The Guardians Of The Galaxy Holiday Special is out on Disney+ and gave viewers a lot to think about Volume 3. Even with the first trailer for the next one Guardians movie out, there’s still a lot this particular presentation did to inform and prepare audiences for that movie. There are some real lessons for it to convey, and Marvel’s future Disney+ series should take note of the things I think the special did better than most of the shows we’ve seen before.
With more specials and shows coming from Marvel in 2023 and beyond, The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special is a great plan for what to prioritize going forward. No doubt Marvel and the showrunners are learning and tightening the ship with each new project, but they could definitely benefit from making sure these positives from the holiday special are kept in mind.
The Specialist went to great lengths to lay out the minor plot points of the next Guardians movie
The Guardians Of The Galaxy Holiday Special don’t post the whole plot of what’s going on in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3but it got some minor but important plot points out of the way. We learned that the Guardians bought Knowhere from The Collector, Mantis is Peter’s half-sister and that Nebula found a way to get Bucky’s arm for Rocket Raccoon. Oh, and we heard Cosmo for the first time, and she’ll be along for the ride with the team in some capacity in the next movie.
As mentioned, these are not big things, but they helped Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in a great way. With those storylines out of the way, James Gunn probably had more time to spend on what’s going on with Gamora and maybe even show a little more of Adam Warlock. No runtime in the film was wasted on the above, and yet fans still had a chance to see it instead of learning about it via some dialogue in the film. This is the great happy medium the Disney+ shows can offer and a useful space in which to operate.
While an earlier Disney+ (opens in a new tab) show as WandaVision was a fun ride and certainly set up some cool MCU stuff we’ll no doubt learn more about down the road, I’d argue it did a disservice Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. By giving Wanda some redemption at the end and not leaning into the villainous side she showed for much of the series, I feel like it made her whole villain twist Multiverse of Madness a bit jarring. There was definitely a disconnect between the two projects and I think it could have been done better.
In fairness to WandaVisionit had a much larger development to set up than anything revealed in it The Guardians Of The Galaxy Holiday Special. Still, there’s an obvious value in Marvel making sure these shows set up the next steps for their heroes as much as possible, and I’d argue that the shows haven’t always been the best at doing that. I understand that we don’t want TV content that exists solely to serve the movies, but there are ways to do it that benefit both the show and what’s being promoted.
Fans have a chance to see the heroes in a more relaxed setting
The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special is a fun adventure with a lot going on, but by no means is this a high-flying, action-packed thrill ride that will keep you on the edge of your seat. There’s a bit of action when Mantis and Drax kidnap Kevin Bacon, but really beating up some cops is about as far as the fighting goes. This adventure relies primarily on small talk and seeing the Guardians in a more relaxed setting than we are used to.
It’s a reminder that we mostly don’t see Marvel’s heroes in the MCU unless they’re facing adversity or fighting with the fate of the world on their shoulders. Obviously, when the stakes are at their highest, people are going to act differently than they would. Superheroes aren’t immune to this, unless they’re Batman, and we’ve seen how he lives. No disrespect to Bruce Wayne, but that’s unhealthy, so it was refreshing to see even Guardians like Nebula can relax on a regular basis.
What does The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special such a fun adventure is its novelty. In anime, there are always a handful of filler episodes where the heroes have a beach day or something silly between all the action and adventure. Until very recently, this kind of adventure didn’t exist in Marvel, and I doubt it was something fans were clamoring for either. Ate shawarma after saving New York City was one thing, but an entire project centered around low stakes was another.
And yet I think there’s something cool that happens in the aftermath She-Hulk: Lawyer and The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special. We’ve seen two examples of Marvel existing in genres that don’t rely heavily on action scenes, and it’s very entertaining. In addition, they give us an opportunity to see heroes in a different setting than we normally would. We need to see what Daredevil is like after a one-night stand? No. Was it still great to watch? Absolutely.
Now, am I saying we need dozens of shows full of Marvel heroes doing anything but kick some ass? No, I’m not, as I recognize that superhero movies/shows are primarily made as action-driven adventures.
What I am saying is that there is certainly room for more specialties such as The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special and that we need to see more of them sooner rather than later. We’ve only just scratched the surface of what the MCU can do on Disney+, but I’d at least say that these two things are worth pursuing and prioritizing as more projects emerge.
Current The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special right now if you have one Disney+ subscription, though I’d bet a decent amount of Marvel fans don’t need to be told to do that. 2022 has come to a close for Marvel, but that means another year of upcoming Marvel movies is on its way. Be sure to check out what’s coming, and keep your fingers crossed for more specials like the one we saw recently.
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