The holiday special starred Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Bradley Cooper, and more.
Christmas came early for MCU fans with the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special! Written and directed by franchise helmer director James Gunn, the holiday special is a heartwarming, and hilarious offshoot adventure with Drax and Mantis who come to earth during the holiday season. Madness ensues when the duo realizes that Peter is missing Gamora and decides to present legendary hero Kevin Bacon as a Christmas gift to cheer him up.
The movie does a great job of setting up the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3, and also reveals the sweet mystery about Peter and Mantis’ real relationship. However, it also left fans with some questions, inlcuding how Nebula got Bucky’s arm as a gift for Rocket. In a recent Tweet, Gunn explained exactly how Nebula got the Winter Soldier’s mechanical arm.
During the final battle on earth in Avengers: Endgame we see Bucky and Rocket teaming up to shoot Thanos’ alien army. Given Rocket’s obsession with prosthetic limbs, he asks Bucky, “how much for that arm,” to which he does not reply and simply walks off, and Rocket swears “I’ll get that arm.” The gag was finally paid off in the holiday special as towards the end we see all the Guardians exchanging gifts and Nebula presents the said arm to Rocket. Fans were left speechless as well as scratching their head at the sight. When a fan asked Gunn about how Nebula got it on Twitter, he revealed, “She took a trip to earth and tore it off his body because she was feeling so Christmasy.”
Since the holiday special premiered fans have speculated that it may not even be the same arm Bucky sported in Endgame, or that Bucky had changed the arm (as seen in the new Thunderbolts poster), and some even assumed that Nebula had manufactured it herself. However, when another fan further termed Gunn’s explanation as “forced inclusion”, the director simply shut him down by saying, “I’m not sure how a cyborg with advanced alien technology tearing off a human’s arm because of an overabundance of Christmas-Spirit is forced inclusion, but now it’s canon sorry.” Given Nebula is quite familiar with earth and various Avengers, it’s perfectly in her nature to tear off an arm and present it to her friend if she likes! Though now we wonder how Bucky is doing and whether this will be addressed during his next appearance.
Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special is streaming on Disney+. You can check out Gunn’s response below:
