Thanks to Kang the Conqueror, the MCU has an easy way to introduce the next future Guardians of the Galaxy installments.
Similar to how Marvel is ing the baton from Steve Rogers to Sam Wilson with Captain America: New World Order, it can put together a new team of cosmic adventurers via Guardians of the Galaxy 4. After all, it'll still have an abundance of characters to work with even after Star-Lord's team is retired. Adam Warlock, for one, will be available, not to mention all the cosmic heroes Marvel hasn't even used yet, like Nova, Silver Surfer, and Beta Ray Bill. As for how and when they'd be introduced, plans for the Multiverse Saga reveal they can be set up as early as Phase 5. Here's how Kang opens the door for a new Guardians team in the MCU.
Marvel's Original Guardians of the Galaxy Explained
Decades before characters like Star-Lord, Gamora, and Drax helped form the Guardians of the Galaxy, Marvel already had a team bearing that name. In the 1960s, Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy comic centered on a team of space-faring superheroes from the 30th century. Consisting of Vance Astro, Charlie-27, Martinex, Yondu, and eventually Starhawk and Aleta Ogord, the group started out as freedom fighters looking to save a post-apocalyptic Earth from the reign of a race of aliens called the Badoon.
After this battle, Marvel sent the Guardians on numerous adventures that took them all over the universe and added new heroes to their ranks. The six characters mentioned above made up the core cast, with a seventh member, Nikki, becoming a major character as well. In addition to crossing paths with all sorts of villains and heroes from the cosmic side of the Marvel Universe, the Guardians were also given chances to meet with mainstream characters like Captain America and the Avengers via time travel.
How The Original Guardians Can Connect To Kang's MCU Origin
Marvel already used several of these characters in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, but has yet to use all of them, nor has it linked any of them to the future. However, a chance to dive into the future and deliver a more accurate adaptation of the comic's original premise is likely to come very soon. Considering that Kang is the villain of at least two Multiverse Saga movies, it's all but guaranteed that Marvel will find room for his origin story, whether it be in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania or Avengers: The Kang Dynasty. When Marvel takes a look at the time period Kang hails from, it can introduce characters like Vance Astro as the superheroes of Kang's era.
Kang and the original Guardians don't have an existing link in the comics, but it won't be hard for Marvel to create one. Their respective timelines already aren't that far off. As Loki has confirmed, Kang is from the 31st century. The Guardians, on the other hand, are from the 30th century. Marvel won't have to change much at all to make them coexist. If they do, the Guardians can debut as enemies of Kang on a mission to stop him from traveling through time.
Marvel Can Still Use The Future Guardians (Despite Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2)
Because of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Marvel can't use Starhawk, Aleta Ogord, Martinex, or Charlie-27 if it does decide to use the 30th-century Guardians. But while the existence of those characters will be an obstacle, it can still make this classic comic team work. It ittedly did utilize most of the classic , but it notably excluded Vance Astro, who would be the perfect character for Marvel to builds its next Guardians of the Galaxy movie around.
In the comics, Vance was depicted as a modern-day astronaut who went into suspended animation while on a voyage to another planet in the hopes of seeing if it could be colonized. He awoke to discover that by the time he had arrived, the planet had been colonized and Earth had fallen to the Badoon. A character with this backstory wouldn't have worked in any of Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy movies, but could fit well into a Kang the Conqueror story and a new entry in the Guardians of the Galaxy series. As for his allies, Marvel can easily swap out Charlie-27, Martinex, and the others with new MCU heroes, such as Gladiator, Firelord, Phyla-Vell, and Nikki, the latter of which being an actual member of the 30th-century Guardians team.
Why Vance Astro's Team Is The Best Guardians of the Galaxy Replacement
If Marvel does want the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise to have a future after Gunn's trilogy wraps up, Marvel doesn't have a choice more appealing than Vance Astro's group. Changes would have to be made, but the core idea behind the team can remain the same and lend itself well to what Marvel is currently building. With time travel and the multiverse being so crucial to Marvel's movies and shows, it would make sense for someone like Vance and his teammates to have a part to play in the MCU going forward. Being from another timeline would help his group fit seamlessly into Marvel's plans for the Multiverse Saga. If introduced as a part of Kang's origin in The Kang Dynasty, some of them could wind up being among the heroes who come together to fight Kang in Avengers: Secret Wars (if he's the main villain.)
Also, this approach would enable the new Guardians of the Galaxy to stand apart from Star-Lord's group and grant them a unique role in the MCU. Since Vance and the others reside in the future, their adventures would show off a whole new side of the MCU while also providing meaningful callbacks to the past. Vance's team often encountered characters and places rooted in mainstream comics, like the times they discovered Captain America's shield and met an aging Thor. If this strategy was employed in the MCU, it could culminate in a number of memorable storylines.
