How Avengers: Infinity War Is Basically Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3

Gamora’s newfound vulnerability has been built up to in effective steps throughout the previous GotG movies with Peter Quill, and rekindling the relationship with sister Nebula. It’s ironic to see that this destruction of her walls, something we’ve pined to see with lovable Starlord throughout two precious movies, serves as her downfall. She can’t let her sister suffer, and she isn’t strong enough to continuously fight Thanos. It’s the peak of her emotional arc, and it becomes her death sentence.

Quill gets the same treatment, moving from comic relief to devastated boyfriend - a huge turning point for both him and Gamora as they finally admit their love for each other. Learning of her death sparks a primal rage in Quill that results in losing the battle against Thanos as he breaks Mantis’ connection and stops the removal of the infinity gauntlet.

We’ve never seen this much emotional complexity to his character, and it’s come from the heart of a man that lost his mother, recently lost his father, as well as his closest father figure, and now has lost the only other person he’s ever loved. Starlord’s character development has always been integral to the GotG films, and this one is no different - tying in tightly with the previous two instalments. It’s the sort of thing we’d expect in a standalone, exploring the character’s psyches and developing on from their own films in intricate, important detail. No one else really gets that privilege, except the Vision and Scarlet Witch storyline.

Obviously, we’re going to see lots of emotion from all 40+ of the protagonists we’ve come to know and love, but it’s the Guardians’ that serve as the most crucial to the plot. Whilst Captain America barely speaks and the Wakandans are wasted in their minimal screen time, there’s the interplay between the crew and musical cues that define a Guardians movie throughout Infinity War, indicating a heavy preference on the space-faring protectors.

Drax, Mantis, and Nebula continue as much in the same way as ever, and Rocket and Groot continue their camaraderie in a different way now the living tree has reached his teenage years. Seeing these two working together again, and in particular Rocket becoming some sort of father figure to the plant, is enough to make you feel sick when you realise that Rocket has to relive the pain of watching him die once more by the end of the film.