When Marvel announced at San Diego Comic-Con that among their planned sequels would be a new film called Guardians of the Galaxy, the room was full of excitement. To Marvel fans a Guardians movie was like that extra surprise Christmas gift.
Unfortunately, for the most part, the excitement of that announcement failed to permeate beyond the hardcore fans, because, lets face it, Guardians is a property that isn’t anywhere near as established as other Marvel icons. The original Guardians of the Galaxy first appeared in 1969 as a group of cosmic superheroes that mostly made appearances to assist the more core Marvel heroes. The team had little to no impact on pop culture. This could mostly be attributed to the fact that they existed in a separate timeline than that of the main Marvel comics. The timeline they inhabited is known as Earth-691, while the timeline of most Marvel comics is that of Earth-616. In the ‘90s the Guardians of the Galaxy got a title of their own, which ran for five years, but this seemed to be the last hurrah for the property.
The Cover of Guardians of the Galaxy #1 (1990)
In 2008, Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning rebooted the group with all new members, and the team became part of the Earth-616 timeline. This group will be the basis of the new movie. The enigmatic leader of the Guardians of the Galaxy is Peter Quill, who goes under the name Star-Lord. In the comics Quill is a half-alien brilliant strategist and pilot. The clips of the new film thus far have shown him to be quite humorous, and he will most likely be a source of the comedic undertones that the Marvel Cinematic Universe films are known for. Next up is Drax the Destroyer, who is sometimes shown in the comics as being a savage warrior and other times as more avenging and less destructive. Another character that will appear in the film is Groot, who has also been written in many different ways, from eloquent to primitive. The most recent comics, that are assumedly the basis of the film, show him as a monstrous tree creature with the ability to only say “I am Groot.” The fourth member of the group is Rocket Raccoon, who first appeared in 1976. Rocket is an anthropomorphic raccoon, an expert marksman, and is sure to be a must have Halloween costume come next October. Perhaps the most interesting character, in terms of this film’s connections to The Avengers, is Gamora. In the comics Gamora is the adopted daughter of Thanos. If you were not previously aware, Thanos is the villain who was ultimately responsible for the events that took place in The Avengers. With this relationship between Gamora and Thanos it is possible that there will ultimately be a team up between The Guardians and The Avengers somewhere down the line in the films.
(Left to Right: Drax, Gamora, Star-Lord, Groot, and Rocket Raccoon)
But why did Marvel choose a property with such a narrow fan-base as their next big venture? Even die-hard fans of the team are not quite sure. Perhaps Marvel is trying to recreate the recipe that got them their first big success, Iron Man. Before the movie came out, Iron Man was far from an unknown character, but he was nowhere near as recognized as Captain America or The Hulk as a household name. But when Iron Man came out it not only did surprisingly well box-office wise, but it also resonated with audiences. It was a good movie that let you have a fun time, but didn’t ask you to play dumb. It’s a movie that’s hard not to love. So Marvel could be hoping that by taking a relatively unknown comic and having a killer team (Such as James Gunn, Ben Davis, and Fred Raskin) work on it they could reintroduce fans to why they love Marvel in the first place.
Lets face it, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, meaning all the films leading up to and after The Avengers, is something that without proper maintaining could become stale quickly. How many Thor movies before people stop showing up? Marvel isn’t stupid enough to think that they can just play by the same rules every time and win. Marvel is doing everything right in the way they are releasing this movie. They released three sequels in the span of 12 months, and now Avengers: Age of Ultron is more than a year away. Audiences will be shaking with anticipation for more things Marvel. So in the meantime Marvel will release Guardians of the Galaxy, a film with just enough connection to The Avengers to attract the fans and enough fun action to make it a blockbuster.