The Marvel Cinematic Universe is so large and wide-ranging that is has other stories contained within it. Like most of the others with more than one tale, the Guardians of the Galaxy have their own trilogy within that world, with Volume 3 being the end, at least of this version of the team. They manage to tie up a lot of loose ends, explain many things, and even reference their Holiday Special a few times as the Guardians suit up one last time. Maybe.

As seen in the Holiday Special, the Guardians are running Knowhere, the spaceborne community built in the head of a dead Celestial (who we saw more of in the Eternals movie). Well, most of them have. Peter is clearly struggling to cope with the losses from Infinity War and Endgame. He’s not doing really well. The rest of the team is muddling along all right until something catches up with them from the last movie. A huge fight ensues, and one of the team is gravely injured.

In a lot of movies, especially in a superhero world, this wouldn’t be a big deal. But there are a lot of complications, and they have a new quest, desperate to get a rare item they need to save their friend’s life. If this doesn’t sound like the lighthearted action comedies that the last two movies were, that’s because it isn’t. This outing is a lot more serious. The theme of family, found and birth, is arguably the focus of the movie, and it’s surprisingly emotional.

The movie adds several powerful characters from the comics, including Adam Warlock and the High Evolutionary. In the comics, Adam is usually linked with Thanos and the Infinity Stones, but obviously that ship has sailed in the MCU. The High Evolutionary has been a bane to many of Marvel’s heroes, and, at least in some versions of the ever-shifting history, has a link to the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver.

In Endgame, a version of Gamora came back from the past, but without the memories and development we saw in the Guardians and later Avengers movies. This has been hard on the Guardians, and especially on Peter. His struggles to adapt are another moving subplot in the story. There are a lot of developments in the personal lives of several of the Guardians, from lengthy flashbacks to character growth and decisions.

By the end of the movie, we learn why this grouping of the Guardians is over. This team isn’t going to be soaring into space together again for assorted different reasons. But we have reason to believe that some form of the Guardians are still going to be fighting the good fight, and the end title card promises that at least one of them will be back.

What I Liked: There is great action and the comedy is a bit more under control than some of their other appearances, especially their guest shot in Thor: Love and Thunder. The emotional notes were surprisingly poignant and, at times, hit hard. I don’t know how many, if any but one, of these characters we’ll see again, but I’d be fascinated to see the next acts for the characters that have chosen to go in different directions. And I really enjoyed the nods to the Holiday Special, which was a lot of fun. Another subtle thing I liked was the friendship between Nebula and Rocket. That might seem like it came out of nowhere, but remember, they were the only Guardians who didn’t get “dusted” by Thanos, so they had years to get close.

What I Didn’t: There were a few odd linguistic notes. Earth terms seem to be spreading like a virus, whether it makes sense for the character or not. I was sort of amused by the fact that David Bautista gave Drax never wearing a shirt as one of the reasons he wanted to leave the role, and he had one on throughout the movie. There was a big, dramatic, near-death scene very close to the end of the movie that didn’t make sense, since it only happened because a character was missing two trademark pieces of equipment, which was never explained or even mentioned.

I liked all the Guardians movies, and this might have been their best. I’ve heard a lot about “superhero fatigue” and people seeming to gleefully predict the end of the MCU. I’d argue that’s still a long ways off, based on what they did in this movie and the box office for it.

I’ll give this a 4 out of 5.