It's time to deck the galaxy! Lights, presents, trees, snowflakes, candy canes, and... Kevin Bacon? In the The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, the Guardians, who are on a mission to make Christmas unforgettable for Quill, head to Earth in search of the perfect present.
Plot[]
In flashback, Peter Quill is teaching Kraglin Obfonteri about Christmas, but Yondu Udonta despises the sentimental holiday and tosses out the decorations. In the present, Kraglin explains these events to the Guardians as to why Quill seems depressed lately as Christmas is currently happening on Earth. The Guardians have recently purchased Knowhere from the Collector and are trying to reestablish it as a hospitable home. After a local alien band's failed attempt at trying to make a Christmas song for Quill, Mantis tells Drax the Destroyer that they have to do something for Quill, especially since she feels ashamed for not telling him that they are technically biological siblings. Drax suggests that they go to Earth and bring back "the legendary" Kevin Bacon, who is currently preparing for his holiday celebration with his family.
Mantis and Drax fly to Hollywood, California on Earth where they run into a variety of obstacles while trying to locate Bacon. They find his house, but he refuses to see them. They barge inside and give chase out into the street where they take out the cops before Mantis uses her powers to convince Bacon to join them. When they learn that he is an actor, the two are disgusted and Mantis further uses her powers to have him actually be a hero. Quill sees that Knowhere has been decorated with Christmas lights and is happy, until he learns that Mantis and Drax kidnapped Bacon as a Christmas present and has them turn him back to normal so they can return him home. When Kraglin explains to him about Quill, Bacon is inspired to call his wife, Kyra Sedgwick, to tell her that he is coming home later than usual.
Bacon performs with the alien band as everyone celebrates Christmas together for the first time, promising to hang out with them again around Easter. Mantis tells Quill what Kraglin had told them about Yondu, but Quill reveals that once he saw the gift he gave him, he had a change of heart and he gave him his blasters in return. Mantis also finally reveals that she is his sister, which Quill calls the greatest Christmas gift he has ever received.
In a post-credits scene, Rocket Raccoon and Cosmo the Spacedog are dressing Groot up as a Christmas tree, but he drops all the decorations. Cosmo declares that Groot ruined Christmas and Rocket, while breaking the fourth-wall, declares that they need to do another special.
On December 10, 2020, during Disney’s 2020 Investor Day, Kevin Feige announced that James Gunn would be writing and directing a Guardians of the Galaxy holiday special for Disney+, that would be filmed during Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and that would be released in December 2022.[1] That same day, Gunn revealed that he had been discussing the special with Kevin Feige over the years and that he was inspired by The Star Wars Holiday Special. On April 25, 2021, Gunn confirmed that Henry Braham will serve as the cinematographer.[2]
On April 25, 2022, James Gunn revealed that filming for the special officially wrapped.[3]
On October 25, 2022, it was reported that the special would premiere on November 25, 2022.[4]
Videos[]
Marvel Studios’ Special Presentation- The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special - Official Trailer
Marvel Studios’ Special Presentation- The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special - Featurette
Trivia[]
Not all of the Guardians appear in the special.
The special was originally supposed to be released on ABC, before Disney+ was launched.[5]
This is the fifth Marvel Cinematic Universe production to take place around Christmas time.
This is the second MCU project to show both live action and animated concepts, after Ms. Marvel, but is the first one to have animation as part of a story/flashback, rather than live action.
The opening and closing animated scenes of the special were created through rotoscoping, an animation technique which involves shooting live action footage and having animators trace over it frame-by-frame afterwards. James Gunn was inspired to use this technique by the films of Ralph Bakshi which he loved when he was growing up.[6]
The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special on Wikipedia
