Among our Top 10 lists, we love to uncover the various and sundry “Easter Eggs” that sly movie directors like to hide throughout their films, which brings our baskets to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 easter eggs.
The comic book movie genre has been a thing of wonder and whimsy. Nerds fill their heads with ideas and character arcs and we get movies and TV series. Then, these movie-making savants decide there are areas of the film that could be used for clandestine tributaries–a license plate, an address, or even someone’s name. Fans love finding them. Directors love placing them.
And then, there are dorks like us at Geek Vibes Nation who go to a movie more than once (or twice) to fill their baskets full of the most decorative Cadburys possible. For the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 easter eggs, here are the Top 10.
P.S. If you haven’t seen the end of this spectacular trilogy, this post is chock full of spoilers! Please heed the warning, bookmark the post, and enjoy your day.
10. Stanley Kubrick’s Space Suit Shout Out
During a casual spacewalk in the movie, we see our heroes adorned with a “Taste the Rainbow” vibe. While there have been several guesses, ranging from the video game “Above Us” to the dang Teletubbies.
When it comes to these specific easter eggs, fans were digging deep. Only, they were missing the mark by a few decades.
James Gunn personally validated the homage via Twitter (as he does from time to time). In fact, the single-hued space suits are a lovely homage to Stanley Kubrick‘s classic 2001: A Space Odyssey.
You have to love movie directors who are also significant movie fans too.
9. Another Ducking Cameo Soup to Nuts
It is one of the worst-ever comic book movies known to exist, yet James Gunn and Marvel Comics have this love affair with Howard the Duck. There he is, hanging around the first GOTG film. Fast forward to a collection of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 easter eggs, and we see Kraglin (Sean Gunn) and Cosmo (Maria Bakalova) having a poker game with a Thanksgiving cornucopia of cameos.
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- Howard the Duck (voice again by Seth Green)
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- Gridlemop the Prisoner (Troma Entertainment co-founder and James Gunn mentor, Lloyd Kaufman)
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- The Broker on Xandar, from GOTG, Vol. 1 (Christopher Fairbank)
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- Bzermikitokolok from the GOTG Holiday Special (played by the real-life frontman of the Old 97’s Rhett Miller)
8. Firefly Paper Sticks Many More Cameos
It’s always a smile-fest when nerds get to see Nathan Fillon in another Guardians film or anything else since Firefly. There he is as Master Karja, one of the High Evolutionary’s heavies. Among the respected tips of the cap for James Gunn’s well-placed easter eggs are also:
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- Administrator Kwol, who was kind of held hostage by Gamora, was great and holds a special place in James Gunn’s heart. That is Jennifer Holland, seen in other Gunn hits The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker. She’s also James Gunn’s wife.
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- Lylla, Rocket’s babe, voiced by Linda Cardellini. If she sounds familiar, she was also Hawkeye’s wife in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame
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- War Pig was brilliantly voiced by Judy Greer. And if she sounded familiar, she was Maggie Lang, Ant-Man’s ex-wife in his origin story.
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- Ura, the gatekeeper at Orgocorp, may look familiar behind those flirtatious grins with Quill and glowing eyeballs. That is Daniela Melchior, who played Ratcatcher 2 in The Suicide Squad
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- The Ravagers show up, led by Stakar Ogord (Sylvester Stallone) and Martinex (Michael Rosenbaum, who was pretty great as Lex Luthor from Smallville)
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- And this was simple to miss, Phlektik was a talking blob in the final fight of Act Three. Mantis pretends something behind the blob scared her to trick it. Pete Davidson was the blob’s voice.
7. Rocket’s Dossier Payoff
Later in the movie, during Rocket’s origin through Lylla’s eyes (Bradley Cooper), we come to understand something that was fairly inconspicuous during an interrogation from the Nova Corps. At the time, the text on the screen was origin fodder. Yet, two movies later, we get the definition.
Take a look at Rocket’s! There’s his babe, Lylla.
One of the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 easter eggs paid off an overlooked introductory image from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1. Character arcs are a beautiful thing when they come full circle.
6. Quill’s Big-Mouth Guilt
It’s a good thing this was referenced among the many Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 easter eggs because it sucked a little seeing it the first time in Avengers: Infinity War. There are our heroes, taking it to Thanos, and were this close to taking the gauntlet. Then, Star-Lord got a little emotional about Gamora and the purple planet eater regained his composure.
Too bad Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) couldn’t do that. His mouth and broken heart kinda led to the “snap” or the “blip.“
Needless to say, those five years of dead air and blank space can ride on a guy’s guilt. So, James Gunn had Star-Lord bring that up in a funny moment of timing, tongue-in-cheek love, and catharsis. Well played, Mr. Gunn.
5. Six More Degrees
Maybe James Gunn lost a bet? Perhaps Kevin Bacon still has this Footloose magic spell over people? That guy is everywhere, including The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special. Remember when he played himself and stole the show? Well, he had a little charm in the post-credits scene too.
Grandpa Quill and Pete are enjoying some morning conversation over a bowl of cereal and reading the paper. On the front page, we get a headline blasting us with “Alien Abduction: Kevin Bacon Shares All.”
Even the easter eggs you trip over can be such greatness.
4. Yon-Du Your Heart Some Good
We’ve already uncovered a basket full of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 easter eggs featuring famous faces and voices, but none was more heartwarming than seeing Yondu (Michael Rooker).
Kraglin is trying to master the Yaka Arrow (Yondu’s Whistling Dixie) and isn’t doing a good job. Knowhere is getting hammered and our heroes need to step up. That’s usually when inspiration strikes, and this time, Yondu showed up and impressed upon Kraglin to move by “using [his] heart.”
That’s the secret, and we’re all better for knowing it.
3. Phyla-Behind the Vell
One moment made easter egg enthusiasts stand at attention (present company included). If you know the Kree story about the cosmic powerhouse, Captain Marvel, this was a golden Cadbury. There’s the sadistic menace, High Evolutionary (played a powerhouse role by Chukwudi Iwuji) discussing his Furher-esque vision of a “perfect race.”
Meanwhile, in this real-life hamster wheel is a silver-haired girl running in literal circles (Kai Zen). Her name is “Phyla.” Does that mean anything to you? If you plan on enjoying Phase 5, or even watching The Marvels, it should be with a fat exclamation point.
That is Phyla-Vell, sister of Genis-Vell and the notable offspring of Mar-Vell. Yes, that Mar-Vell (Annette Benning)! In the comics, Lord Mar-Vell is male, but Kevin Feige went the other way on the genetic map making her Higher Intelligence and mentor for Carol Danvers (Brie Larsen).
If you know canon, Phyla is also known as “Martyr” and “Quasar.” And in the movies, she’s going to be badass. She’s real now, which means The Marvels could be much better than most of you think. This should be good!
2. James Gunning for Attention
Meet Lambshank. This was a freed half-life creature of disgust who was an experiment from the High Evolutionary. He’s also James Gunn. While the director is having so much fun hiding these Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 easter eggs, he had an idea to devolve himself into one. Sometimes, the guy needs to have some in front of the camera too.
1. A Legendary Note
The second post-credits scene was marvelous. We’ve already mentioned one of the Top 10 Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 easter eggs that were in this scene, but there was one even better.
As Peter is chomping away on some cereal, the screen goes white and Star-Lord gets a superlative — “Legendary.” Sure, that’s nice James Gunn using that term, but nothing is by mistake. In 2015, Marvel Comics put out Vols. 1 and 2 of “Legendary Star-Lord.”
Just Quill, guarding the galaxy all on his own. If that Peter Quill returns, future films featuring Kang, the Kree, and other universal characters could become legendary.
Since he saw ‘Dune’ in the $1 movie theater as a kid, this guy has been a lover of geek culture. It wasn’t until he became a professional copywriter, ghostwriter, and speechwriter that he began to write about it (a lot).
From the gravitas of the Sith, the genius of Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, or the gluttony of today’s comic fan, SPW digs intelligent debate about entertainment. He’s also addicted to listicles, storytelling, useless trivia, and the Oxford comma. And, he prefers his puns intended.
