Guardians of the Galaxy 3’s animal abuse may shock young and old viewers

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is wrapping up the story of James Gunn’s Guardians team as he moves on to DC projects. But in order to move them forward, it’s also diving into their pasts. The trailer reveals some of the plot, but it’s better to be aware of certain details before watching the film. For example, the graphic and intense scenes of animal cruelty are shown in great detail.

It may be unpleasant to say, but it is true. Guardians 3Never plays animal abuse as anything other than tragedy. This is an emotional component of the story. But it’s still the kind of thing that will touch many people deeply and that may disturb younger viewers in particular, and moviegoers might not expect it from a silly ol’ Marvel Film full of insults, banter and explosions.

You can skip this section if you only needed a brief warning and want to watch the film without any spoilers (or you prefer to wait until the streaming version is available).

But for folks who’d like a more specific overview of ideas and images of animal abuse they’ll encounter in Guardians 3Below is the most light-hearted description possible. It will tell you what to expect in the cinema.

[Ed. note: This story contains light spoilers for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.]

Image: Marvel Studios

The trailer is a teaser. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 spends a lot of time focused on Rocket Raccoon’s backstory, and as Rocket himself has suggested, it isn’t very pleasant. As we learn how Rocket Raccoon became a talking animal, other animals are introduced who also can speak, feel and scream as humans. This storyline is the avenue for the movie’s most gruesome animal-related scenes, including torture, mutilation, and dismemberment of creatures that look like animals and have human-like intelligence. The characters were all CGI, and no animals were injured.

This being a PG-13-rated Guardians of the Galaxy movie, most of this doesn’t happen on screen. The actual surgery scenes can be represented by audio or the after-the-fact results. This choice prevents the film from becoming a horror movie, but viewers still get to see and hear some brutal experiments. In the film, a significant number of characters are experimental animals whose body parts have either been removed or replaced by metal alternatives. Several scenes show graphic, fresh animal injuries. Even with some of the violence happening off-screen, there’s still quite a bit of animal gore to contend with.

For those looking for more specific descriptions, here’s a broad rundown of some of the potentially disturbing events involving animals and anthropomorphic animal-people in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. While this list doesn’t describe any specific scene in detail, it could be seen as more spoilery than the broad overview above. This film contains the following trigger warnings for those who are looking for specific information.

• The long sequence of terrified baby animals running away from their handler
• Amputated limbs and other body parts of animals are replaced by metal replicas
• The grafts on major animals can cause sores and irritation or even wounds.
• Metal objects embedded in the skin of characters
• A baby animal immediately post-surgery, with its skull exposed and other raw, open wounds, trembling and vocally protesting in a child’s voice about the pain
• Characters listen to a graphic recording of an animal anthropomorphized screaming in pain while undergoing surgery. The surgeons are complaining that it moves around too much.
• A painful and nearly instantaneous mutation of an animal via a technology process. Then, the animal is immediately burnt to death
• Animals thrown and hauled by their body parts.
• A series of animal characters are killed in a bloody and extended manner on screen, which leads to the destruction of a whole animal civilisation.
• A graphic depiction of the mutilation by an animal of a person
• Animals are confined to filthy, small and constrictive pens.
• The abuse of animals as anthropomorphic figures, including gaslighting and emotional abuse
• Character grief caused by emotional trauma and PTSD

While all this sounds like a lot, and it certainly is, none of it is to say that the movie doesn’t earn these moments or use them well. These moments are important to the story, and the characters’ lives. They are not only frightening, but also very hard to watch. This is especially true for young viewers. The graphic drama is a worthy addition to a world where video games allow for more customization based on phobias or other needs. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3Feels worthy of an alert