On a rewatch, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 seems to tease the team’s next leader from the first seconds of the MCU movie. After three movies in 9 years, the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy brought the initial team lineup to a conclusion, altering the majority of its members and setting them on a new path. While the MCU timeline hasn’t delved further into the story of the new Guardians yet, the prospect of the Rocket-led group appearing again in an upcoming MCU release is a promising one, particularly because of how powerful some new additions appear to be.

With Rocket’s MCU story getting a particular focus in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 before becoming the new figurehead of the group, it’s no surprise that the film takes care to set up this plot development before it actually happens on-screen. However, the fact the MCU movie subtly appears to begin to do so from its very first moments is still especially notable, particularly since this is so easy to miss without a rewatch of the Marvel film.

Guardians Of The Galaxy 3 Sees The MCU Team Get A New Lineup & Leader

Rocket Gets An Upgrade In The New Guardians Of The Galaxy Lineup

After two movies with essentially the same hero lineup, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 first changes things around by having Gamora leave the team – with the original Gamora being killed by Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War, and the version of Gamora who remains having none of the memories she made with the team – and adding her sister Nebula into the roster instead. This initial change paves the way for a more drastic group revamp in the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 ending, with only Groot and Rocket remaining from the original team’s lineup.

Instead, the new Guardians of the Galaxy team is made up of these two pre-existing Guardians and Adam Warlock, Cosmo, Kraglin, and Phyla. With the majority of these characters being newer to heroic endeavors, it perhaps stands even more to reason that Rocket ends up being the new leader of the group – something that’s conveyed effectively in the movie when Star-Lord hands over the proverbial reigns to his friend, and in the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 post-credits when Rocket gives the new team their orders on how to handle an upcoming fray before they charge into battle.

While this may not have been an avenue that many predicted to see before witnessing the events of the third Guardians of the Galaxy movie – as indeed, there was more focus on the idea that Rocket could die in the film rather than become the group’s new leader in the build-up to the film’s release – it is an avenue that makes sense on a story level for the trilogy. This is particularly true upon rewatching Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, wherein it retrospectively appears this plot detail is teased and foreshadowed from the opening moments of the film.

Guardians Of The Galaxy 3 Teases Rocket Being Star-Lord’s Successor As Team Leader From Its First Seconds Onwards

Rocket Succeeding Star-Lord As The Guardians Leader Is First Teased Early On

Guardians of the Galaxy is a series that revolves around music, with its carefully selected needle drops and ᴀssortment of nostalgic song choices coming to define the trilogy and many of its best scenes. This is justified by giving the series an in-universe link to its music choices, with initial Guardians leader and protagonist Star-Lord often picking the songs in-universe – initially from the Walkman he got from his mother Meredith as a child, and then later from the Zune left to him by his adoptive father of sorts Yondu.

At the beginning of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Rocket is shown listening to Quill’s Zune, with this providing the opening song choice for the film – that of Radiohead’s I’m A Creep. While Quill attempts to take it back from his ally, Rocket does manage to pilfer it from him again before being attacked by Adam Warlock and being out of commission for a good chunk of the movie, with Star-Lord then giving Rocket the Zune as a gift after a series of other music hits when Rocket becomes the team’s next leader and the two part ways in the final act of the film.

Since the character is also shown using the device while Peter and the rest of the team were blipped during Avengers: Endgame, it initially seems as though this is just a fun nod to Rocket likely developing an affinity with the music player during that time. However, upon a rewatch, this detail also seems very much like Rocket being teed up to be Quill’s successor in this sense, both by taking a more active role in the meta aspect of choosing the movie’s songs, and in terms of it aligning the stories of Star-Lord and Rocket more directly in this regard.

Guardians Of The Galaxy’s Team Changes Make Rewatching The Trilogy’s Finale Even Better

Revisiting The Iconic MCU Movie More Than Once Makes Its Story All The Better

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is arguably one of the best MCU movies to rewatch, since follow-up viewings allow for a very different experience. With the context that the original Guardians of the Galaxy group part ways at the end of the film to go and do several different things – and that new members enter the team, and Rocket becomes its new captain of sorts – rewatching the film allows the viewer to see all the teases and spots of foreshadowing that aren’t as clear when first experiencing the story itself.

For example, with Rocket’s promotion to Guardians leader in mind, his early attempts to rescue Lylla, Floor and Teefs feel all the more like initial signs that Rocket was a prime fit for the leader role, given his first thought when the High Evolutionary tells him they’re all going to be killed is to break everyone out and try to save them. Similarly, the post-credits scene moments of Rocket asking the team about the music they enjoy more clearly ties all the way back to the start of the film and Rocket’s story with the Zune.

With that said, Rocket is by no means the only character you can see this happen for – as the new and old Guardians rosters all have their own small moments that look far more significant on a revisit, such as the teases of Adam Warlock having hidden depths before he becomes a hero in his own right. These all combine to make Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 a truly fitting end to the original team’s story – and an exciting beginning to the next version of it, especially because of the attention given to its new leader’s story.

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