Among the many Marvel projects announced at Disney’s recent Investor Day event was The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, a festive one-off featuring the Guardians that will be written and directed by James Gunn. Apparently, Gunn has been pushing for a holiday special for a while now and the need to fill Disney+ with content has finally made it a reality.
It’s certainly a strange concept. While Iron Man 3 took place around Christmastime, as is the style of its writer-director Shane Black, this will be the first full-on Christmas special in the MCU and it could go horribly wrong. But it could also turn out great.
10 Skeptical: Holiday Specials Are Usually Terrible
The main reason to be skeptical about The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special is that it’s a holiday special and holiday specials tend to be terrible.
From A Chipmunk Christmas to A Very Brady Christmas to Christmas Comes to Pac-Land to We Wish You A Turtle Christmas to Nestor the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey, audiences have been subjected to some truly awful Christmas specials over the years.
9 Excited: It’ll Feature All Our Favorite Characters
The most exciting thing about The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special is that it’ll give Marvel fans a chance to spend more time with their favorite spacefaring bandits.
Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, Bradley Cooper, Vin Diesel, Karen Gillan, and Pom Klementieff are all set to reprise their roles in the special, which is enough in itself to drum up some anticipation for the project.
8 Skeptical: It Might Not Have Much Action
John McClane’s fateful trip to his wife’s office Christmas party aside, stories about the holidays don’t usually feature a lot of action. It’s hard to imagine the Guardians fighting alien armies and seeking MacGuffins while they’re enjoying yuletide festivities.
The back-and-forth between the Guardians is fun when it adds characterization in between action, but without action, that comic interplay might not be able to carry a whole special.
7 Excited: James Gunn Is Writing And Directing
While the contributions of Nicole Perlman’s early drafts of Guardians of the Galaxy can’t be discredited, writer-director James Gunn has really made the Guardians franchise his own since Kevin Feige tapped him to bring this curious intergalactic team to the big screen.
Not only is Gunn returning to write and direct the upcoming Holiday Special; it’s a passion project that the filmmaker has been pushing Marvel to let him do for years.
6 Skeptical: The Sentimentality Of Holiday Specials Would Undermine The Guardians’ Cynical Charm
Holiday specials are sentimental by their very nature. They usually carry treacly messages about spending time with family and being kind to others and so on. But that’s not the Guardians’ way.
Part of the fun of the Guardians of the Galaxy is that they struggle to be good people. It doesn’t come naturally and they avoid it whenever possible. Their cynical edge is what gives them their charm. A sentimental holiday special might soften that edge.
5 Excited: Quill Might Have A Playlist Of Christmas Hits
One of the defining elements of the Guardians franchise is the diegetic music played on Peter Quill’s Walkman. His Walkman was squished by Ego in the last movie, but Kraglin has given him a Zune filled with hundreds of songs, so he can still enjoy music.
In the holiday special, with any luck, Quill will have a playlist of Christmas hits.
4 Skeptical: It Sounds Too Crazy To Work
James Gunn probably has a great idea or an unexpected angle for a Guardians Christmas special that will work beautifully, but the idea alone sounds too crazy to work.
Then again, the same was said of the first Guardians movie and it went on to become one of Marvel’s biggest hits, so never say never.
3 Excited: It’ll Make The Wait For Vol. 3 Easier
Originally, the third Guardians of the Galaxy movie was slated to hit theaters in 2020. However, due to firing and rehiring of James Gunn delaying it and then the COVID-19 pandemic delaying it even further, it won’t be arriving in multiplexes until at least 2023.
The new Holiday Special is slated to be released on Disney+ in 2022. Knowing that there’s a special on the way beforehand will make the interminable wait for Vol. 3 a little easier.
2 Skeptical: It Probably Won’t Answer Any Post-Endgame Questions
After its satisfying conclusion to the Infinity Saga, Avengers: Endgame takes a few minutes to tease the future of the MCU, setting up storylines like Thor hitching a ride with the Guardians that would be paid off in Phase Four. Unfortunately, Phase Four has been delayed and none of those questions have been answered.
Although the Holiday Special is arriving before Vol. 3, it’ll probably avoid answering any post-Endgame questions about mysteries like Gamora’s whereabouts.
1 Excited: It Can Be A Tongue-In-Cheek Version Of The Star Wars Holiday Special
After the holiday special was announced, James Gunn tweeted that he’s one of the fans who “unironically loved” the controversial Star Wars Holiday Special that aired on CBS in 1978. In the Star Wars Holiday Special, Chewbacca returns to the Wookiee homeworld of Kashyyyk to celebrate the nondenominational Life Day.
The Guardians holiday special has the chance to be a tongue-in-cheek version of that, exploring how the holidays are celebrated in the cosmic reaches of the Marvel universe.
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