Avengers: Endgame was truly a game-changing movie for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It finished off the MCU’s Phase 3 and closed out arcs for some of the MCU’s veteran characters like Iron Man, Captain America, and Black Widow, while also teasing what fans can expect from Phase 4, including more Spider-Man (who will be seen next in Spider-Man: Far From Home on July 2), more Captain Marvel, more Black Panther, and best of all, more Guardians of the Galaxy.

With most of the Guardians now returned to the present-day following the reversal of Thanos’s Snap, the possibilities seem endless when it comes to what fans can expect from the third and final film in the Guardians saga. Director James Gunn will return to direct and has teased that this film will be an “epic conclusion” to the Guardians story. While no plot details for Guardians 3 have been confirmed, we can’t say for sure what this story will be about, but thankfully, Endgame has given us a pretty good idea of what we can expect.

WARNING: Spoilers ahead for Avengers: Endgame.

Here’s what we know.

Where Are the Guardians When ‘Endgame’ Begins?

‘Avengers: Endgame’ (Credit: Marvel Studios).

When Endgame begins, the only surviving Guardians are Nebula and Rocket.

Avengers: Infinity War, the first part of this epic MCU story, was not kind to the Guardians. There was a particularly high toll taken on the group thanks to the fact that two of the group’s members — Gamora and Nebula — are Thanos’s daughters, adding higher emotional stakes when it came to defeating him.

Infinity War nearly wiped out the Guardians. After meeting Thor, who literally crashes into the windshield of the Benatar before coming aboard and telling them about Thanos being on the warpath, they try to stop Thanos. First, they attempt to do it on their own, but Thanos is able to keep the upper hand thanks to the Infinity Stones. This leads them to team up with a few of Earth’s heroes — Tony Stark, Doctor Strange, and Peter Parker — to fight Thanos on his home planet, Titan. Well, everyone except for Rocket and Groot, who broke off and went with Thor, eventually ending up in Wakanda.

During the fight on Titan, the Guardians learn that Thanos sacrificed Gamora on Vormir in order to get the Soul Stone. Thanos is able to escape from Titan to Wakanda and is able to complete the Snap. In the final minutes of Infinity War, the Snap claims Peter, Drax, Mantis, and Groot, leaving Nebula and Rocket behind to find a way to bring them back.

What Happens To The Guardians In ‘Endgame’?

Karen Gillan and Don Cheadle as Nebula and War Machine (Courtesy: Marvel Studios)

For the first hour of  Avengers: Endgame’s three-hour runtime, Nebula and Rocket at the only Guardians we see. It’s implied we’ll likely never see Gamora again because she has been sacrificed on Vormir and we are meant to hold on to the hope that Peter, Drax, and Mantis will return once the Avengers can reverse the Snap.

We find out that, in an odd twist of fate and a hefty dose of time travel, Gamora is able to be resurrected – in a sense. When Rhodey and Nebula return to Morag in 2014 to retrieve the Power Stone before Peter can steal it (in what was the opening scene of the first Guardians of the Galaxy), present-day Nebula’s mind syncs up with 2014 Nebula’s mind, allowing 2014 Thanos, Gamora, and Nebula to uncover the Avengers’ plan. Thanos sends 2014 Gamora and Nebula to capture present-day Nebula in order to extract more information from her because she was present during the planning meetings wherein the locations of the Stones were revealed.

2014 Nebula and Gamora capture present-day Nebula and keep her prisoner on Thanos’s ship with Gamora staying behind to interrogate her. Present-day Nebula tells Gamora that they end up becoming friends and that it’s possible for Gamora to change her ways since this version of Gamora is still one Thanos’s right-hand man and hasn’t yet met the Guardians.

2014 Nebula, decidedly more of a killer than a friend, manages to throw some big wrenches in the Avengers’s plan to retrieve the Stones. She time travels back to the present day and while the other Avengers are building a new Infinity Gauntlet, she helps to bring Thanos, 2014 Gamora, and present-day Gamora (along with the rest of Thanos’s army) to the present day so he can attack the Avengers and get the Stones.

Additionally, Rocket isn’t given too much to do during Endgame, but he is given the important take of helping Thor retrieve the Reality Stone from Asgard during the Thor: The Dark World storyline. Still in mourning over the loss of his friends, Rocket is more determined than ever to retrieve the Stones and makes damn sure that Thor is, too. While Thor is talking with his mother, Frigga, for one final, precious conversation, Rocket sneaks into Jane Foster’s room and retrieve the stone and the pair have to make a hasty exit back to the present day.

In the final battle against Thanos, the Avengers are able to reverse the Snap and bring all those lost during Infinity War back to life — and back to the battlefield to take down Thanos. In one brief moment during the battle, 2014 Gamora swoops in to help Peter fight. Unfortunately, 2014 Gamora has none of the emotional ties or history with Peter that present-day Gamora had, so when Peter goes to hug her, she punches him. Clearly, there will need to be some work done on this relationship.

What Does It Mean For ‘Guardians Of The Galaxy 3’?

Zoe Saldana (Gamora) and Karen Gillan (Nebula) in ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2’ (Credit: Walt Disney Studios)

Endgame leaves the Guardians in an odd place. Gamora has disappeared to who knows where following the big battle against Thanos, leaving Peter heartbroken all over again. But the gang is back together and Thor has seemingly joined the team, too. The last thing we see before the film wraps up is the newly reunited Guardians jetting off into space for their next adventure.

With all of this in mind, we can expect to see at least a portion of Guardians 3’s screentime dedicated to the team trying to track down 2014 Gamora and possibly trying to reincorporate her into the crew. Peter will stubbornly pursue this objective because he won’t want to lose Gamora for a second time.

In a similar vein, the Guardians will likely have to talk about what happened during Infinity War and Endgame, dealing with the emotional toll of the decimation of their team. There’s going to be a lot of emotional work done to restrengthen the bond of the Guardians and hopefully, this third and final film is ready to tackle that.

But also, Guardians 3 will be entirely its own new adventure. While no plot has been confirmed, we wouldn’t be surprised if we saw the return of Ayesha from Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2, who appeared in one of the film’s five end credits scenes and teased the arrival of Adam Warlock. The Guardians did Ayesha dirty in Vol. 2 and her final scene indicates she’s on the warpath, ready to take down the Guardians at any cost. Definitely keep an eye on her.

Get your tickets to see Avengers: Endgame here.