Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is the best movie to come out of Marvel Studios in a while. The final Guardians film written and directed by James Gunn before he devotes himself full-time to making DC movies and TV shows, the movie is a fun ride that still has a heart. It’s a nice way to say goodbye to some of our favorite characters.
…only it’s not really goodbye, because this is the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and unless an actor makes like Robert Downey Jr. and marches into Kevin Feige’s office to say “I’m out,” their character will remain alive to be tapped at a later date should Marvel feel like it.
Accordingly, no one dies in Guardians 3. That includes even the villain the High Evolutionary, played with glorious venom by Chukwudi Iwuji. The Guardians come close to ending his life, but Rocket — whom the High Evolutionary had hurt more than anyone — opts not to pull the trigger.
The High Evolutionary is “Imprisoned on Knowhere”
But still, the Guardians appear to leave the High Evolutionary aboard his doomed spaceship, which explodes. Now, when I was watching the movie, I knew immediately this meant that the guy was still alive, because unless we literally see someone’s head explode in a superhero movie, it means they’re coming back. But you’d be forgiven for thinking the High Evolutionary died.
But he didn’t. The Guardians save him. There’s even a shot where Drax can be seen carrying the High Evolutionary out of the ship on his back, although it’s absurd to act like anybody would catch that unless they were really looking for it. And even then…well, take a look for yourself:
So the implication of the movie is that the High Evolutionary is dead. But again, this is Marvel, so they don’t want to give up a potential asset. Talking with fans on Twitter, Gunn confirmed that the High Evolutionary is instead “imprisoned on Knowhere,” the Guardians’ home base:
Spoiler
— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) May 19, 2023
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Imprisoned on Knowhere.
Will the High Evolutionary play a bigger role in the MCU going forward?
Iwuji’s performance as the High Evolutionary was a highlight of the movie, so I wouldn’t complain if he came back. If I can shift into wild speculation for a moment, I wonder if Disney might rewrite some scripts going forward and use the High Evolutionary in place of Kang the Conqueror, the major new villain played by Jonathan Majors; we’ve met variants of him in Loki and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Majors has had a run of scandals recently, and it’s possible Marvel will write him out of the MCU.
Although they may not. It’s too early to say. The gears of the superhero-industrial complex are always turning.
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h/t Collider, The Direct