Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was recently released on Disney+ on Wednesday, August 2, after which the platform shared the movie's place on the MCU timeline. The Marvel movie was officially released in theatres on May 5, starring Dave Bautista, Zoe Zaldana, Bradley Cooper, and, of course, Chris Pratt.
The first Guardians of the Galaxy was the 10th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and hit the cinemas in August 2014. The movie was a space adventure that was mixed with some superhero fun of the MCU and James Gunn’s unique spin on galactic adventures such as Star Wars.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 managed to earn $845.3 million after its theatrical release at the worldwide box office. At the time of writing, it’s the fourth-highest movie of 2023, with The Super Mario Bros. Movie being number one, Spider-Man: Across the Spiderverse being second-highest and Barbie being third-highest.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Timeline
As per the timeline shared by Disney+, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 comes after Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania and right before Secret Invasion. This timeline order is based on the release date of every MCU movie and TV show in 2023. According to TheDirect, the movie was actually supposed to release in 2020, but couldn’t due to some complications such as James Gunn getting fired from Disney+.
It’s exciting to think where Guardians of The Galaxy Vol. 3 would've been on the timeline if it had originally been released in 2020. Regardless, the timeline placement that we have now is also not much of a surprise, and it’s safe to say that we saw it coming. It seems quite irrelevant whether the events of the movie occur before or after Ant-Man 3.
However, Vol. 3 was originally planned to be released after the events of The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special. You can see the entire list of MCU projects according to their timeline order below:
Captain America: The First Avenger
Captain Marvel
Iron Man
Iron Man 2
The Incredible Hulk
Thor
The Avengers
Thor: The Dark World
Iron Man 3
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Guardians of the Galaxy
I Am Groot: Groot’s First Steps
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
I Am Groot: The Little Guy
I Am Groot: Groot’s Pursuit
I Am Groot: Groot Takes a Bath
I Am Groot: Magnum Opus
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Ant-Man
Captain America: Civil War
Black Widow
Black Panther
Spider-Man: Homecoming
Doctor Strange
Thor: Ragnarok
Ant-Man and the Wasp
Avengers: Infinity War
Avengers: Endgame
Loki
What If...?
WandaVision
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier
Spider-Man: Far From Home
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Eternals
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
Hawkeye
Moon Knight
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
She-Hulk
Ms. Marvel
Thor: Love and Thunder
Werewolf by Night
The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special
Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
Secret Invasion
The Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 hit theatres on May 2017 and was set shortly after the events of its prequel. The movie’s story wasn’t a huge hit in the beginning as compared to other MCU movies, but it soon caught up after the release of Avengers: Infinity War. After Thor: Love and Thunder, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is the first film of its series that managed to take place in the present-day MCU in over a decade.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is currently streaming on Disney+.
