The Guardians of the Galaxy continue to make their base, the space facility called Knowhere, more hospitable, where among other things they also play good music. However, Peter Quill is inconsolable over the loss of Gamora, who is still alive but in a version from a different timeline, where he has never had any relationship to the other Guardians. The leader of the team is so in the grip of alcohol fumes when the Guardians are attacked by Adam Warlock, who manages to seriously injure Rocket. Attempts to cure the ingenious raccoon fail, because a security system has been installed in him which prevents any alteration. To save him, the Guardians will have to go back to Rocket’s origins and face his creator: the High Evolutionary, an almost divine being determined to create a perfect race to populate his own utopia.
James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy ends and the emotional maturation of many characters reaches a satisfactory completion, accompanied by irony, action and above all by a great soundtrack.
Definitely one of the most successful Marvel Movies of the new phase, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is also entirely separate from the main storyline of the Multiverse, which has touched almost all the other films. The High Evolutionary is in fact a nemesis who lives entirely in this galaxy and his Counter-Earth is not another dimension, but a planet modified to appear analogous to Earth. Adam Warlock, the powerful new character, also has roots planted in the previous film: he is in fact the test-tube “son” of Ayesha, the queen of the Sovereigns – who we discover is a civilization in turn created by the High Evolutionary, who does not he would have scruples about exterminating her if she proves useless to his purposes, which is to bring back Rocket to him. In fact, various flashbacks will illuminate the story of the space raccoon and reveal how unique and precious he is to this sort of eugenics-obsessed deity.
That the High Evolutionary, played very convincingly by Chukwudi Iwuji (Gunn’s Peacemaker series actor), is the creator of countless experiments allows the film to show off an impressive amount of unique creatures, a huge effort for the makeup departments , which makes the film not only very varied but also very concrete.
Although there are beings largely made in CGI, most of them are instead the result of prosthetic and other types of make-up. Just as Adam Warlock is completely analog, with golden skin and a sort of gem set on his forehead, much less digital than Captain Marvel for example when he charges up with energy, despite having more or less the same level of power.
Warlock, a character of very noble comic origin, protagonist of philosophical and existentialist science fiction stories, is however inevitably distorted by the tone of the Guardians of the Galaxy and ends up being yet another and forgettable analogue of Superman. If this is a real shame only for comic readers, even viewers unaware of who he is will certainly not be impressed: it was certainly better to leave him in the limbo of characters who never arrived on the screen, rather than introducing him in this way.