Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

1. James Gunn was fired and rehired during the film's development. Disney dismissed Gunn in 2018 over old social media posts, halting the project entirely. After sustained public support from the entire principal cast, Disney reversed the decision in 2019 and reinstated him — an almost unheard-of studio about-face.

2. Rocket's backstory sequences reduced crew members to tears on set. The flashback scenes depicting Rocket's experimentation as a young cybernetically-altered raccoon, alongside his friends Lylla, Teefs, and Floor, were reportedly so distressing to film that Gunn described the atmosphere on set as funereal.

3. It was the first MCU film to feature an explicit F-bomb. Peter Quill drops the word in a moment of frustration, breaking a longstanding Marvel Studios convention. The film retained its PG-13 rating, as the MPAA permits a single non-sexual use.

4. Bradley Cooper recorded Rocket's dialogue without ever meeting the cast on set. As with the previous films, Cooper performed his lines separately in a recording booth. On set, Sean Gunn — James Gunn's brother, who also plays Kraglin — physically performed Rocket's movements and delivered his lines for the other actors to react to.

5. The opening sequence uses Radiohead's "Creep" in an acoustic arrangement. Gunn had wanted to use the song in a Guardians film since the first installment. The melancholy acoustic version, paired with Rocket wandering Knowhere, immediately signals that this entry is tonally darker than its predecessors.

6. The film features a single-take corridor fight sequence. The third-act hallway battle, in which the entire team fights in one continuous unbroken shot set to Beastie Boys' "No Sleep Till Brooklyn," required extensive choreography and became one of the most praised action sequences in the MCU.

7. It marked the end of the road for most of the original cast. Gunn confirmed the film was the last outing for the team as assembled, and he departed Marvel shortly afterward to become co-CEO of DC Studios — making Vol. 3 a genuine farewell in more ways than one.