It looks like Thanos will continue to be the universe’s most inept villain whenGuardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2rolls around. The purple dude has been trying to collect himself some Infinity Stones since early on in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and whileAvengers: Infinity Waris imminent, we’re now 13 films in and the alien still has precisely zero stones in his possession. And now, according to writer/directorJames Gunn, it’ll stay that way in the highly anticipated sequelGuardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2.
The filmmaker took to hisFacebook pageover the weekend to answer some questions, and when asked about the presence of Infinity Stones inGuardians 2, Gunn flat out said, “There will be no Infinity Stones in Vol. 2.” When pressed, Gunn went one further and added, “There will be infinity nothing. It’s a story about the Guardians and isn’t meant to lead to anything else.”
Guardians of the Galaxywas the first time we actually saw Thanos in the context of a feature film aside from that brief tease during the end credits ofThe Avengers, and his purpose in that film was essentially to be introduced to audiences in a galactic setting. Gunn has since said that Thanos is not inGuardians 2, and with his confirmation here that the sequel has nothing to do with Infinity Stones, it sounds like that thread is being put on the backburner for this follow-up.
Thanos’ introduction inGuardianswas probably a request from Marvel Studios given that they needed to properly unveil the character to audiences and the universe-setGuardianswas a fitting place to do so. But given that Gunn built the sequel from the ground up, one imagines he had the ability to keep Thanos out ofGuardians 2so he could instead focus on the story at hand, which involves the search for Peter Quill’s father.
And while it’s nice to hear thatGuardians of the Galaxy 2will be standalone in nature, I am mighty interested to see how Thanos is shown as powerful inInfinity Warif that Avengers sequel rolls around and he is still devoid of Infinity Stones. He’s been set up as the “big bad” of the MCU thus far, and yet all of his plans involve roundabout ways to mess with the Avengers. As we saw at the end ofAvengers: Age of Ultron, he’s had enough of this managing-from-afar nonsense and intends to “do it himself.” But don’t expect him to make his move inGuardians 2.
Does this mean Thanos appears inDoctor Strangethis November? We don’t know, but it seems more likely that his role and/or plans will become clearer inThor: Ragnarok, which hits theaters a few months afterGuardians 2. TheThorsequel’s title refers to a world-ending event, we know that it co-starsMark Ruffaloas Hulk and Thor go on an intergalactic road trip of sorts, and the film will introduceJeff Goldblumas Grandmaster, one of the Elders of the Universe. Indeed, withInfinity Warbeing the next Marvel film afterRagnarok, it’s not hard to imagine theThorsequel working as a serious table-setting film for the massive war to come.
For now, though, rest assured knowing that whenGuardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2opens in theaters on June 21, 2025, it’ll be entirely focused on the titular team.
