After years of delays, the issues around James Gunn’s firing and rehiring and the current lull in MCU movies, there was a very good chance that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 would be a complete mess. This is the strange world of modern cinema though, and that means instead of crashing and burning, the final outing for the current Guardians turn had been a runaway success, both in terms of reviews and box office. To prove its point, over the weekend the film passed Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’s total gross to take second spot in 2023’s highest grossing movies, and blasted through the $500M mark to boot.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 brings to a close the story that James Gunn started almost a decade ago, and despite the original movie bringing with it a group of relatively unknown characters to the MCU, the film started a journey that MCU fans were very quick to jump on board. Now, 9 years later and Gunn has ended his trilogy on a massive high and potentially given Marvel Studios one of their biggest hits of the last three years.

While the box office success is one thing, the reviews have also been much better than some other MCU offerings. Currently the film is sitting on a Rotten Tomatoes critic rating of 81% and an audience score of 96%. This is all good news for Gunn and his new venture over at DC Studios, as it shows that when it comes to making crowd pleasing comic book movies, Gunn is managing to do what so many others have failed to achieve. His next test is going to come with his version of Superman, which is a completely different ballgame to win.

Related: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3: Every Potential Spinoff Suggested by the Film

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Has Boosted the MCU’s Post Pandemic Box Office.

Cast of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3
Marvel Studios
Disney

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has never been a flop at the box office. Even movies that have been torn down by critics and failed to completely connect with audiences such as Thor: Love and Thunder have done what they needed to do and outpaced the vast majority of movie releases in the wake of the Covid shutdowns.

With Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, the MCU has proven that despite the underperformance of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania back in February, there is still no sign of “superhero fatigue” and it is more a case of fans choosing which movies they see in theaters and which they wait to see soon after on Disney+. There is no doubt that the arrival of Disney’s streaming platform has had an impact on box office numbers, and not only for Marvel movies but all Disney offerings, and that could mean some MCU movies will not do as well as they might have four years ago.

That said, the output of Marvel Studios is still a long way from being any kind of box office bomb – unlike last year’s Morbius – and that is the main thing to be taken from this latest achievement. Can Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 continue to push towards the $1B club? It is not out of the question.