'Guardians of the Galaxy 3' release date leaks — and it's worse than we thought

There's no shortage of Marvel movies and shows coming in the next few years, but fans of Rocket, Groot, and the rest of the Guardians of the Galaxy may be in for a nasty shock. The third movie in the popular sci-fi series doesn't have an official release date yet, but a new report from a reliable Marvel Cinematic Universe leaker just delivered some bad news for anyone impatiently waiting for Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3 to arrive.

Charles Murphy (that's an alias, real name unknown) has proven to be a reliable source, especially when it comes to unannounced release dates for MCU movies. Murphy made his mark in 2019 after he accurately leaked Marvel's entire Phase Four lineup, including accurate release dates, roughly a day before the company officially announced the news at San Diego Comic Con 2019.

Since then, Murphy's continued to update his own MCU calendar, which goes beyond Phase Four and into Marvel's murkier future, and his latest tweak is a big one. Most notably, he's added Guardians of the Galaxy 3 to his schedule, while also making a few other changes.

We're not sure what to make of that question mark next to Captain Marvel 2, but let's talk about that Guardians 3 release date. Apparently, it's not coming out until May 5, 2023. To be clear, this isn't official from Marvel. Even if it was, these things change all the time (remember Inhumans?), but it's still not a great sign for anyone hoping this movie would come sooner rather than later.

The reason for this delay is obvious: James Gunn (who was fired and then re-hired by Disney to helm the third movie in his Marvel franchise) is currently working on DC's The Suicide Squad. That movie is scheduled to release on August 6, 2021.

Gunn likely won't be working on that movie right up until it's release, though, and, as far as we know, he already has a script for Guardians of the Galaxy 3. So there was reason to be hopeful that the Marvel movie could be fast-tracked to release in early 2022. Based on Murphy's new report, however, it seems we were way too optimistic.

The good news, though, is that we'll probably see at least some of the Guardians of the Galaxy cast before then when Thor: Love and Thunder releases on November 5, 2021. After all, Avengers: Endgame ended with Thor basically joining the Guardians squad. He even renamed them the Asgardians of the Galaxy, though that name won't stick if Star-Lord has his way.

Regardless of what they're called, you can expect the Guardians to show up next year in Thor's upcoming adventure, but they won't get their own feature film for a very long time.

Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3 allegedly releases on May 5, 2023