Phase Four · Multiverse Saga
The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special
The Guardians set out to give Peter Quill the perfect Christmas present.
Availability changes by country and by week, so this searches JustWatch rather than guessing.
Can you skip The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special?
Yes, on a first watch. It is self-contained, and nothing in the main MCU story depends on it. Come back to it later if you want more. In chronological order, reaching it takes about 51h 25m of essential viewing across 28 titles. Show only the MCU essentials.
Skippable, and it is forty-two minutes long, which makes it the cheapest thing on this page to try. It sits between Vol. 2 and Vol. 3 and sets up one plot point in the latter, which that film restates.
The premise is that Drax and Mantis go to Earth to find Peter a Christmas present, decide the best gift would be his childhood hero, and kidnap Kevin Bacon from his house. Kevin Bacon plays himself, is genuinely frightened for most of it, and the special is committed to the bit throughout.
It is also doing one piece of real character work, revealing a family connection that matters in Vol. 3, and the scene where it lands is played straight in the middle of a comedy. James Gunn wrote and directed, and the tone is the Christmas-special register done sincerely: an animated opening, original songs, and a snowy ending.
Nothing requires it and it is the single most purely likeable forty minutes in the franchise. Watch it in December.
MCU guides
Where it sits in the MCU order
- Release order
- #40 of 80
- Chronological order
- #41 of 80
- Released
- 25 November 2022
- In-universe era
- The Multiverse Cracks
What to watch next
In release order
In chronological order