Who are: The Guardians of the Galaxy

If you are anything like me you love the Avengers movie series that Marvel Studios has been making over the last few years. You've probably seen them all at least a time or two, and have probably been to see the latest Captain America movie. That means that you have seen the trailer for the next movie in the series, The Guardians of the Galaxy. If you are not like me though, you're going, "What in the name of all that is holy is this movie?". I mean it has a tree man, a raccoon, a green space chick, and odd 80's music in it. This is so off key from the rest of the movies, it can't be related can it? Well it can, and I'm about to break down the major parts of the series for you so that you are prepared to go see it in August.

First, the Trailer.


What comic series is this?
Guardians of the Galaxy is like marvels odd step child of a series. It is used for a couple of purposes overall. It both fills in the gaps between their bigger series as a way to help tie loose cannon/story arcs together, and it explores some more off key mature story ideas. For example many of its characters are related in some way to the ultimate Marvel bad guy, Thanos. The have odd estranged relationships with him, be they familial or love interests. These are used to great effect to flush out story lines related to (extreme) family issues like abuse or trust. The Collector is also quite....odd, and an interpretation of that character is both a look at sexuality and miss matched gender roles. How much of this will show up in the movie? No idea. There are arguments that Marvel should play it safe, but also arguments to go all in. No matter what they explore in this respect, Guardians has the biggest chance to flop out of all the movies so far. Not because it will be bad, but because no one except hardcore fans is going to know whats going on.

How will it relate to the overall Marvel Universe?
Probably like it will in the comics. Thanos was teased at the end of the first Avengers movie as the big bad guy for the 3rd movie, so it makes sense that they start to bring in a lot of the stuff related to him. While each series individually has elements related to Thanos in them (mostly teasers like the infinity gauntlet in Thor), it will be extremely hard to meld all of those into one successful story given that each series already has a number of ongoing story arcs. It makes sense to create another series to bring Thanos more clearly into the universe. However, they could just be testing the waters. While Guardians of the Galaxy is pretty obscure, it is by no means the most obscure rabbit hole you could go down. It is possible that they are trying to see what comic book concepts are viable, and releasing a movie in the Avengers line will guarantee it a certain amount of success. People will see it just to know whats going on in the universe at large. I doubt this is the case, but it would make sense.

Great, so who are these people again?
Well like all superheroes, they have long and winding back stories and multiple iterations. However, based on what we can see from the trailer, I'll try to give you the most relevant facts.

Star Lord- AKA Peter Quill. Peter is a kid that is taken in the 80's to outer space because he shows promise as a hero. He is taught incredible combat skills and given a special ship that he is psychically connected to, but goes rogue for awhile. Eventually he teams up with the other members of the Guardians, and finds a higher purpose to his life. In the movies he is said to be a pilot who is a bit of jerk that finds himself on the run for having an artifact (most likely another infinity gem (the Tesseract or Aether)) and is forced to team up with the group of misfits that eventually make up the Guardians of the Galaxy.

Gamora: The last of her kind, she adopted by Thanos as his favorite daughter. Initially she is evil, but after being manipulated by her father she instead dedicates herself to protecting the innocent. She is THE best warrior in the universe, but doesn't really have any special abilities outside of that. She wields a sword called the "God Killer" and wants to use it to kill Thanos for his treachery. Not much is known about her in her movie role yet.

Drax The Destroyer: Good merely by circumstance, Drax is out to take revenge on Thanos after both he and his family are murdered. He is revived by Kronos, and given a whole host of superpowers including super strength, accelerated healing, and speed. Again, not much is known about his movie role yet.









Rocket Raccoon: A genetically engineered/modified raccoon with a bad attitude and a foul mouth. He is very fond of law and order though, and will do everything he can to uphold it. He does possess excellent marksmanship skills and is extremely perceptive, often acting as the teams recon and sniper support. He does work well up close though, and travels with his friend/body guard/houseplant Groot.

Groot: A tree person with amazing strength, is nearly invulnerable, and can regrow himself from the tiniest of splinters. Groot is a man/tree/thing of few words. Three in fact, "I am Groot". However he can say them in different tones of voice to convey certain feelings. Groot is by no means dumb or simple. He has a good tactical mind, and can do a lot more than punch stuff. He is Rocket Raccoons sidekick, and travels with him at all times.



Those are the Guardians of the Galaxy. Of course there are villains and secondary characters, but for now I think that's enough. If you want me to do a run down of the main villains just let me know in the comments section.