Marvel Ends Guardians of the Galaxy Series

Warning: contains spoilers for Guardians of the Galaxy #18!

Marvel has officially ended the Guardians of the Galaxy series. The popular franchise, perhaps best known for the two films released in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (with a third currently in preproduction), relaunched with writer Al Ewing at the helm in 2019. Now in Guardians of the Galaxy #18, written by Ewing with art by Juan Frigeri and colors by Federico Blee, the series concludes with the team fighting against the interdimensional villain Dormammu in a terrifying ultimate new form.

In the current run of Guardians of the Galaxy, none other than Doctor Doom has joined the Guardians (for a very embarrassing reason: he switched bodies with Rocket and naturally wants to return to his own). Even when he has his body back, Doom must join forces with the other Guardians to defeat Dormammu, who has combined with Ego the Living Planet. The Guardians join forces with S.W.O.R.D. and the Intergalactic Empire of Wakanda to take down the ruler of the Dark Dimension and his army of Mindless Ones.

This being the final issue in the Last Annihilation crossover event, Dormammu the Living Planet is ultimately defeated through Doom acquiring Dormammu’s power via a magical ritual. Not to be outdone, the Guardians also shoot the villain in the head with a starship-sized gun (and Star-Lord and Nova powering the weapon). With Dormammu banished once again to the Dark Dimension, the Guardians and their many allies celebrate at Gosnell’s Bar (except for Doom, who departs the group moments before Dormammu is defeated). With that, the series concludes with the caption “The End! Thanks for everything – and see you at Gosnell’s!”

The Guardians of the Galaxy comic series has been officially missing from Marvel solicitations for the months of October, November, and December. This means the series won’t return until at least January 2022 at the earliest. However, judging by the popularity of the characters and the imminent filming of James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, one can expect the characters if not the series to return at a later date, perhaps closer to the debut of the film.

The current Guardians of the Galaxy run is quite loved by fans for the wide array of distinct characters, and will be fondly remembered. The unlikely space-based team is as popular as ever these days, with an upcoming Guardians video game releasing in October and the MCU team rumored to make an appearance in Thor: Love and Thunder. Al Ewing’s Guardians of the Galaxy has concluded, but several remaining questions – such as Doctor Doom’s true intentions with Dormammu’s magic – remain to be answered.