Now that James Gunn’s swan song, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is nearing its premiere, Marvel fans have again taken to the proverbial streets to locate, decode, and analyze the director’s never-ending Easter egg hunt. You know, the Easter egg hunt that’s been going on since the first Guardians movie in 2014? Yeah, that one. 

For context: Gunn has confirmed that the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie has one, obscure, all-important Easter egg that we like to think could potentially blow up the MCU. (Or at least make a sizeable impact). With Vol. 3 being the last hooray for the band of outlawed misfits, it’s now or never. As always, Marvel fans have some ideas. 

On Reddit, the conversation erupted once more with u/vig2thenal kicking the discussion into gear. According to them, Gunn’s Easter egg has to do with Nebula’s comment to Gamora in the first movie, “I hated you least,” which they say alludes to more children of Thanos in the universe. Furthermore, they say actress Daniela Melchior has been cast in Vol. 3 but with no role announced yet, thus implying she could be Supergiant or Black Swan.

However, as another user pointed out, we’ve already seen Melchior in one of the more recent clips released ahead of the movie, which demolishes that theory.

Plus, as another user pointed out, the mention of more children of Thanos isn’t an Easter egg, it’s foreshadowing. 

No, the actual Easter egg, as many have come to know, lies within the coordinates we see below the names of planets in every movie. Gunn has even corroborated this theory by saying that mega Marvel fan MasterTainment, otherwise known as just MT, partially uncovered this Easter egg when they suggested a hidden message within the coordinates. 

MT’s theory, in short, implied that Peter Quill’s father Ego imparted some sort of object, cosmic power, entity, or thing into his mother’s brain that ultimately resulted in her cancer, which we know is true from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, at least the cancer part. He also said that the coordinates for Knowhere in the 2014 movie spelled out “Meredith Quill BD” suggesting that the BD stood for Baby Daddy; he also said the coordinates could’ve spelled out “Meredith Quill X”  and suggested that the X could’ve stood for ex, as in an ex-lover. 

Since Gunn confirmed that MT’s theory was partially correct, it stands to reason that the bit about the cancer was correct — since we know it was — and the bit about the coordinates is what is still missing. 

YouTube account New Rockstars took things one step further when they implied that Peter’s mom could actually be Eternity, one of the cosmic entities in the Marvel universe. That could explain why Peter, when possessed by power in Vol. 2, said he could “see eternity.” 

At the end of the day, all theories seem to point back to Peter’s mom, but whether we’ll ever find out the true meaning of this elusive Easter egg rests on the increasingly-strained back of Vol. 3.

Then again, as this lovely user above pointed out, all of this Easter egg hunting could just be Gunn messing with us. Yay for us.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 premieres in theaters on May 5.