The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special has delivered many gifts for Marvel fans since it arrived on Disney+. One scene that particularly resonated with many fans was the moment Nebula gave Rocket Bucky’s bionic arm as a Christmas present. While James Gunn has addressed exactly how Nebula came to have The Winter Soldier’s arm, some fans aren’t happy about it.

For those who have been following the MCU throughout its 14-year run, you only have to go back to Avengers: Infinity War to find the source of this particular payoff. In a moment during the movie’s final battle, Rocket and Bucky are seen fighting side by side. After dispatching numerous enemies, Rocket asks Bucky how much he wants for his bionic arm. When Bucky throws him a look and walks away, Rocket grumbles, “I’ll get that arm.” Nebula delivering it to Rocket in the spirit of Christmas finally gives Rocket what he wants.

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

While explaining how Nebula came to have Bucky’s arm to give, Gunn responded to a message suggesting that the moment came about by “forced inclusion” and explained:

Although the moment itself brought a little smile to the faces of many fans, some did not appreciate the thought of two of their favorite characters duking it out and Bucky ending up having his arm torn off…again. You can see some of these responses below:

“I’m so sorry, but it already happened. Nebula thinks of Bucky as wet crepe paper. That said, she couldn’t help tearing off the arm because she was just feeling so freaking Christmasy! PS No one forced me to include alien cyborgs."

Is The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special Essential Viewing?

     Marvel Studios

However frivolous and throwaway the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special may seem on the surface, there are a couple of important moments that will undoubtedly be carried over to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 next year. As James Gunn’s final Marvel project, and the last outing for this exact Guardians team, the movie is expected to be emotional. This is something that Gunn has said in several recent interviews. Previously he said:

Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special is available now on Disney+. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 will arrive in cinemas on May 5, 2023.

“Vol. 3 has a lot of the fun and the goofy stuff of Guardians, but it’s also incredibly emotional. It’s the end of the story for this group of Guardians, so there was a lot of emotion around it. It was very serious a lot of the time. The actors were all pushing themselves a lot, especially Chris Pratt. It was heavy. I think I felt a lot of pressure before because it really matters to me that we end this story well. I’ll be honest, I started looking at all the trilogies that have existed throughout time, and in most trilogies, the third movie is awful. There’s a couple of exceptions, but when I say a couple, I mean like two or three. It’s very rare that the third movie in a franchise is good. So, it was important to me that we really ended this story in a good way.”