs from the comics, where Quill's father is J'son, emperor of the Spartoi.
Is Adam Warlock introduced in Vol. 2?
Only as a cocoon in a post-credits scene, created by Ayesha as a weapon against the Guardians. He does not physically appear until Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in 2023, played by Will Poulter.
Why did Yondu keep Peter?
Yondu was contracted to deliver Ego's children and discovered Ego was killing them. He kept Peter, badly, and the film reframes years of threats and abuse as a man with no vocabulary for love.
What are the five post-credits scenes?
Kraglin practising with the Yaka arrow, Stakar reuniting the original Guardians, Ayesha unveiling Adam's cocoon, teenage Groot ignoring Peter, and Stan Lee talking to the Watchers.
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