'Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3' Release Date: Marvel Says It "Will Happen"

Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige confirmed that the Guardians of the Galaxy will return for a third movie after Avengers: Endgame. The news comes months after director James Gunn was fired in response to an online far-right campaign to discredit the left-leaning filmmaker, leaving the future of the franchise in doubt.

At the red carpet for the 2018 Golden Globes ceremony in Los Angeles, Feige confirmed that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is still in development despite the James Gunn-shaped hole in Marvel’s wall.

“One thing you know about James Gunn, he makes cool films,” Feige told MTV News. “Guardians will happen. When, where, how, for a later time.”

In 2014 and 2017, Gunn served as director for both Guardians of the Galaxy and its sequel, Vol. 2. But in July 2018, Marvel fired Gunn after old, offensive tweets resurfaced online. The tweets, dated between 2008 through 2011, were of the “shock humor” variety that made light of rape, pedophilia, and AIDS. The director also wrote blogs in a similar style, which he apologized for in 2012.

“Many people who have followed my career know when I started, I viewed myself as a provocateur, making movies and telling jokes that were outrageous and taboo,” Gunn wrote on Twitter prior to his firing by Disney. “As I have discussed publicly many times, as I’ve developed as a person, so has my work and my humor.”

Around the time of the controversy, online movie essayist “Moviebob” noted Gunn’s own creative evolution was echoed in the characters of the Guardians of the Galaxy movies: Reckless, self-serving, foul individuals who, through internal and external forces, grow into mature, empathetic people.

When Gunn was fired, the actors of the Guardians of the Galaxy movies published a statement of unity behind the director. Later, in October 2018, Gunn was hired by Warner Bros. to write and direct Suicide Squad 2.

There is no release date for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. The Guardians will return in Avengers: Endgame, in theaters on April 26.