Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2



Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is a 2017 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics superhero team Guardians of the Galaxy, produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It is the sequel to 2014's Guardians of the Galaxy and the fifteenth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The film is written and directed by James Gunn and stars an ensemble cast featuring Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Elizabeth Debicki, Chris Sullivan, Sean Gunn, Sylvester Stallone, and Kurt Russell. In Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, the Guardians travel throughout the cosmos as they help Peter Quill learn more about his true parentage.

The film was officially announced at the 2014 San Diego Comic-Con International before the theatrical release of the first film, along with Gunn's involvement, with the title of the film revealed a year later in June 2015. The film began principal photography in February 2016 at Pinewood Atlanta Studios in Fayette County, Georgia, and concluded in June 2016.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 premiered in Tokyo on April 10, 2017, on April 28 in the UK and is scheduled to be released in the United States on May 5, 2017, in 3D and IMAX 3D. A sequel, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, is scheduled to enter production with James Gunn returning to write and direct the film.

Plot
In 2014, Peter Quill, Gamora, Drax, Rocket, and baby Groot are renowned as the Guardians of the Galaxy. Ayesha, leader of the Sovereign race, has the Guardians protect valuable batteries from an inter-dimensional monster, the Abilisk, in exchange for Gamora's estranged sister Nebula, who was caught attempting to steal the batteries. When Rocket takes several of the batteries himself, the Sovereign attack the Guardians' ship with a fleet of drones. The drones are destroyed by a mysterious figure, but the Guardians are forced to crash-land on a nearby planet. The figure reveals himself as Quill's father Ego, who invites Quill, accompanied by Gamora and Drax, to his home, while Rocket and Groot remain behind to repair the ship and guard Nebula.

Meanwhile, Ayesha hires Yondu Udonta and his crew, having been exiled from the greater Ravager community for child trafficking, to recapture the Guardians. They manage to capture Rocket, but when Yondu shows reluctance to turn over Quill, his lieutenant Taserface leads a mutiny with help from Nebula. Taserface imprisons Rocket and Yondu aboard Yondu's own ship while Nebula leaves to track down and kill Gamora, whom she blames for all the torture inflicted on her by their father Thanos. While imprisoned, Rocket and Yondu bond and the latter expresses his disdain for Ego. Groot, together with Yondu loyalist Kraglin, frees Rocket and Yondu and they destroy the ship and its crew as they escape, though not before Taserface tips off the Sovereign fleet.

Ego explains that he is one of the god-like Celestials, and exists in the form of the planet on which they are standing. He assumed a human guise to travel the universe and interact with other species, eventually meeting and falling in love with Quill's mother Meredith. After Meredith's death, Ego paid Yondu to collect the young Quill, but Yondu never delivered the boy and Ego had been searching for his son ever since. He teaches Quill to manipulate the Celestial power within the planet. Nebula arrives at Ego's planet and tries to kill Gamora, but fails and the pair reach an uneasy alliance when they discover caverns filled with skeletal remains. Ego reveals to Quill that in his travels, he planted seedlings upon thousands of worlds that were capable of terraforming them into new extensions of himself, but they could only be activated by the power of a second Celestial. To that end, he impregnated hundreds of women and hired Yondu to collect the children; they all failed to access the Celestial power, so Ego killed them, until he found Quill. Ego uses Quill to activate the seedlings, which begin to consume every world. Quill is hypnotized into helping Ego, but fights back after Ego reveals that he deliberately caused Meredith's death.

Ego's pet empath, Mantis, grows close to Drax and warns him, Gamora, and Nebula of Ego's plan just as Rocket, Yondu, Groot, and Kraglin arrive. The reunited Guardians fight through the Sovereign's drones to reach the core of Ego's planet, where his brain is housed. Rocket makes a bomb out of the stolen batteries that Groot plants on Ego's brain, while Quill battles Ego with his newfound Celestial powers to allow the other Guardians to escape. The bomb explodes, killing Ego and causing the planet to disintegrate. Yondu sacrifices himself to save Quill, who comes to realize that Yondu did not deliver him to Ego in order to to spare him from the fate of Ego's other progeny, and that Yondu was Quill's true "daddy". Having reconciled with Gamora, Nebula still chooses to set out on her own path. The Guardians hold a funeral for Yondu, which is attended by dozens of Ravager ships who acknowledge Yondu as a redeemed and true Ravager.

In a series of mid- and post-credit scenes, Kraglin takes up Yondu's telekinetic arrow and control fin; Ravager leader Stakar Ogord, inspired by Yondu's sacrifice and redemption, reunites with their ex-teammates; Groot starts growing back to normal size, exhibiting typical teenage behavior in the process; Ayesha creates a new artificial being with whom she plans to destroy the Guardians, naming him Adam; and an astronaut discusses several experiences on Earth with a group of uninterested Watchers.

Cast



 * Chris Pratt as Peter Quill / Star-Lord:
 * The half-human, half-Celestial leader of the Guardians of the Galaxy who was abducted from Earth as a child and raised by a group of alien thieves and smugglers called the Ravagers. Describing where Quill is at the start of the film, Pratt said, "he's famous now in the galaxy for having saved so many people... He feels like he's part of this group, a leader of this group. He's a little more responsible and trying to stay out of trouble, but not necessarily doing the best job." Pratt stated that working on the film forced him to come to terms with the death of his father. Pratt returns as part of a multi-film contract with Marvel. Wyatt Oleff once again portrays a young Quill.


 * Zoe Saldana as Gamora:
 * A member of the Guardians and an orphan from an alien world who seeks redemption for her past crimes. She was trained by Thanos to be his personal assassin. Saldana described Gamora's role in the team as "the voice of reason" saying, "She's surrounded by all these dudes who are so stupid half the time," and added that she is the "Mom" of the team, saying that she is "just a meticulous, detailed, professional individual." Regarding Gamora's relationship with Nebula, Saldana described it as "volatile" and added, "we're starting somewhere very crazy but appropriate given where we had ended things off in the first" film.


 * Dave Bautista as Drax the Destroyer:
 * A member of the Guardians and highly skilled warrior in search for vengeance against Thanos for his family's slaughter. Bautista opted to wait for the final version of the script, rather than earlier drafts, in order to be surprised by the story and not take "away from the magic" or "put a damper on it", which he felt happened when he read the script for the first film. Describing how Drax has progressed from the first film, Bautista called him "more funny, driven" and having "a sense of innocence and heartbreak about him", despite "most people's first perception of Drax [that] he's just a big, muscly brute, and he's just going to go in and be an all-action character." He also added that the Guardians "become more of a solid family" in the film, with Drax getting "closer and more caring with the other Guardians". Bautista's makeup took only 90 minutes to apply, down from four hours for the first film. He added that he would have to sit in a sauna at the end of the day to get the makeup off, after his makeup test found it too "abrasive".


 * Vin Diesel as the voice of Baby Groot:
 * A member of the Guardians who is a tree-like humanoid and the accomplice of Rocket. Diesel also provided Groot's voice for sixteen foreign-language releases of the film, up from six in the first film. As Groot is smaller in the film than in the first and known as "Baby Groot", executive producer Jonathan Schwartz said, "He doesn't have the wisdom and experience of that Groot. He's a younger Groot and a more rambunctious Groot." Diesel added that Baby Groot "couldn't be more naive" and felt the Groot seen in the first film was "a college level Groot. He's not fully grown yet, but he's a man... now he has to start all over, so to speak. So we're going to see this goofy, adorable, baby Groot thing running around the screen. Just kinda learning as he goes." Director and writer James Gunn felt Baby Groot was "a better-written character than the first Groot in some ways" and a "more complete character" because of a larger awareness to the character during filming, opposed to the first film where Gunn and the cast "just kind of always forgot he was there" with the stand-in actor not having the same presence that Sean Gunn did portraying Rocket. The idea for Baby Groot came during the filming of the first film, as a reverse of the shot with Rocket standing on Groot's shoulder. Prop master Russell Bobbitt created a 1:1 scale model of the 10 in Baby Groot for filming to use "as a lighting reference and sometimes puppeteered against the actors during the filming of scenes." As Groot only communicates with the phrase "I am Groot" in different inflections, Gunn created a "Groot Version" of the script for himself and Diesel, which contains each of Groot's lines in English.


 * Bradley Cooper as the voice of Rocket:
 * A member of the Guardians who is a genetically engineered raccoon-based bounty hunter and mercenary who is also a master of weapons and military tactics. Sean Gunn once again serves as the stand-in for the character during filming, stating that, similar to the first film, "Rocket has the same sort of crisis of faith about whether or not he belongs in this family." James Gunn added, "this is really about Rocket coming to terms with accepting his place within a group of people, which probably seemed like a good idea for two seconds when they were kind of getting along and saving the planet, and now's it's like, he's just not very comfortable with the idea with being a part of this group." Feige stated that the relationship between Rocket and Groot has changed, saying, "Whereas Groot was Rocket's protector in the first movie, Rocket is Groot's protector."


 * Michael Rooker as Yondu Udonta:
 * A blue-skinned buccaneer who is the leader of the Ravagers, a fatherly figure to Quill, and member of the Guardians. Yondu has a larger head fin in the film, bringing the character's look closer to his comic counterpart.


 * Karen Gillan as Nebula:
 * An adopted daughter of Thanos who was raised with Gamora as siblings, and a reluctant member of the Guardians. Despite being a member of the Guardians team, Gunn cautioned, "With Nebula, well, you never know what's up with that one." Gunn stated the production team may have figured out a way for Gillan not to have to shave her head for the role, unlike in the first film, for which Gillan noted her appreciation in not having to do. Gillan revealed she only had to shave half of her head for the film, taking away the underneath part and leaving the top. Gillan's makeup took two and a half hours to apply, down from five hours for the first film. Gillan stated the film would further explore the sisterly relationship between Nebula and Gamora, including their backstory "and what happened to these two girls growing up and actually how awful it was for them and how it's ruined their relationship", adding "we're [also] going to start to see how much pain [Thanos] actually caused [Nebula]... we really start to see the emotional crack in her character".


 * Pom Klementieff as Mantis:
 * A member of the Guardians with empathic powers who was raised by Ego.   Schwartz said the character "has never really experienced social interaction", and "learns about dealing with people" and "social intricacies" from the other Guardians. Klementieff added, "She was really lonely and by herself, so it's a completely new thing to meet these people and to discover new things and new emotions and a new way of sharing things ... I think it's like a kid, you know? You discover things and you're curious about things and you make mistakes and you say, like, weird things or you're awkward." Mantis and Drax also have an "interesting" relationship according to Feige, since "they're both complete odd balls".


 * Elizabeth Debicki as Ayesha: The golden High Priestess and the leader of the Sovereign people.
 * Chris Sullivan as Taserface:
 * The leader of a mutinous group of the Ravagers. Gunn originally posted a photo of the comic book character on his social media after landing Guardians of the Galaxy, calling him "the dumbest character of all time" and that he would never feature the character in a film. When it came time to craft this character, Gunn felt the character had named himself and decided on Taserface, and described him as "a real dumbass" as well as "a very powerful guy". Sullivan's makeup took two and a half, to three and a half hours to apply each day.


 * Sean Gunn as Kraglin: Yondu's second-in-command in the Ravagers. James Gunn confirmed that Kraglin would have an expanded role compared to the previous film.
 * Sylvester Stallone as Stakar Ogord / Starhawk: A high-ranking Ravager who has a history with Yondu. Gunn described Stakar as "very important to the Marvel Universe", and said that though he was unsure whether Stallone would appear in Vol. 3 at the time of Vol. 2's release, "it’s our plan to see more of Stallone" in future MCU films.
 * Kurt Russell as Ego:
 * An ancient and mysterious cosmic being who is Quill's father and raised Mantis. Pratt was the first to suggest to Gunn that he consider Russell for the role; he portrays an avatar of Ego who is more traditionally seen in the comics in his "Living Planet" form. Ego was allowed to be used in the film after 20th Century Fox reached a deal with Marvel Studios to return the film rights of Ego for changing the power set of Negasonic Teenage Warhead, whom Fox wanted to use in Deadpool (2016). Gunn, who originally thought Marvel held the rights to the character, stated that had the deal with Fox not been made, there was "no back up plan, and it would [have been] nearly impossible to just drop another character in" given the extensive work done surrounding the character. Aaron Schwartz portrays a younger version of Ego.

Additionally, Laura Haddock returns from the first film as Meredith Quill, as does Gregg Henry as her father, Seth Green as the voice of Howard the Duck, and canine actor Fred as Cosmo. Members of Yondu's Ravager crew appearing in the film include Evan Jones as Wrench, Jimmy Urine as Half-Nut, Stephen Blackehart as Brahl, Steve Agee as Gef, Mike Escamilla as Scrote, Joe Fria as Oblo, Terence Rosemore as Narblik, and Tommy Flanagan as Tullk. The other members of Stakar and Yondu's old team, based on the comic's original incarnation of the Guardians of the Galaxy, include Michael Rosenbaum as Martinex T'Naga, Ving Rhames as Charlie-27, and Michelle Yeoh as Stakar's female counterpart Aleta Ogord / Starhawk. Also included in the team are the CG characters Krugarr and Mainframe, with the latter voiced, in an uncredited cameo, by Miley Cyrus. Gunn cast Yeoh because of his love for 90s Hong Kong films, and Cyrus after admiring "the tone of her voice" while watching The Voice. He added that the team would return in future MCU films alongside Stallone's Stakar.

David Hasselhoff makes a cameo appearance as himself, in addition to contributing to the film's soundtrack, while Rob Zombie once again has a voice cameo. Stan Lee appears as an astronaut talking to some Watchers, discussing previous adventures that include Lee's cameos in other MCU films. This was a nod to the popular fan theory that Lee may be portraying one of the Watchers himself in his various cameo appearances, with Feige stating, "Stan Lee clearly exists, you know, above and apart from the reality of all the films. So the notion that he could be sitting there on a cosmic pit stop during the jump gate sequence in Guardians was something very fun—James had that idea and ... that really says, so wait a minute, he’s this same character who’s popped up in all these films?" Jeff Goldblum briefly appears during the credits as the Grandmaster, ahead of a much larger role in Thor: Ragnarok. Nathan Fillion was going to cameo as Simon Williams, after having a voice cameo in the first film, but the scene was ultimately cut from the film. The scene would have shown several movie posters for films starring Williams, an actor, including films in which he portrays Arkon and Tony Stark.

Development
In May 2014, The Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Iger talked about the future of Guardians of the Galaxy, saying, "We're looking forward to introducing the world to more fantastic Marvel storytelling, with a great cast of new characters in Guardians of the Galaxy... We believe it has strong franchise potential." He added, "I'm not going to predict that we've got another Avengers on our hands, but that's certainly the goal." James Gunn, director and co-screenwriter of Guardians of the Galaxy, revealed that, should a sequel film be made, he would like to return, in addition to being contractually obligated to if asked. The next month, producer Kevin Feige added, "should [Guardians of the Galaxy] work, should the audience come out for this one, there are definitely places we can take [the franchise] and we have ideas of where we'd like to go with it," due to the wide array of characters, worlds and story lines from Guardians comics.

In July 2014, Guardians of the Galaxy co-screenwriter Nicole Perlman confirmed a sequel, saying it was "going to happen" due to the positive response, and confirmed that Gunn would write and direct. At San Diego Comic-Con International 2014, the sequel was given a release date of July 28, 2017. A month later, Gunn stated that "there should be at least one more Guardian from the comics" appearing in the film, and revealed that he had already started working on the sequel. In October, Gunn confirmed that all five original Guardians would return, along with other characters from the original film, with the possibility of more team members joining, and the release date was moved up to May 5, 2017. In the following months, Michael Rooker revealed he would return for the sequel as Yondu, stating he was looking forward to exploring new areas of the character and was excited to "expand on the role"; Chris Pratt, who played Peter Quill / Star-Lord in the first film, revealed the sequel would be one of his next projects; and Bradley Cooper expressed interest and excitement when asked if he would return as Rocket for the sequel.

In March 2015, Gunn revealed that filming would take place in Atlanta, Georgia with "major crew changes" from the first film, and that his brother, Sean Gunn, would return as Kraglin alongside Karen Gillan as Nebula. He also explained his working relationship with Marvel saying, "We have a really great relationship where they let me go and do my thing, and I truly listen to their notes and ideas. I've never been told to put in any character or plot element at all... When [Marvel] trust[s] you—and I think I've earned their trust over the past few years—they give you a wide berth... we just fit." Vin Diesel confirmed he would return as Groot, and a month later Gunn confirmed the film would be released in 3D.

In May, Gunn said that there are fewer characters in the sequel than in the first film, and that he at one point had two major new characters in the script: Mantis and Adam Warlock. Talks had begun with an actor Gunn had in mind to fulfill the role of Mantis, while he had decided to remove Adam Warlock due to the film "getting too busy", explaining, "one of the main things with Guardians of the Galaxy is not to add a bunch of characters, not to make it bigger in that way but to go deeper with the characters... and getting to know them more emotionally... everything is just getting too sprawling and too crazy for me in these superhero comic book movies. And also in superhero comics in general. There's just too many characters so you can't concentrate on one and really get to know that character, and I really want to get to know the characters that we know better." Gunn added, "I adored what we had done with him. I think we did something really creative and unique with Adam Warlock. But it was one character too many and I didn't want to lose Mantis and Mantis was more organically part of the movie anyway." He noted that Adam Warlock could appear in future Guardians films, and is considered "a pretty important part" of the cosmic side of the MCU.

Writing
After the film's announcement, Gunn said he knew "a lot of where I want to go [in the sequel]. I have a lot of ideas for stories and characters that are going to appear, and there are documents written up." On his approach for the sequel, Gunn said, "I probably won't structure the film in the exact same way [as the first one]. One of the reasons people like Guardians is because it's fresh and different, so the second one will be fresh and different from the first one." Before starting on the script, Gunn said he hoped to further explore Peter Quill's father, Yondu, Drax the Destroyer, Nebula, Kraglin, and the Collector, and expand on Xandarian, Kree, Krylorian, and Ravager culture. He also hoped to introduce more female characters in the sequel, though wanted to avoid including "earthlings" such as Carol Danvers in order to keep Quill the main focus from Earth. Likewise, Gunn also chose not to feature Novas Richard Rider or Sam Alexander in the film, saying, "I don't want Nova right now because I think Quill being the only earthling is important. That serves the entire movie going audience and not just the handful of Nova [and Carol Danvers] fans."

Feige said exploring Quill's father "would certainly be part of a next Guardians adventure" and would not be addressed in another film before Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, saying "I think it's pretty important. I think there's a reason we seeded it at the very end of the [first] film like that." Gunn also stated that he wanted to make sure "Yondu's place in everything made sense" in regards to his relationship to Quill and his father, and also revealed Quill's father would not be J'son as in the comics. Gunn also stated he "was less confident [Marvel] was going to buy in on Baby Groot than" including Ego the Living Planet, since "adult Groot was the most popular character from the first film and I didn't think they'd want to risk a good thing." However, by changing Groot, Gunn felt it "opened the film up" creatively, allowing Gunn to bring out "new aspects of our other characters."

As for Thanos, Gunn said, "He will show up [in the sequel] if he helps our story and he will not show up at all if not. Thanos is not the most important thing in Guardians 2, that's for damn sure. There's the Guardians themselves and other threats the Guardians are going to be facing that are not Thanos." Feige later stated that Thanos would not appear in the sequel, as he was being saved for a "grander" return. On a potential crossover with the Avengers, Gunn said, "We talked about all sorts of possibilities [for a crossover] and I kind of know what the basic plan is. It could always change at any minute ... [the Guardians and the Avengers] do inhabit the same universe and they're pretty big personalities that are likely to, at some point or another, run into each other." When later asked about how the film would connect with the other Phase Three films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Gunn said, "I don't feel beholden to that stuff at all. I think it's really about the Guardians and what they are doing. We're not subservient to the Avengers. Guardians 2 is not a movie that's made to move toward [Avengers: Infinity War]. It's something that's made to move toward future cosmic movies, so I don't feel that that is something that affects me that much." Gunn later stated that the film would not be "so much about the Infinity Stones" or include any Avengers cameos. Feige also indicated that the end of the film and where the team is "will inform future things, but there's nothing that nods directly towards that."

Gunn set the film two-to-three months after the first film, "because he felt the group are just such fragile egos and he didn't think this story could start years later." Major planets visited in the film include Sovereign, Berhart and Contraxia. Feige also stated two or three other worlds would be seen, as well as "a little bit of Earth in this film, but it's not these characters going to Earth."

In December 2014, Gunn revealed the story for the film was written, saying, "It's [still] constantly shifting, but I feel like it's pretty strong. I'm excited about it." By early February 2015, Gunn said that when he first presented his idea for the sequel to Marvel they thought it was "risky", and that he would be submitting a full story treatment to the company "in a few short weeks". He described it as "not really based on anything" from the comics, being mainly an original story. Gunn later referred to this treatment as a "scriptment", "a 70-page combination of a script and a treatment and it goes through every beat of the movie". By April, he was preparing to write the screenplay, and in May Gunn he was hoping to complete the script before he began work on The Belko Experiment in June 2015.

Pre-production
On June 2, 2015, Gunn announced on social media that he completed the first draft of the screenplay, and revealed that the film's title would not simply be Guardians of the Galaxy 2. The same week, he confirmed the returns of Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, and Cooper as Gamora, Drax, and Rocket, respectively. At the end of the month, Gunn announced the film's title as Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, on which he said that he "came up with a LOT of titles for Vol. 2. But because 'Guardians of the Galaxy' is already so wordy, it seemed strange to add another bunch of words after it. I liked Vol. 2 the best, so that's what I stuck on the cover of the screenplay—and, fortunately, [Marvel] liked it."

In September 2015, Gunn said in a Facebook post that he wanted to use Sneepers, an alien race that first appeared in Marvel Comics in 1964, as background characters in the film but was advised against it by Marvel's legal department because the name was too similar to snípur, the Icelandic word for clitoris. The Marvel legal department later cleared the use of Sneepers in the film, in part because of all the media coverage Gunn's initial post received. At the end of the month, Feige stated casting announcements would be made "over the next few months before the end of the year", and by the end of October Pom Klementieff was cast as Mantis. Also, Matthew McConaughey had been offered the role of the film's antagonist, but had passed on it in favor of working on The Dark Tower, feeling he would have been "an amendment" in Vol. 2 in "a colorful part [made] for another big-name actor."

In December 2015, Gunn said that he was corresponding with John C. Reilly about him reprising his role as Nova Corpsman Rhomann Dey, while Kurt Russell entered early talks to play Quill's father. After the death of David Bowie, Gunn announced that he had completed the final draft of the script, and that there had been discussions for Bowie to make a cameo appearance in the film. Additionally, Benicio del Toro, who portrayed Taneleer Tivan / The Collector in the first film, said that he had not heard from Marvel about returning for Vol. 2, but was interested in portraying the character again at some other point. Gunn explained that the Collector "just didn't fit" into Vol. 2. In early February, comedian Steve Agee was revealed to be in the film.

Prop master Russell Bobbitt had difficulty finding the cassette decks used in the first film and all of the Sony Walkman headsets they found were broken. Bobbitt contacted Sony to see if they had any available for filming, which they did not, eventually creating six from scratch after finding three pairs on eBay going for around $1,800 that were also not the exact model. Additional props created for the film included two sets of blasters for Quill, with removable blaster cartridges, and "steampunk-looking weapons and belts", for the Ravagers.

Filming
Pre-shooting began on February 11, 2016, at Pinewood Atlanta Studios in Fayette County, Georgia, under the working title Level Up, with Henry Braham serving as cinematographer and Scott Chambliss as production designer. Gunn noted that many of the crew from the first film, such as cinematographer Ben Davis and production designer Charles Wood, signed on to work on Doctor Strange, and due to a late change in production schedule to a November 2015 start, were unable to work on Vol. 2. The film was the first to be shot with an 8K resolution camera, the Red Weapon 8K. Additional scenes were also shot in IMAX and its aspect ratio.

Principal photography began on February 17. Marvel confirmed that Russell had joined the cast in an undisclosed role, and revealed that Elizabeth Debicki and Chris Sullivan had also been cast in undisclosed roles. Additionally, Gunn confirmed that Glenn Close would reprise her role of Nova Prime Irani Rael from the first film. In April, Gunn revealed that Reilly would not be part of the film, and stated that there were many other characters he could not include in the film due to rights issues, saying that 20th Century Fox "owns so many awesome cosmic villains and minor characters that I'd love to play around with" such as Annihilus and Kang the Conqueror. Additional filming took place in Cartersville, Georgia. The Georgia International Convention Center served as additional soundstage space for the film, after pre-production work for Spider-Man: Homecoming began occupying remaining soundstages at Pinewood Atlanta, where it was also filmed. Principal photography wrapped on June 16, 2016.

Post-production
At San Diego Comic-Con 2016, Russell and Debicki were revealed to be playing Ego, Quill's father, and Ayesha, respectively. Sylvester Stallone was also revealed to be in the film, with is role later revealed as Stakar. Gunn also introduced multiple actors who were playing Ravager characters, since the Ravagers have a larger presence in the film. On the decision to reveal Russell as Ego and Quill's father when he did, Gunn felt that since "people were going to figure it out eventually... it was better that we took the reins in our own hands" and make the reveal. Gunn also felt that by making the reveal, "it sends a real important message [that] this movie isn't about, 'Oh my god, you've gotta go and find out who Peter Quill's dad is!' It really is about the story and the relationship that these characters have... and the emotions that transpire between Peter Quill, his adoptive father Yondu, and his real father Ego". In August 2016, Gunn confirmed the film would feature a post-credits scene, later stating there would be five in total, with four mid-credits scenes and one post-credits. In November, Gillan revealed that the film was undergoing reshoots.

In January 2017, Gunn stated that the mid- and post-credits scenes for the film were written and directed by him. The following month, it was reported that the film had scored a perfect 100 in test screenings, the highest for any Marvel Studios film. The Hollywood Reporter noted, however, that although all film studios conduct test screening, generally from a random pool of people, Marvel selects its audience "from a more select pool of recruits, what it terms 'friends and families screenings'... [And] because the Marvel testing process is not as random as other studio procedures, the 100 score for Guardians 2 is not necessarily able to be compared to other non-Marvel movies." Producers and studio executives also "caution at putting too much meaning into test scores, pointing out the scores are best at gauging where audiences engage or disengage," and may not reflect the ultimate reception from critics' reviews and a wider audience, and its box office gross. In March 2017, Gunn revealed that Michael Rosenbaum would appear in the film, and revealed that he would once again provide the dancing for Baby Groot as in the first film "in a much bigger way. I actually had to do like a full day's worth of dancing to get Groot's dance down this time. Last time it was me in front of an iPhone, and this time it's me dancing on a huge soundstage and shooting it from five different angles."

Fred Raskin and Craig Wood return from the first film to serve as editors. Visual effects for the film were created by Framestore, Weta Digital, Trixter, Method Studios, Animal Logic, Scanline VFX, Lola, Luma, and Cantina Creative, with Framestore returning from the first film to once again create Rocket. Ego's planetary form was inspired by the fractal art of Hal Tenny, who Gunn hired to help design Ego's environment. Gunn added that there are "over a trillion polygons on Ego's planet," calling it "the biggest visual effect of all time. There's nothing even close to it."

Music
By August 2014, Gunn had "some ideas listed, but nothing for sure" in terms of songs to include in Quill's Awesome Mix Vol. 2 mixtape. In April 2015, Gunn said he felt "a little pressure for the soundtrack because so many people loved [ the first film's soundtrack ] and we went platinum and all that other stuff. But I feel like the soundtrack in the second one is better." In June 2015, Gunn stated that all of the songs for Awesome Mix Vol. 2 had been chosen and built into the script. Gunn called the Awesome Mix Vol. 2 "more diverse" than the first one, with "some really incredibly famous songs and then some songs that people have never heard."

Tyler Bates had returned to score the film by August 2015. As with Guardians of the Galaxy, Bates wrote some of the score first so that Gunn could film to the music, as opposed to Bates scoring to the film. Recording for the score began in January 2017 at Abbey Road Studios.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2: Awesome Mix Volume 2, along with the film score album composed by Bates, were released on April 21, 2017.

Release
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 made its world premiere in Tokyo on April 10, 2017, and its Hollywood premiere took place on April 19, 2017 at the Dolby Theatre. The film began its international release on April 25, 2017, in Australia, New Zealand and Italy, alongside a total of 37 markets in its first weekend, and will be released in North America on May 5, 2017, in 3D and IMAX 3D. It was originally intended to be released on July 28, 2017.

Marketing
In June 2016, Marvel announced plans for an expanded merchandising program for the film, being "broader" than the one for the first film, with Groot playing a central role along with appealing to kids and male and female fans beyond collectors. Paul Gitter, senior VP of licensing for Marvel at Disney Consumer Products said that they intend to build Guardians of the Galaxy into a tentpole franchise, stating, "As affinity and awareness for the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise and its characters continues to grow by leaps and bounds, we are building out a much larger merchandising program to meet the increasing demand from fans." Partners in the campaign include Hasbro, Lego, Funko, and LB Kids. Gunn also made sure the female characters of the film received more representation in the merchandise than in the first. In July 2016, Gunn, Pratt and other members of the cast attended San Diego Comic-Con to promote the film, including showing footage and revealing additional character information.

On October 19, 2016, a "sneak peak" teaser was released ahead of the first full teaser trailer. Ethan Anderton of /Film felt the teaser was strong, despite not showing any of the new characters or relying on Baby Groot, while The A.V. Club's Esther Zuckerman called it "an immediate crowd-pleaser". According to media-measurement firm comScore and its PreAct service, the teaser was the top trailer for the week it released, generating 108,000 new social media conversations. In early December 2016, before Gunn revealed the first teaser trailer at Comic Con Experience 2016 and it debuted during the 2016 ACC Championship Game, Gunn spoke on crafting the teaser, calling it difficult because the film is "such an emotional and physical journey, going to all these different places" that finding scenes and moments to showcase without revealing too much resulted in hard choices, since "people really go through every single little shot and try to figure out what the movie's about. And there's a lot of mysteries in Guardians 2." Describing the teaser trailer, Jacob Hall of /Film felt, "It's telling that this trailer can get away without actually selling the plot of the movie. Audiences didn't fall in love with the first Guardians of the Galaxy because they were entranced by yet another Marvel Studios movie built around a villain who gets his hands on an Infinity Stone. They fell for Chris Pratt's cocksure Star-Lord, Zoe Saldana's determined Gamora, Dave Bautista's bombastic Drax, Bradley Cooper's bitter Rocket, and Vin Diesel's adorably weird Groot. In fact, the bulk of this trailer is dedicated to this group bouncing off one another, which is the real star attraction. Whatever villainous plot they have to face is secondary to Drax laughing himself silly at the expense of Star-Lord having an unfortunate psychic encounter." The teaser trailer was centered around the use of Sweet's song "Fox on the Run", much like the early trailers for the first film with Blue Swede's "Hooked on a Feeling", which Aaron Couch of The Hollywood Reporter felt was "the first hint of what's in store for the Awesome Mix Vol. 2". The teaser trailer had 81 million views in 24 hours, becoming the second-most viewed teaser behind Beauty and the Beast and largest Marvel Studios teaser ever. Additionally, "Fox on the Run" reached number one on the iTunes Rock Chart.

A second trailer aired during Super Bowl LI. Germain Lussier for io9 called the trailer "hilarious" and noted that Rocket and Groot talking to Yondu and Drax laughing was "the highlight". Anderton also commented on the second trailer, saying, it was "one hell of a... Super Bowl spot, one that probably overshadows the game itself for people like me who don't really have an investment in the outcome [of the game] one way or the other. There's plenty of badass cosmic action, the humor we all love, a stellar soundtrack, and some great new footage from the sequel." The spot generated the most Twitter conversation volume during the game with 47,800 conversations, according to comScore and its PreAct service. The service which "measures data from Twitter volume using official hashtags from a pic's trailer as well as other keywords intended to isolate the conversation about the film," measured the volume of trailers that aired during the game from the time it aired through the end of the game, and was limited to conversations in the United States and Canada. The film also topped a Fandango survey as fans' favorite film trailer during the Super Bowl. An additional trailer debuted on February 28, 2017, on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. Haleigh Foutch at Collider.com felt the trailer added to the "hype" for the film and was "just an all-around wonderful trailer, lit up with the wacky humor and irreverent charm that made the first film such a hit, with an extra dose of visual splendor." Pratt and Saldana appeared at the 2017 Kids' Choice Awards, where they also debuted an exclusive clip from the film.

Box office
, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 has grossed $6.6 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $6.6 million.

In March 2017, early projections had the film grossing $160 million in its opening weekend in North America. In mid-April 2017, the film's opening weekend projection was adjusted to $130–150 million, with Deadline.com noting the film could reach the $179 million debut of Captain America: Civil War.

The film opened at number one in Australia, New Zealand and Italy, and was the second-highest opening for an MCU film in Australia, and was the third-highest in New Zealand and Italy. The New Zealand opening was also the highest of 2017 for the country. Outside of the United States and Canada, the film is projected to gross around $85–100 million during its opening weekend.

Critical response
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 87% based on 94 reviews, with an average rating of 7.2/10. The critical consensus reads, "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 ' s action-packed plot, dazzling visuals, and irreverent humor add up to a sequel that's almost as fun -- if not quite as thrillingly fresh -- as its predecessor." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 67 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Owen Gleiberman of Variety said, "Shot for shot, line and line, it's an extravagant and witty follow-up, made with the same friendly virtuosic dazzle. Yet this time you can sense just how hard the series' wizard of a director, James Gunn, is working to entertain you." Mike Ryan of Uproxx gave the film a positive review and praised the cast, saying: "The thing that people will ask is, 'Is it better than the first movie?' And, right now, I like both about the same. These movies work because of their tone." Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave the film three out of four stars, although noting it was not as good as its predecessor, writing: "Remarkably, Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 still has the loosey-goosey feel of a rogue epic that the kids made when the grown-ups weren't watching."

Conversely, Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter said, "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 plays like a second ride on a roller-coaster that was a real kick the first time around but feels very been-there/done-that now." Mara Reinstein of Us Weekly wrote, "For the sequel, writer-director James Gunn has doubled down on all his once-nifty novelties. Strip them away and what remains is a bloated semi-mess."

Sequel
In November 2014, Gunn stated that, in addition to having the "basic story" for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 while working on the first film, he also had ideas for a potential third film. Despite this, Gunn stated in June 2015 that he was unsure if he would be involved with a third Guardians film, saying that it would depend on how he felt after making Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. In April 2016, Feige said on future MCU films, "it is still a big chess board for 2020 and beyond, but certainly I would say Guardians 3 is [one film that's] up there. I don't know what exactly the order will be." In March 2017, Gunn stated there would be a third film "for sure. We're trying to figure it out," also adding, "There are no specific plans for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. But we know unless something goes horribly — which is always possibly, you never know — I think that Marvel would want to make another movie." He also reiterated he was still unsure if he would be involved with the film and that he was going to figure out his involvement and his next project "over the next couple of weeks." The following month, Gunn announced he would return to write and direct Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.