Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special brings GoBots and more to MCU

Disney Plus has been invited by the Guardians of the Galaxy to celebrate Christmas with them. Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, and unsurprisingly it’s full of Easter eggs and references. The whole crew gets involved and make it to Earth. But the best thing about this special is the way that it contributes to Marvel Cinematic Universe.

And in case you weren’t convinced that this story really is MCU-official, director James Gunn took to Twitter to confirm the accuracy of some of the special’s more outlandish jokes. So here’s a look at some of the things Gunn’s added to the superhero universe, and a few longstanding theories he’s confirmed (again):

[Ed. note: This story contains spoilers for the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special.]

Nebula really did steal Bucky’s arm

Nothing is better than an especially thoughtful gift around the holidays, especially one you never thought you’d get, and in the Holiday SpecialNebula shows that she is a master of this art by giving Rocket the detachable arm of The Winter Soldier. Of course, more than a few fans were curious about whether Bucky parted with it willingly or not, and Gunn is here to confirm that it may have been a bit of a fight, but that the spirit of goodwill, kindness, and Christmas won in the end — more or less.

Baby Groot isn’t the same Groot as original Groot

Gunn has been tweeting about this one since 2018, but it’s even more evident in this special than it has been in the past: Baby Groot is a different Groot than the original Groot. In Gunn’s own description this Groot is the progeny of the original and as their bodies start developing differently that’s getting more and more clear.

Guardians of the Galaxy’s Holiday Special Groot is 100% CGI

Gunn’s been inundated with Twitter questions about just how much of Groot is practical this time around, and it turns out it’s exactly 0%.

According to the director, Groot’s all digital, and he considers any questions about practically to be a great compliment to the team of visual artists who worked on the project.

Now, GoBots can be found in the MCU Canon

GoBots are the pre-Transformers transformable toys that were officially included in the MCU. This isn’t really important, doesn’t change anything (for now) and probably doesn’t matter (also for now). Here you are. James Gunn, thank you.

Of course, longtime MCU and Guardians of the Galaxy fans are already pretty familiar with Gunn’s vocal Twitter presence and his enjoyable habit of answering tons of fan questions on the platform.

But this round of canon-confirmations seems particularly funny considering that Gunn is now playing for Marvel’s rival team by heading up the DC Universe for Warner Bros. This gives each and every one of Gunn’s tweets an extra layer of fun considering he won’t have to deal with most of their consequences after Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3His final MCU film, titled ‘The End of the Line,’ will be released May 5, 2023.