Among the intense web of connections that Avengers films (including Captain America: Civil War) have spun, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 feels remarkably standalone – a story with familiar characters, sure, but also a beginning, a middle and an end.
But that isn't to say that writer/director James Gunn's film doesn't offer some clues as to the future of the Guardians, Avengers: Infinity War and beyond.
(Warning: Contains spoilers for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2)
1. Four years later
Guardians 2 is set only a few months after the first film, dating it at somewhere around 2014. So by the time the team shows up again in Avengers: Infinity War, four years will have gone by.
Gunn has admitted that some changes will have occurred to our team in the interim. How that will manifest is anyone's guess at this moment, but the Avengers are likely to be meeting a much happier and more cohesive team than themselves, following their Captain America: Civil War schism.
Unless Rocket has kept the Guardians at each other's throats for four years, that is.
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2. Nebula vs Thanos
Karen Gillan's Nebula has been confirmed for a role in Infinity War. She's last seen in Guardians 2 enjoying a (sort of) reconciliation with her adopted sister, Gamora, before heading off to find a way to bump off their dad Thanos.
Thanos (as played by Josh Brolin) is, of course, the big bad of Infinity War, and most likely its sequel too. Unless she's been completely ineffectual (not entirely beyond the realms of possibility), Nebula is likely to be of some help to the Avengers and Guardians against Thanos, and probably their best source of information.
3. Adam Warlock cometh
One of the credits scenes in Guardians 2 makes it clear that the cosmic hero Adam Warlock (aka Him. Yes, HIM) is on the way. This version of the sometime Guardians member is the creation of their enemy Ayesha.
Gunn has confirmed Him for Guardians 3. While Ayesha and the Sovereign are definitely the Guardians enemies, Adam is ordinarily a hero. He does have a literal dark side – a purple guy/split personality called the Magus – but we can't see them introducing him before Adam himself has been properly established.
Will Adam be the villain of the movie? Or just a misguided hero who battles the Guardians then joins them to fight a bigger threat? Either way, Ayesha probably doesn't know exactly what she has on her hands in that cocoon.
(NB: It looks like the cocoon seen in the Collector's home in the first film wasn't really Warlock's after all.)
4. Grandmaster cameo
Jeff Goldblum makes a lightning-fast appearance in the credits in his role as Thor: Ragnarok villain the Grandmaster. While it doesn't have any bearing on the film's story, it does indicate a closeness between Guardians 2 and the upcoming movie, both of which are set well and truly off Earth.
With Doctor Strange set for an appearance in the God of Thunder's movie too, it indicates an increasing cross-pollination between MCU films bypassing the usual Avengers channels. Disney has promised a new direction for the MCU after Avengers 4, so we could be seeing more and more unprecedented crossovers in the years ahead.
5. RIP Yondu?
Guardians 2 closed with a send-off for Yondu Udonta into the great beyond, right?
So why did Michael Rooker seem to be teasing a role for himself in Infinity War?
Is he really dead? Or does his dark past include a brush with Thanos ripe for a flashback?
Or maybe Rooker just stopped in at the Infinity War set to say hi and stole someone's hat. Say it ain't so, Marvel!
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