The Guardians Of The Galaxy Holiday Special explores the hilarious journey of Mantis and Drax who travel to Earth to give Peter, their Star-Lord, a perfect Christmas gift to cheer him up.
Starring Chris Pratt, Pom Klementieff, Dave Bautista, Kevin Norwood Bacon, Karen Gillan, Bradley Cooper, and Vin Diesel, The Guardians Of The Galaxy Holiday Special is written and directed by James Gunn. The special is a conclusion to Marvel’s Phase Four that began with WandaVision.
The Guardians Of The Galaxy Holiday Special Story Summary
Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) suffers from loneliness after losing Gamora and struggles to make peace with it. Kraglin tells a story from Peter’s past to Mantis and Drax about Peter giving a Christmas present to Yondu but him not reciprocating with enthusiasm to Peter’s craving to celebrate the holiday. Mantis and Drax assume that not receiving a gift is the reason for Peter’s lack of interest in celebrating Christmas.
Since the holiday season is near, to cheer Peter up, Mantis (Pom Klementieff) decides to give a special Christmas gift to Peter. Drax (Dave Bautista) suggests that an ideal gift for Peter would be his hero, Kevin, about whom Peter has told heroic stories to Drax in many of their conversations.
Mantis and Drax come to a consensus to give the legendary hero, Kevin Bacon, to Peter as a Christmas present. Peter worshipped Kevin Bacon (Kevin Norwood Bacon), an actor who starred in many of the movies he watched as a kid.
Hence, Drax and Mantis travel to Earth in their spaceship in search of Kevin Bacon but getting their hands on Kevin doesn’t prove to be an easy task as they don’t know what he looks like. As they sit outside a gift shop, exhausted after a night of their search and from drinks, they tell their plight to the gift shop owner. Therefore, she gives them a map that contains the location of the residences of all celebrities.
With the help of the map, Drax and Mantis reach Kevin’s place and a hilarious chase ensues along with an engaging fight with the cops after which Drax and Mantis get hold of Kevin Bacon. Upon spending time with Kevin, Drax and Mantis realize during a hysterical conversation with him that he is an actor and has not saved even one person to attract the tag of a hero.
Mantis and Drax start fearing that they may have messed up Peter’s Christmas and they request Kevin to just act as a hero even if he is not one for real. Mantis uses her superpowers on Kevin to take him to Knowhere.
The Guardians Of The Galaxy Ending Explained
Does Mantis Tell Peter The Secret About Their Father?
To Peter’s surprise, Mantis and Drax outdo themselves and create a perfect decoration in the spirit of the Christmas season. They wrap up Kevin in a box and offer him as a Christmas gift to Peter. When Peter opens the box, he is furious with the two and asks Mantis to get Kevin out of his trance. After Kevin comes out of the trance, Peter promises him that he will be sent to Earth safely, but Kevin tries running away.
Kraglin explains to Kevin why Drax and Mantis brought him to Knowhere. After listening to Kraglin’s explanation, Kevin relaxes and decides to make the best of the time he is on Knowhere. Therefore, he indulges in the Christmas festivities by singing and dancing. During the celebrations, Mantis and Peter patch up. When it’s time to present each other with Christmas gifts, Groot is gifted a game by Peter, Rocket is gifted Bucky’s arm by Nebula, and Groot makes wooden figures for everyone.
After the celebrations, Kevin is safely sent back to Earth. Peter asks Mantis about the reason why they abducted Kevin. Mantis tells him that she wanted Peter to experience the joy of Christmas again, especially because Peter couldn’t enjoy Christmas after what Yondu did to him.
Peter explains to Mantis that Yondu didn’t destroy his Christmas and recounts the episode from his past that wasn’t told by Kraglin. Yondu initially ordered for the gifts to be thrashed but later he did open the gift from Peter and was filled with joy. In return, Yondu also gifted Peter the double blasters that he often uses.
Therefore, Yondu is not the reason for his spirits being down for the holiday as Mantis and Drax had guessed. Mantis reveals to Peter, that his father Ego might be her father too. To this, Peter says there’s nothing else he could have asked for Christmas than knowing that Mantis is his sister. He terms the revelation as the “greatest Christmas gift”.
Is The Guardians Of The Galaxy Holiday Special Connected To MCU?
The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special’s timeline is placed after Werewolf by Night and Thor: Love and Thunder. The story seems to take place after the disappearance of Gamora at the end of Avengers: Endgame as Peter Quill is clearly upset.
For the most part, Guardians Of The Galaxy Holiday Special stands on its own without tying itself into the larger picture of the Marvel Universe. The heartwarming Christmas special is a perfect Christmas gift for the fans of the Marvel Universe to indulge themselves in.
The focus mostly is on the primary characters of the Guardians of the Galaxy, Mantis and Drax, and the strong bond between them and their Star-Lord, Peter. At the end of the day, the Christmas season is all about togetherness and that’s exactly what The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special brings forth. In the end, through the reveal of Mantis and Peter as the brother-sister duo, Peter receives the greatest Christmas gift and the revelation can set up future events.
Most importantly, The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special fixes the timeline for the next phase of the Marvel Universe. The special’s story can be assumed to be set after the events of Thor: Love and Thunder, making it the most recent story added to the Marvel Universe before the official commencement of Phase Five by Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 may naturally pick up from the events of this special as well upon its release in May 2023.
The Guardians Of The Galaxy Holiday Special is now streaming on Disney+.
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