What to watch and remember before Guardians of the Galaxy 3

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 isn’t like most of the other recent Marvel movies, in that it isn’t as closely connected to the rest of the cinematic universe. While the Guardians have certainly linked up with other heroes in the past, most of their story this time around happens far away in their own corner of space, and is pretty tightly focused on them.

That being said, there’s always something to catch back up on in the MCU, and always a few facts or moments to remember. So, we’ve put together a list of the most important things to remember and movies to watch on Disney Plus before you head to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

The cheat sheet of what to remember

This is the list of things to catch up on if you leave for the theater in 20 minutes and you realized you don’t remember anything about the Guardians of the Galaxy. So, here are a few things you need to remember and a few clips to catch you up.

• Drax had a family, but Thanos killed them
• Sylvester Stallone is in these movies
• Yondu sacrificed himself in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 to save Peter, and now Kraglin has his whistle arrow
• Why Peter left Earth
• The first movie’s opening music scene
• The second movie’s opening music scene
• Rocket’s had a very hard life and is the result of some particularly cruel animal experimentation.
• Nebula’s whole body was replaced, piece by piece, by Thanos
• The original Gamora died in Avengers: Infinity War and now an alternate-universe version of her is hanging out with the Guardians.

The movies to watch (the quick version)

Unlike previous MCU movies, all you really need to know about this movie is the stuff that’s immediately important to the Guardians, so you can basically just watch their previous two movies and stop. The one exception to this is the Holiday Special, which you don’t need to watch, but you do need to remember that Drax and Mantis kidnap Kevin Bacon in it.

• Guardians of the Galaxy
• Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

The movies to watch to get every bit of story you need

Unlike movies like Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, there’s not a lot of connective tissue between this movie and the rest of the MCU, not even for the completists. Of course you’ll need to watch the first two Guardians of the Galaxy movies and the Christmas Special, Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame, and Thor: Love and Thunder, but that’s still about all you need to worry about for this movie.

• Guardians of the Galaxy
• Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
• Avengers: Infinity War
• Avengers: Endgame
• Thor: Love and Thunder
• Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special

All of the movies (including the holiday special) are available to stream on Disney Plus.

Disney Plus bundle

• $13

Prices taken at time of publishing.

Get a standalone Disney Plus subscription or the bundle combining Hulu (ad-supported) and ESPN Plus for $12.99/month or with Hulu (no-ads) and ESPN Plus for $19.99/month.

• $13 at Disney Plus