With the overload of information we got last month from Comic-Con (I still haven’t caught up on it all) on all the Marvel and DC movies, I honestly thought the news would all die down. But we are still getting loads of news coming in about these films. Doctor Strange and Suicide Squad have noticeably been given the most attention as they are both the next release for each studio, but there is still stuff coming through on the other films – and now it’s time for The Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2.
The fun cousin of the Marvel movies, the sequel doesn’t appear like it is going to let up on any of the crazy and fun antics. And from the news we’ve received so far, we already know the film will focus on Star-Lord and his relationship with his father, who happens to be an actual planet… Yes, if you thought the first movie had weird characters, this one is about to get even crazier. But now, based on new info that writer/director James Gunn revealed, the sequel will also not focus on the Infinity Stones.
Where the first movie saw the team come together over acquiring and then preventing the villain Ronan from using the purple Power Stone (one of the universe’s six ancient all-powerful artifacts), which is now held in safekeeping by Xandar’s Nova Corps police force, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 won’t involve a similar plot. At least, that’s what Gunn is telling fans on his Facebook page.
What makes it more bizarre is that the background and scope of these characters made this film a very likely candidate for more stones to appear. We know at some point during 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War (that title was just confirmed by Disney this week) all six stones will be assembled into the Infinity Gauntlet and at this point in time – just a few months before Doctor Strange releases – we’ve only seen four. So, we are still on a quest for two more (Soul Stone and Time Stone) and also how they will all be assembled together. And this movie will not do anything to get us there.
However, what this also allows the producer to do is make Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 more of an independent movie and not need to tie it into the rest of the cinematic universe. Director James Gunn when confirming the news also went on to say:
There will be no Infinity Stones in Vol 2, there will be infinity nothing. It’s a story about the Guardians and isn’t meant to lead to anything else.
And it’s that last sentence which tells us that Gunn is planning on this being a standalone film that will focus on the Guardians themselves and isn’t trying to draw them into any greater galactic quest or tie them into the rest of the Cinematic Universe. It’s a very different approach considering how Marvel is positioning all the films to hit some climatic point with those Avenger films. And while I believe Gunn is telling the truth here, I wouldn’t be surprised if at least a post-credit sequence provides some clue that aligns the films events closer to that goals.
Looking at the movies that are coming out before the next Avengers film, it leaves us with the aforementioned Doctor Strange, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Thor: Ragnarok, and Black Panther to reveal the other stones if we are to see them before then. I’m fairly certain Spider-Man and Black Panther are unlikely to reveal them based on what we know so far, so my bet is that Doctor Strange and the next Thor movie are likely to give us a hint of where these stones could be.
Doctor Strange opens November 4, 2016; Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 – May 5, 2017; Spider-Man: Homecoming– July 7, 2017; Thor: Ragnarok – November 3, 2017; Black Panther – February 16, 2018; Avengers: Infinity War – May 4, 2018; Ant-Man and the Wasp – July 6, 2018; Captain Marvel– March 8, 2019; Avengers 4 – May 3, 2019
Which film do you think will reveal the location of the remaining infinity stones?
Last Updated: August 4, 2016
