‘GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3’ ANOTHER GREAT SEQUEL

The Marvel Cinematic Universe team has always had a penchant for making incredible, emotional movies, and it’s happened again.

Following the tearjerkers that were “Avengers: Infinity War,” “Avengers: Endgame,” “Spider-Man: Far From Home,” and “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” many fans were excited for the silly mannerisms of Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) and the rest of the Guardians of the Galaxy crew to return. If you were rooting for the latest Guardians movie to provide a break from the tissue box, well… you might want to bring one, just in case, when seeing “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” which opened in theaters on May 5.

For me, the Guardians series has always been a story of family. As someone who grew up in foster care, it was up to me to decide who was family and who wasn’t. Sometimes, blood doesn’t always equal family. Guardians of the Galaxy normalized that for me. From the very first movie, it was apparent that the stories were meant to normalize taking comfort in your Found Family. In that first film, Gamora (Zoe Saldana) broke her ties with her adopted father after realizing that he stood for the wrong things and Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista) had to find solace in his new friends after losing his family.

In Vol. 2 of the series, Peter had to discover that his father, Ego (Kurt Russell) wasn’t the father he had been craving, and had to make peace with it while Nebula (Karen Gillan) finally left Thanos (Josh Brolin) after having enough of his abusive manner. And now Vol. 3 also fits the theme, this time focusing on Rocket.

In this newest installment, Marvel fans will be very pleased to see that Rocket Raccoon’s origin story is finally here. Much light is shed on its nature, to the delight of comic fans. But not only does Vol. 3 depict the Guardians finding solace in a Found Family, it shows the struggles of mourning a loved one, and the anxiety of feeling like you must live up to the legacy of another.

Fans will also see other familiar comedic faces from Marvel, including Cosmo the Spacedog (Maria Bakalova), The High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji), and Adam Warlock (Will Poulter).

All in all, the MCU again brings a masterpiece to the box office, and to our hearts.