Our favorite superhero misfits are back in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 trailer

Director James Gunn took an unlikely group of fairly obscure misfit characters from Marvel Comics and turned them into lovable unlikely superheroes with 2014’s hugely entertaining Guardians of the Galaxy and its 2017 sequel. The Guardians have been through the wringer since then, and this battered-but-unbowed crew still has tough times ahead, judging by the new trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 that dropped during Super Bowl LVII.

(Some spoilers, especially for for prior films in the MCU franchise, below.)

Gunn was initially reluctant to direct another Guardians film after killing off Michael Rooker’s Yondu Udonta in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. But his deep love for all the central characters changed his mind, as he felt there would still be many more adventures in store for the team. That said, Gunn hinted that Vol. 3 would effectively conclude “this iteration” of the characters, so it’s possible not all the Guardians will make it out alive. There’s certainly a tone of elegiac finality permeating the latest trailer, in between the action scenes and clever quips.

The current Guardians lineup consists of Chris Pratt’s Peter Quill/Star-Lord; Dave Bautista as Drax the Destroyer; Karen Gillan as Nebula; Pom Klementieff as Mantis; Vin Diesel as Groot; Bradley Cooper as Rocket; Sean Gunn as Kraglin Obfonteri, former second-in-command to the late Yondu; Maria Bakalova as Cosmo the Spacedog; and Zoe Saldana as Gamora—not the original Gamora, who was killed by Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War, but a younger version of Gamora who traveled to the present time from the past in Avengers: Endgame.

Per the official premise:

Our beloved band of misfits are settling into life on Knowhere. But it isn’t long before their lives are upended by the echoes of Rocket’s turbulent past. Peter Quill, still reeling from the loss of Gamora, must rally his team around him on a dangerous mission to save Rocket’s life—a mission that, if not completed successfully, could quite possibly lead to the end of the Guardians as we know them.

Elizabeth Debicki reprises her Vol. 2. role as Ayesha, leader of the Sovereign people, who creates Adam Warlock (Will Poulter), an artificial being, to destroy the Guardians. Michael Rosenbaum is also back as Martinex, one of the high-ranking Ravagers, while Sylvester Stallone will appear as another Ravager, Stacker Ogord. Chukwudi Iwuji (who played Clemson Murn in Peacemaker) plays the High Evolutionary, the scientist who created Rocket.

The first footage for Vol. 3 was featured last summer at the San Diego Comic-Con, although it wasn’t released publicly because Gunn said the visual effects weren’t quite done yet. Marvel released an official trailer at Brazil’s CCXP in December, which gave us brief glimpses of Adam Warlock and the High Evolutionary, along with shots of Quill mourning Gamora and a wide-eyed baby Rocket being plucked from his cage—no doubt for nefarious purposes.

This latest trailer opens with inter-team tension as Quill/Star-Lord tells the new Gamora about how he formed the Guardians, met a girl, and fell in love. “That girl died,” he says. “But then she came back—came back a total dick.” Nebula thinks he left out some important information but otherwise “that is the gist of it.” Then we’re introduced to the High Evolutionary, insisting he wants to create the perfect society—which once involved torturing a baby Rocket with many modifications. “He didn’t wanna make things perfect,” Rocket says. “He just hated things the way they are.” We get a lot more footage of Adam Warlock, although it’s still not entirely clear what his function will be other than to try to kill the Guardians. (In the comics, he’s genetically engineered to be the next phase of human evolution, which would fit the film’s Rocket/High Evolutionary storyline.)

It looks like Rocket is getting a love interest in an anthropomorphic otter named Lylla. Plus, there’s an awkward scene at the end where Gamora tells Quinn that Nebula more closely resembles the version of Gamora he lost, and he suddenly seems to see Nebula in a different light, noting how black her eyes are. Nebula is not amused: “They were replaced by my father as a form of torture.” There are hints that we might lose some of our beloved Guardians, as Rocket intones, “We’ll all fly away together, into the forever and beautiful sky.” And we can definitely expect another killer soundtrack; the new trailer features “Since You Been Gone” by Rainbow.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3. hits theaters on May 5.

Listing image by YouTube/MarvelStudios