Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special spoilers follow.
The Guardians of the Galaxy are great, but they're not exactly good, if you catch our drift.
Drax tears people apart with his arms and jibes alike, while anyone with a metal appendage should watch out for themselves in Rocket's vicinity. Then there's Nebula, the badass cyborg with daddy issues and also Mantis, the empath who clearly lacks empathy. Even Star-Lord, the most heroic of them all, is a bit of a douche.
What this team really needs moving forward is someone good to balance things out. A very good dog, if you will...
Thankfully, the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special has it covered thanks to the addition of Cosmo, the Space Dog. Last seen in a post-credits scene for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2, the Russian canine returns to become an official part of the team now in this brand new special.
As revealed earlier this year at Comic-Con, Maria Bakalova from Borat 2 will be lending her voice to Cosmo while CGI takes care of the rest. Talking dogs from Russia are hard to come by these days, apparently. Especially ones with the same colour coat that Cosmo sports in the source material.
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Speaking of, Cosmo is actually a very good boy in Marvel Comics, not a girl. James Gunn decided to switch things up in honour of the real-life Laika, who was actually the first dog to be sent into space (as revealed on Twitter).
There are obvious parallels between Laika and Cosmo's comic book origin, namely that they were both test subjects sent into space by the USSR. However, Cosmo's story took a wilder turn when Cosmic Rays, just like those that hit the Fantastic Four, imbued Cosmo with psychic powers and an increased intellect.
Using these gifts, Cosmo can grab doggy treats (and more!) with his mind, plus he can now ask for tummy scratches directly with his Russian accent. Or her, as we'll soon see in the MCU's Guardians of the Galaxy 3.
Little else is known about Cosmo's journey in the MCU just yet. Up until now, we only saw her briefly in the Collector's menagerie back when the Guardians first appeared on screen, followed by that brief cameo mentioned earlier.
Oh, and Cosmo was also seen in the What If…? episode 'What If… T'Challa Became a Star-Lord?', but that's not even set in the same universe, so that's not much help.
The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special doesn't reveal much more about Cosmo beyond the fact she's a psychic talking dog, but it's interesting that we're introduced to her here on Knowhere.
In the comics, Cosmo eventually becomes the head of security for this key Guardians location, which is where they meet Nova, the cosmic space cop who's set to make their own MCU debut very soon.
Comic book Cosmo served as a very loyal ally to the Guardians rather than becoming a full-fledged member, and it's possible that might be the case on screen too – although her increased presence in the Holiday Special suggests she might be on the team now, after all.
Regardless, comic book Cosmo did found another space-faring team named the Annihilators, and while their time together was pretty short-lived, we hope this means cosmo's MCU debut could help introduce teammates like the Silver Surfer, Quasar, and even Thor's bestie, Beta Ray Bill (who almost appeared in 2017's Thor: Ragnarok).
Whatever happens, just know that Cosmo's story will almost definitely be tied in with the High Evolutionary, who's set to be the main antagonist for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3. One of the main reasons why he sucks is because of how he experiments on animals, creating tortured human hybrids.
This obsession will clearly impact both Cosmo and Rocket, if it hasn't already. But Cosmo's a very good girl, and deep down, the Guardians are pretty great too, so the High Evolutionary will have his work cut out for him when our faves return for their final outing.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 1 and Vol 2, as well as The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, are all available to watch now on Disney+, then Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 arrives on May 5, 2023.
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After teaching in England and South Korea, David turned to writing in Germany, where he covered everything from superhero movies to the Berlin Film Festival.
In 2019, David moved to London to join Digital Spy, where he could indulge his love of comics, horror and LGBTQ+ storytelling as Deputy TV Editor, and later, as Acting TV Editor.
David has spoken on numerous LGBTQ+ panels to discuss queer representation and in 2020, he created the Rainbow Crew interview series, which celebrates LGBTQ+ talent on both sides of the camera via video content and longform reads.
Beyond that, David has interviewed all your faves, including Henry Cavill, Pedro Pascal, Olivia Colman, Patrick Stewart, Ncuti Gatwa, Jamie Dornan, Regina King, and more — not to mention countless Drag Race legends.
As a freelance entertainment journalist, David has bylines across a range of publications including Empire Online, Radio Times, INTO, Highsnobiety, Den of Geek, The Digital Fix and Sight & Sound.
