Are the Guardians of the Galaxy in Another Universe in This New Promo?

A new promo for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 has dropped! The promo, which Marvel released over the weekend, shows a little more of the alien neighborhood we first saw in the trailer.

The neighborhood, you may recall, resembles a humdrum suburban town on Earth. The main, difference, though, is that instead of humans, the neighborhood is populated by anthropomorphic animals.

In the new promo, Peter delivers an interesting line as they’re trying to escape some unseen force in the neighborhood. Peter’s trying to drive an old sedan that looks like it runs on a stick shift, and he can’t get it to go in reverse. When Nebula calls him on it, he says he can’t remember how to drive because he left Earth when he was eight.

Wait. Does that line mean they’re on some kind of alternate Earth? After all, where would aliens get a 1970s era car?

It would make sense if the Guardians found themselves crossing the multiverse. After all, we’re now in the thick of Marvel’s Multiverse Saga, and several previous projects—Loki, Doctor Strange 2, Quantumania—have already explored multiversal travel.

Anything is possible when it comes to Marvel. However, Screen Rant is going with another theory: that the neighborhood we see is a combination of Halfworld and Counter-Earth.

What is Counter-Earth? The High Evolutionary’s experimental world, explained

In the comics, Halfworld is the home world of Rocket Raccoon. We know that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is going to explore Rocket’s backstory, so it would make sense to visit the world he came from. And a neighborhood populated by a bunch of talking animals seems like a likely origin for Rocket.

However, according to Screen Rant‘s theory, Marvel may be combining Halfworld with another location: Counter-Earth. In the comics, Counter-Earth is an experiment run by The High Evolutionary, the genetic scientist played by Chukwudi Iwuji in GotG 3. Counter-Earth is a world populated by The High Evolutionary’s experimental subjects, so it stands to reason that they would be animals, like Rocket. Plus, The High Evolutionary is human, so he could procure some Earth artifacts to use on his new world.

Whatever that location is, the Guardians look like they’re going to get up to some hijinks while they’re there.

(featured image: Marvel Studios)