"Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" is the next film in Marvel Phase Three. While it is a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the film will not tie-in too strongly to the rest of the Marvel movies or to "Avengers: Infinity War." Marvel Enterprise President Kevin Feige now teases how the two films may connect.
Several of the Marvel films, particularly "Captain America: Civil War," could be considered as stand-alone films, Feige explained to Cinema Blend during a set visit. He then points out that "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" is even more of a stand-alone story than "Civil War."
"This is about the characters. This is about their evolution as heroes, as their own internal family," Feige explained. "You know, the way this film ends, and the team at the end, will inform future things, but there's nothing that nods directly towards it."
It is widely speculated this means the movie could end with Peter Quill aka Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) leading the team aboard the Milano towards Earth. Several characters from the team are making an appearance in "Avengers: Infinity War" but the plot connection may not be revealed until the very ending of "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2."
The sequel also has a more defined direction compared to the first movie, director James Gunn explained in a separate interview with Collider. Gunn further elaborated that with the sequel he no longer had to set up all the main characters and could now dive straight into the main plot.
"Avengers: Infinity War" will showcase the main Marvel heroes such as Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) and Captain America (Chris Evans) go up against Thanos (Josh Brolin). Thanos did make an appearance in the first "Guardians of the Galaxy" movie, further linking the two series together.
"Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" releases this May 5. The official trailer can be viewed below: