Disney's 3-Part Sci-Fi Thriller Is a Rare Streaming Gem With Zero Bad Movies

Published Oct 18, 2026, 6:49 PM EDT

Collier Jennings is an entertainment journalist with extensive experience. Collier, or "CJ" to his friends and family, is a dedicated fan of genre films - particularly science fiction, fantasy, and comic book adaptations, not to mention all forms of animation. This stems from a close bond with his father, who introduced him to these genres via copies of X-Men comics and reruns of the original Ultraman series. With his near-encyclopedic knowledge and bottomless love of genre, he's tackled a wide variety of articles.

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While most Disney+ subscribers often find themselves reliving Disney's biggest animated hits (if they have children) or beloved television series (if they have the Hulu/HBO Max bundle), the streamer is proving to befertile ground for science fiction stories. Whether it's the short-lived Doctor Who relaunch or the surprise success of Dan Trachtenberg's Predator movies, audiences can't get enough of sci-fi. The biggest sci-fi draw on Disney+ remains the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and it's easy to see why. Most Marvel Comics heroes, particularly Iron Man and Spider-Man, have sci-fi-rooted origins or are scientists themselves. Even shows like Loki and VisionQuest fully embrace sci-fi.

The standout of the MCU's sci-fi world, though, remains the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy. Directed by James Gunn, the Guardians of the Galaxy movies follow Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) after he's abducted from Earth as a child and grows accustomed to life among the stars, taking up the mantle of "Star-Lord." When Quill discovers a mysterious orb that contains one of the six Infinity Stones, he joins forces with a group of ragtag rebels including Gamora (Zoe Saldaña), the deadliest woman in the galaxy; Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista); the gun-toting Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper); and Rocket's partner, the sentient tree known as Groot (Vin Diesel). The end result is an action-packed, often hilarious, and surprisingly heartbreaking story that never loses a step.

The 'Guardians of the Galaxy' Trilogy Balances Sci-Fi Spectacle with Incredible Character Work

Image via Marvel Studios

From the opening minutes of the first Guardians of the Galaxy, it's clear this movie's unlike any other in the MCU, thanks to the sci-fi spectacle Gunn brings to the screen. Quill finds the Infinity Stone on Morag, a planet covered by massive oceans and rock turrets that spew seemingly endless geysers. Another planet, ruled by the genetically perfect Sovereign, is covered head to toe in gold. The most visually stunning (and disturbing) moment comes when the Guardians have to break into OrgoCorp, a "living corporation" that looks like a living tumor. While previous MCU movies only scratched the surface of sci-fi, the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy dives headfirst into the weirder parts of Marvel's comics lore.What sells this spectacle is the bonds between the Guardians themselves. Gunn emphasizes that the Guardians aren't just a superhero team, but a found family. Quill was an orphan; Gamora and her sister Nebula (Karen Gillan) both escaped the thumb of their adoptive father, Thanos (Josh Brolin); Drax lost his wife and daughter at the hands of Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace​​​​​​). Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 hammer this home: Vol. 2 has Quill run into his biological father, Ego the Living Planet (Kurt Russell), while Vol. 3 sees the Guardians racing to save a dying Rocket. Through it all, Gunn shows that while the Guardians might be deeply flawed individuals — or downright "a-holes," as they're referred to in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1 — they genuinely care for each other.

Collider Exclusive · 8 Questions · 2 Minutes What MCU Superpower Would You Have? Strength · Spider-Sense · Invisibility · Chaos Magic

Eight honest questions about how you actually are: your first instinct when things go wrong, what your friends rely on you for, how you handle stress, what your real flaw is. Answer them and we will tell you which power you would wake up with. The best ones in the MCU are never random, because they always say something about the person who got them.

💪Super Strength(Hulk)

🕸️Spider-Sense(Spider-Man)

🫧Invisibility(Fantastic Four)

🔮Chaos Magic(Scarlet Witch)

FIND YOUR POWER →

01

What is your first instinct when something goes wrong? Go with the honest answer rather than the heroic one.

AGet in front of it. BReact before I have finished thinking. CStep back and work out what is happening. DFeel all of it at once, then move.

NEXT QUESTION →

02

How do you handle being the centre of attention? Every hero on this list answers this differently.

AFine, as long as it is for something useful. BI did not plan it, but here we are. CI would much rather nobody noticed me. DIt depends entirely on my mood that day.

NEXT QUESTION →

03

What do your friends rely on you for? They would all name the same thing about you.

ADoing the heavy thing nobody else wants. BSpotting trouble before anybody else does. CNoticing what everybody else missed. DSaying the thing everybody is feeling.

NEXT QUESTION →

04

How do you deal with stress? Nobody picks the healthy one, and that is fine.

ACarry it quietly and say nothing. BTake on more, which never once helps. CGo quiet and disappear for a while. DLet it out, then clean up afterwards.

NEXT QUESTION →

05

What is your actual flaw? The useful thing here is picking the true one.

AI carry things that are not mine to carry. BI cannot switch off. CI keep far too much to myself. DI feel everything much too strongly.

NEXT QUESTION →

06

What kind of help do you actually give people? Everybody has one default, whatever the situation is.

APractical help, straight away. BI turn up before they have asked. CI quietly remove the problem. DI sit with them in it.

NEXT QUESTION →

07

How do you want strangers to see you? Answer for the first ten minutes, not the first year.

ASolid, and worth relying on. BQuick, warm and switched on. CI would rather they formed no opinion yet. DInteresting, and a little hard to read.

NEXT QUESTION →

08

What would you want a superpower for? Eight questions in, this is the one that picks your power.

ATo protect the people I care about. BTo never be too late again. CTo move through the world unnoticed. DTo change something I could not change before.

REVEAL MY POWER →

The Gift Is Given Your Power Is…

Four powers, and four completely different kinds of person behind them. Here is what you would wake up with, what it would cost you, and why the MCU keeps handing it to somebody exactly like you.

Super Strength

You get the power that is really about taking the hit so that nobody else has to. Strength in the MCU always lands on people who were already carrying too much, which is exactly why it suits you.

• Your instinct is to put yourself between the problem and the people, and you do it before anybody has thought to ask.
• Bruce Banner is the most interesting version of this because his story was never about lifting things, it was about control.
• The catch with strength is that people stop checking whether you are alright, since you have made a habit of looking like you always are.
• You would be the one everybody calls at two in the morning, and you would answer every single time.

Spider-Sense

You get the power that never switches off. Spider-sense is a gift and a nervous system on permanent alert, and the people who get it in these films are always the ones who were already worrying about everybody.

• You read a situation faster than you can explain it, and you are usually right in a way you cannot show your working for.
• Peter Parker is the template because he takes on more than he can hold and then apologises for not holding it well enough.
• Spider-Man: Brand New Day arrived in July 2026 and put him back to being local, broke and permanently on call.
• The cost here is real, since a power that warns you about everything also means you are never quite off duty.

Invisibility

You get the quietest power in the building, and quietly the most useful. Invisibility comes with force fields for a reason, because the people who prefer not to be seen are usually the ones holding a shield around everybody else.

• You notice everything, largely because you spend more time observing a room than performing in it.
• Sue Storm is the strongest member of her team and the least interested in anybody saying so, which is very much your energy.
• The Fantastic Four: First Steps finally gave the family a proper MCU home in 2025 and made her the centre of it.
• Your risk is that being unseen becomes a habit rather than a choice, and the people who love you would like a look in.

Chaos Magic

You get the biggest and least comfortable power on the list, the one that runs directly on feeling. Chaos magic is not really a superpower in the MCU so much as an emotional state with consequences attached.

• You feel things at a volume other people do not, and you have spent years managing that rather than being managed by it.
• Wanda is the best written character Marvel has, precisely because her power and her grief turned out to be the same thing.
• WandaVision remains the high point of Marvel television, and it works because the spectacle is only ever a symptom.
• The warning attached to this one is simple. A power that answers to how you feel is only ever as steady as you are.

↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ

'Guardians of the Galaxy' Became a Core Part of the MCU

The Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy was a critical and commercial success, but at one point, Marvel Studios considered it its biggest risk. Actors like Amanda Seyfried passed on auditions because they didn't want to be part of "Marvel's first flop." Some argued that the Guardians were far less recognizable than Marvel's other characters and that the outlandish sci-fi setting might turn off audiences. But the gamble paid off, and years later, Mark Ruffalo would pinpoint Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1's success as the key to expanding the MCU into other corners in the book MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios.

"Guardians of the Galaxy opened up another door in the Marvel Universe. It could go into space, it could be funny, it could be colorful, it has a style that's totally disconnected from the rest of the Marvel Universe."

The success of Guardians of the Galaxy eventually made its characters and events a key part of the MCU's "Infinity Saga,"shaping the lore behind the Infinity Stones and re-establishing Thanos as a major threat. The Guardians also played key roles in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, shaping the emotional narrative. While the MCU has had plenty of highs and lows over the years, the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy remains one of the highs.