Who Is Phyla? Guardians Of The Galaxy's New Kid Character Explained

Summary

Phyla, a new character from the original Marvel Comics, is introduced in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and becomes a member of the new Guardians of the Galaxy team.
Phyla's significance is revealed in the post-credits scene, where she joins the new team led by Rocket.
Phyla's future in the MCU beyond her initial debut is promising, though her powers and potential as a hero are yet to be fully explored.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 introduces Phyla, a new character to the MCU from the original Marvel Comics. Having quite a bit of history with the Guardians on the page, and being a member of the team for a time, her debut on-screen in the final chapter of the Guardians trilogy is very exciting as Marvel Studios closes the door on the original team that first came together thanks to the Power Stone. However, Phyla still has a future in the MCU timeline beyond this initial debut, since she becomes a member of the new Guardians of the Galaxy team.

Phyla's name and full significance only become apparent after viewing the first Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 post-credits scene, in which she joins the new team led by Rocket. However, she does play a role in the film's third act as a member of the new species created by the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji), shown cheerily running on a circular treadmill before being saved alongside many others in the Guardians of The Galaxy Vol. 3 ending. Here's Phyla's comic history, her role in the new movie, and her potential future in the MCU going forward.

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Phyla-Vell's Comics & Guardians of the Galaxy History Explained

Phyla-Vell aka Quasar running towards the viewer

In the original comics, Phyla-Vell is the fourth Captain Marvel, temporarily taking over from her brother Genis-Vell. However, she's best known simply as Phyla-Vell and her eventual evolution as the next Quasar, inheriting the cosmically powered Quantum Bands from their original wielder Wendell Vaughn. During her first adventures as Quasar against the villain known as Annhilus, Phyla and her partner Moondragon joined with Adam Warlock and soon came up against the High Evolutionary. As such, the inspirational seeds of source material for the MCU's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 story is quite evident.

Likewise, Phyla-Vell would end up joining the comics' 2008 roster of the Guardians of the Galaxy. However, she and Adam Warlock were the only two members from that team who did not make the jump to live-action in 2014 with James Gunn's first Guardians of the Galaxy movie. As a result, it's very exciting to see Gunn finally including both characters in this final chapter of the Guardians trilogy. However, Phyla's MCU origins are very different as a creation of the High Evolutionary who was then freed by the Guardians along with her fellow creations, becoming new citizens of Knowhere.

Who Plays Phyla in Guardians of the Galaxy 3?

In Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Phyla is played by Kai Zen, a relative newcomer best known for her role voicing Pepper in Disney Junior's Eureka! animated series. First seen running on a giant wheel while being studied by the High Evolutionary himself, Phyla and her fellow creations were meant to be the Evolutionary's next attempt at creating a race capable of maintaining the perfect society. As such, it's revealed that Phyla's artificial race received multiple genetic modifications, making them physically and mentally superior while also requiring very little rest or food.

Zen's Phyla ends up becoming the primary child Drax (Dave Bautista) talks to once the Guardians infiltrate the High Evolutionary's ship, discovering all the caged children on board for the next colony. Helping to keep all the other kids safe, Phyla was quickly established as being quite brave long before her name was revealed.

However, it stands to reason that Zen's character is simply named Phyla rather than Phyla-Vell as in the comics. After all, the new MCU changes intrinsically tie her to the High Evolutionary rather than to Mar-Vell, the original Captain Marvel (whom the MCU also made origin changes to in 2019's Captain Marvel).

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How Phyla Became A Guardian of the Galaxy

The team from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 next to the High Evolutionary

At the end of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and the defeat of the High Evolutionary, the original Guardians effectively break up and go their separate ways. Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) decides to finally return home to Earth while Mantis (Pom Klementieff) goes off in search of her own purpose. Meanwhile, Gamora (Zoe Saldaña) rejoins the Ravagers while Nebula and Drax decide to run and build a new city on Knowhere now that its population has vastly grown. However, the galaxy still needs Guardians.

As featured in the first post-credits scene for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Phyla becomes a member of the new Guardians of the Galaxy led by Rocket Raccoon who's taken over as captain. Phyla being recruited likely came about due to her role in saving her fellow creations from the High Evolutionary. During the film's final act, she was certainly elevated as a young hero who'd likely want to continue keeping the galaxy safe with those who helped save her.

Phyla's Powers Explained

Kai Zen as Phyla in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3

Beyond her physical and mental enhancements from the High Evolutionary, the full extent of Phyla's powers in the MCU are currently unknown. However, the first post-credits scene did see her eyes and hands beginning to glow while she stood with the New Guardians. This is a solid indication that Phyla likely possesses some levels of cosmic power that have yet to be revealed after Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. In the comics, Phyla-Vell's powers greatly varied depending on the role she was currently in.

On a base level, Phyla-Vell had great strength and stamina just like her MCU counterpart while also being capable of flight. As Captain Marvel, Phyla also had some level of cosmic awareness, increasing her instinctive combat skills and inductive reasoning.

As Quasar, Phyla has a wide array of powers thanks to the Quantum Bands, granting her abilities involving various forms of energy manipulation with the Bands drawing power from the realm known as the Quantum Zone. At one point she also wielded the Oblivion Sword. While becoming a new Captain Marvel seems unlikely, It will be interesting to see if the MCU's Phyla will similarly become an on-screen version of Quasar.

When Will Phyla Return In The MCU?

Phyla in Guadians of the Galaxy With Rocket Racoon

Joining Rocket's new team of Guardians alongside Groot, Kraglin, Blurp, Cosmo the Space Dog, and Adam Warlock, it certainly seems as though Phyla will be seen again with this new team of cosmic heroes. While it's unknown if this new team will be getting their own movie such as Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 4, appearances in future MCU films do feel inevitable at the very least.

However, these will notably be without series director James Gunn at the helm, as he confirmed via Threads that he intended to leave the Guardians series as a trilogy. Indeed, this would explain why the trilogy ends with a teaser for Star-Lord's return, and not the team itself.

James Gunn is now the co-CEO of DC Studios, and as such will be focused on the DC Universe going forward.

This is especially notable as Gunn has also confirmed that he was the one to choose the configuration of the new Guardians of the Galaxy team setup, suggesting Marvel themselves may have a less detailed plan of how to approach the character going forward, and that audiences may have to wait a little longer to see Phyla again. Given the character's age at the end of the trilogy, it's possible Phyla could be entirely different the next time audiences see her, and may also have a different personality after recovering from her time under the High Evolutionary's thumb.

While Marvel may have less distinct plans for the new Guardians, it's unlikely that this would mean Phyla and the new team shown at the end of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 won't be returning to screens. With the series' success and the group's potential, the MCU is sure to capitalize on them down the line. And with the dynamic set of faces in the new squad, it's hard to imagine audiences not growing to root for Phyla and the new Guardians just as much as they did the originals.