Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Review, and Who War Pig Is

War Pig Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 explained

Anyone searching for War Pig in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 usually wants one of two things: who the character is, or how the film that features her ends. This page covers both. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, written and directed by James Gunn, premiered at Disneyland Paris on April 22, 2023 and opened in the United States on May 5, 2023. It is the final chapter for this lineup of the team, part of Phase Five of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and runs 150 minutes. The story is set after Thor: Love and Thunder and The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, so a viewer who skipped the special loses nothing essential.

In the film, War Pig is a cyborg pig and one of the High Evolutionary’s Hellspawn guards, a group of cybernetically enhanced animals made to enforce his will. Judy Greer is credited in the role. She appears during the Counter-Earth stretch of the film, where Gamora has to rescue Rocket from Adam Warlock and War Pig. She is a minor figure, but she is a good example of how the High Evolutionary treats living creatures as raw material.

The cast is the one fans know: Chris Pratt as Peter Quill, Zoe Saldaña as an alternate Gamora, Dave Bautista as Drax, Karen Gillan as Nebula, Pom Klementieff as Mantis, Vin Diesel as Groot and Bradley Cooper as the voice of Rocket, with Sean Gunn handling motion capture for the character. Newcomers include Will Poulter as Adam Warlock and Chukwudi Iwuji as the High Evolutionary. Nathan Fillion and Sylvester Stallone also appear, and James Gunn voices Lambshank, a cameo that was originally written for Stan Lee.

Rocket’s story

The review opened with the film’s central point: Vol. 3 is ultimately Rocket’s story. All the other members of the team get development, but the emotional arc belongs to the furriest Guardian. The film reveals that Rocket was one of many experiments carried out by the High Evolutionary, who gave him speech and enhanced cognition. Those are the only happy parts of the story, along with his cell mates, other enhanced animals: a walrus, an otter and a spider-bunny. The rest is horror, and Wikipedia notes the High Evolutionary kills Rocket’s friend Lylla.

The reviewer had read the comics first and had an idea what to expect from Rocket’s backstory, and it still hit hard. It took, by the reviewer’s account, all their willpower not to cry more than once in the theater.

The plot in order

The film begins with the team settled on Knowhere, the Celestial head turned space colony. Peter Quill is mourning Gamora, lost to Thanos, even though a version of her from another timeline now walks around. He is drinking to dull the pain. Then Adam Warlock, played by Will Poulter, attacks without warning. He hatched from his cocoon early, sent by the Sovereign to retrieve Rocket for the High Evolutionary. Warlock nearly defeats the whole team and seriously wounds Rocket.

A med pack does not work. Nebula discovers a kill switch built into Rocket’s body, planted by Orgocorp, and any attempt to repair the damage will kill him. The team has 48 hours to find a way to turn it off. That clock drives the rest of the film.

The first stop is OrgoCorp, a biologically grown corporate colony, and the Guardians need the Ravagers to get in. Gamora is now a Ravager who is only helping because she is being paid, and Quill’s passive-aggressive barbs go nowhere. The team boards in what the review called Teletubby chic spacesuits, there is a cameo by Nathan Fillion, and Gamora and Drax tag-team enemies in a fight that alternates between beating them and compelling them to dance.

Counter-Earth and the High Evolutionary’s ship

The search for the override code sends the team to Counter-Earth, the High Evolutionary’s planet populated by animal people he calls Humanimals. Gamora, Rocket, Drax and Mantis go there to find Theel, the advisor who removed the code, while Quill, Groot and Nebula head to the High Evolutionary’s Arête Laboratories. The review found Counter-Earth a telling place: despite the villain’s obsession with weeding violence out of his creations, its people still throw rocks, deal drugs and act foolishly. Drax cannot be trusted with dodgeballs or couches, and Nebula gets a blue drink. And there are creations made to enforce his violent will, such as War Pig.

When half the team finally gets what it needs, the other half is stranded on the High Evolutionary’s massive ship just as it crosses into space. The Guardians regroup with a revived Rocket and fight on the villain’s terms. He has an army of horrific creations and what the review called Lovecraftian monstrosities, but the Guardians have found friends too, among them Kraglin, the would-be apprentice of Yondu.

The High Evolutionary agrees with Quill that Counter-Earth is imperfect, and he bombards the planet, killing the Humanimals and Ayesha. Rocket discovers imprisoned animals on the ship and confronts the High Evolutionary, whom the other Guardians defeat. Rocket spares him.

How the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 ending resolves the team

• Quill disables the kill switch and Rocket survives.
• Quill leaves the Guardians and names Rocket the new captain.
• Gamora rejoins the Ravagers.
• Nebula and Drax stay on Knowhere to raise the rescued children.
• Mantis travels with the Abilisks.
• Drax was left out of the post-credits scene at Dave Bautista’s request.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 at a glance

Sources: Wikipedia’s article on the film and Disney’s streaming announcement coverage.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 review: the verdict

The review did not claim this as its favorite of the trilogy, and it had not yet found a Guardians movie it disliked. It said Marvel hit another one out of the park in what it called perhaps the most Marvel movie it had ever seen: you will laugh, cry and be angry that this is the last film with this team. The music helps. The soundtrack leans on the late 1980s and early 1990s, opening with Radiohead’s Creep and using No Sleep Till Brooklyn in a late fight, and the songs match the theme that people are perfect because of their imperfections, not despite them.

The performances got specific praise. Zoe Saldaña brings nuance to the new Gamora, hard-edged but with a core of sweetness. Nebula finally becomes part of the team, and she does it with a nanite limb that becomes any weapon. Chukwudi Iwuji’s High Evolutionary is as committed as Thanos and as manipulative as Kang, yet distinct: a man whose hubris is the source of his madness and who thinks everything can be made better under his guidance.

The wider response backs it up. Wikipedia calls the film critically and commercially successful, notes many critics thought it a satisfying close to the trilogy, and records an Academy Award nomination for visual effects. It was among the highest-grossing films of 2023. On streaming, it arrived on Disney+ on August 2, 2023, after digital retailers got it on July 7.

Where does that leave the Guardians? Quill is gone and Rocket leads. The review noted that if they are anything like the comics, another incarnation or two could follow, and that the MCU would be a much poorer place without them. Counter-Earth does not survive the film.

A short word on rewatching. The film front-loads jokes and music and then moves into real darkness, and the review argued that is the point: the series has always hidden grief in comedy. If you saw Vol. 3 once in a theater and cried at the Rocket flashbacks, a second viewing at home shows how carefully the first half plants details that pay off on the High Evolutionary’s ship.

Sources

• Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Wikipedia — credits, plot, box office and ending
• WDWNT: Disney+ streaming date announced — the August 2, 2023 Disney+ debut