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One area that the writers at Marvel have always excelled in is including Easter eggs in their films, providing a whole next layer of depth for viewers who are diehard fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, one of the most recent additions to the MCU, is stacked to the brim with Easter eggs, so many so that you couldn’t possibly have caught every one of them. If you haven’t had the chance to see Guardians Vol. 3 yet, for one, you may not want to read the rest of this article because there are plenty of spoilers, and secondly, you should definitely check out this amazingly entertaining film as soon as possible.
Guardians Vol. 3 (as well as the previous two Guardians movies) was written and directed by James Gunn, who has gone on record saying that he’s a huge fan of the MCU and, in the third and final installment of the Guardians trilogy, Gunn includes a litany of references to the MCU’s past as well as the long history of Marvel comics.
So, in this article, we’re going to run through some of the many Easter eggs that appear in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. And there were so many Easter eggs in this film that we couldn’t possibly include them all in this article. So, if you noticed any that we missed, feel free to let us know in the comments below!
1. Hidden Signs in Knowhere
Knowhere, which now serves as the headquarters of the Guardians, was built into the severed head of a Celestial and was the site of a mining operation up until 2018, when Thanos attacked it. In 2025, the Guardians bought Knowhere from Taneleer Tivan and repaired the damage that Thanos had done. Many scenes in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 take place here, and it’s home to some notable Easter eggs.
In particular, there are two interesting signs that can be seen in the background on Knowhere. One of these signs is the Guardians of the Galaxy logo itself, except for the fact that the text is written in an alien language. The other sign appears in a bar and depicts a disembodied leg, which is probably a reference to when Rocket stole a prosthetic leg and gave it to Quill in the first movie.
2. Kevin Bacon Shoutout
For those of you who saw Guardians Vol. 3 in theaters and left before the end of the credits, then you definitely missed this Easter egg. In the final end-credits scene, Quill’s grandfather is sitting at a table and eating breakfast while reading the newspaper. However, you may not have noticed that the newspaper’s headline read: “Alien Abduction: Kevin Bacon Tells All!”
This headline was a reference to The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, a 42-minute special released to Disney+ that featured Drax and Mantis kidnapping Kevin Bacon (Peter Quill’s favorite actor) as a Christmas gift for Quill.
3. The Future Guardians Lineup
Another end-credits scene that was definitely worth watching was the one that showed the new Guardians of the Galaxy lineup. And, if you keep up with Marvel Comics, then this new lineup would’ve had a whole different meaning to you.
The new Guardians of the Galaxy squad seems to consist of Rocket, Groot, Kraglin, Cosmo, Adam Warlock, and one of the young alien girls whom the team rescues during the film. That girl’s name was Phyla, which Marvel Comics fans will instantly recognize. It seems that the newest member of the Guardians is Phyla-Vell, a superhero that’s closely connected to the Guardians of the Galaxy as well as Captain Marvel. Phyla-Vell has a bunch of interesting abilities, including superhuman strength and the ability to act as an “energy sponge” by absorbing enemy attacks and redirecting them as energy blasts.
4. The Return of the Abilisks
If you’ve seen Guardians Vol. 3, then you undoubtedly remember the scene when Mantis, Drax, and Nebula get sent into the pit by High Evolutionary and are greeted by massive tentacled monsters. These aliens look ferocious until Mantis is able to connect with them emotionally. Then, the Guardians are able to ride these beasts right out of the prison. These beasts are known as Abilisks.
However, what you may not know is that this was not the first time that Abilisks appeared in the Guardians series of films. In fact, in the opening credits scene of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, the team is shown fighting an Abilisk. These creatures were created as a result of genetic experiments conducted by High Evolutionary, and their main source of food is batteries.
5. Pete Davidson’s One-Word Cameo
All three of the Guardians films feature a ton of celebrity cameos, but none may be as easy to miss as Pete Davidson. The comedic actor of SNL fame is one of the world’s most talked-about people these days, so it’s surprising that he would’ve agreed to show up to the set of Guardians Vol. 3 and utter one single word.
That’s right. Pete Davidson appears in the film as an alien named Phlektik who stops Peter Quill as he tries to make his way to the cockpit where High Evolutionary is supposed to be. His one-word line? “Wait!” Why didn’t you recognize it was Pete Davidson? Because he’s wearing an alien mask that renders him completely unrecognizable.
6. 2001: A Space Odyssey Reference
In one scene from Guardians 3, members of the team dress in color-coded space suits (blue, yellow, green, orange, and red) and float out into the abyss of space. The appearance of these space suits caused many (younger) people to speculate that this detail was inspired by the popular video game Among Us. However, director James Gunn took to Twitter to clarify that this was decidedly not true.
Renowned cartoonist Scott Kurtz asked Gunn on Twitter if the suits were a reference to Among Us. In reply, Gunn simply said no and shared a photo of the red, yellow, and blue space suits from Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. Luckily, Kurtz took the whole thing pretty well, tweeting, “I just got schooled by James Gunn. And I love it.”
7. The Star-Studded Card Game
Near the beginning of the film, there’s a scene of Kraglin (Sean Gunn) and Cosmo (Maria Bakalova) playing a card game that appears similar to poker on Knowhere. Alongside Kraglin and Cosmo, though, were some pretty interesting characters that you may have missed.
Among the players are Howard the Duck (Seth Green), Bzermikitokolok (played by the Old 97’s Rhett Miller in the Holiday Special), Gridlemop (played James Gunn’s real-life mentor and co-founder of Troma Entertainment Lloyd Kaufman), and the Broker (Christopher Fairbank) was last seen on Xandar in the first movie.
8. Marvel Studios Intro
For those of you who aren’t aware, there’s a standard Marvel Studios intro that plays before nearly every movie in the MCU. This intro usually features flybys from Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America. However, the intro to Guardians Vol. 3 replaces these flybys with a montage of clips from previous Guardians of the Galaxy films.
Many have speculated that this custom intro was meant to drive home the point that this is the final Guardians movie before James Gunn leaves Marvel and heads over to DC.
