James Gunn Confirms The Guardians Of The Galaxy Are Knowhere's New Landlords
In 2014, James Gunn took the Marvel Cinematic Universe by storm with the release of "Guardians of the Galaxy." An adaptation of an incredibly obscure Marvel Comics series, the film became an immediate hit with mainstream MCU fans. Moreover, it turned Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), Drax (Dave Bautista), Rocket (Bradley Cooper), Groot (Vin Diesel), and Gamora (Zoe Saldana) into household names. The franchise has only grown in popularity in the subsequent years, leading to a direct sequel with "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2," appearances in films like "Avengers: Infinity War," "Avengers: Endgame," and "Thor: Love and Thunder." More recently, the Guardians made their way to Disney+ just in time for Christmas for the release of "The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special."
Never one to shy away from engaging with fans on social media, Gunn has consistently used his platform to provide additional information on his Marvel (and DC) projects. This often includes clarifying story beats for fans or answering questions that many viewers have after seeing one of his projects. In fact, following the recent release of "The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special," Gunn has even confirmed that the titular band of Marvel heroes are now the new landlords of Knowhere. Here's what Gunn had to say.
The Guardians of the Galaxy bought Knowhere after the events of Avengers: Infinity War
"The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special" introduced a number of key elements to the MCU, including Groot's new form and the fact that Mantis (Pom Klementieff) is actually Peter's sister. With that in mind, one question raised by a fan who saw the special was how The Guardians bought Knowhere and who they bought it from. According to James Gunn (via Twitter): The Guardians purchased Knowhere from The Collector (Benicio Del Toro) after Thanos (Josh Brolin) attacked it in his hunt for The Reality Stone in "Avengers: Infinity War." Now they are helping to fix it. Per Gunn, "Although the Guardians are sometimes heroes, they work as mercenaries & it brings in a fair amount of money. So after Thanos attacked Knowhere they bought it from the Collector. It was a burnt-out husk & they've been rebuilding it."
One well-known aspect of the Guardians is that they do not always perform heroics out of a sense of charity. They often want to get paid for the work they do. As confirmed by Gunn in his response to that fan: The Guardians are now the rightful owners of Knowhere after buying it following Thanos' rampage through the galaxy, and Knowhere is serving as their base of operations while they help to rebuild the once-destroyed Celestial head/cosmic space colony.
Knowhere has a long history in the Marvel Cinematic Universe
Knowhere has appeared in numerous canon and non-canon stories within the Marvel Cinematic Universe over the course of the last decade. It made its first appearance during the post-credits scene of "Thor: The Dark World," which teed up its more substantial role in "Guardians of the Galaxy." From there, Knowhere has remained a consistent part of the Guardians' portion of the MCU, appearing in several of their adventures. Moreover, Knowhere also played a major role in a Season 1 episode of "What If...?," exploring how the cosmic side of the MCU would be different if T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman) had ventured into space at a young age instead of Peter Quill.
Within the scope of the MCU, Knowhere is the severed head of a Celestial — ancient beings whose importance to the overall MCU would become increasingly apparent in subsequent films. The enormous cosmic entity would eventually be colonized by The Collector's Tivan Group (via Fandom) and mined for resources. It would remain under his control for years until Thanos' attack on Knowhere in 2018, after which it was sold to the Guardians to be set up as their new base of operations.