EDITORS NOTE: On the left i present your 'friendly neighbourhood Sean' and on your right 'the billionaire, genius, playboy, philanthropist that is Pete'.
Welcome geeks and geek-ettes to another installation of your favourite comic blog on the interwebnet, the Comic Asylum. Hosted by your friendly neighbourhood @Seanfav1 and the billionaire, genius, playboy, philanthropist that is @Pete_the_Red. We here at the Asylum have been having some fun the last few weeks and have decided, just for kicks, to kill off the comic universe, Sean has picked 8 D.C characters and I have picked 8 of Marvels finest and it’s a battle to the death of your beloved Superheroes. In the (slightly edited) words of the immortal Tina Turner in Mad Max 3: Beyond the Thunder dome. “16 enter, 1 will leave”. That is going to be an on-going blog over the next few weeks/months. The best thing about this is that it’s you, the people, who decide who lives or dies, so make your vote count and get over there now! (After you’ve read this blog though please) (EDITORS NOTE: And when i’ve actually added it!!)
For this edition we are attempting to look into the future slightly and discuss something that has had quite a few people talking since an announcement at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con. Now while the news was expected, it was a bit of a surprise in how much detail was also given about it, I am of course talking about Marvels announcement that they’re major movie for 2014 will be the release of Guardians of The Galaxy (or GOTG, that I will be using throughout this blog). So now this name might be familiar to a few people but a lot of people, including myself, were very unaware of who or what this was. My initial thought was that Marvel has got so much on their plate at the minute. After the huge success that was The Avengers and planned sequels on almost all of the main protagonists in that film to be hitting the screen (UPDATE: and now a confirmed date for the Avengers sequel, put it in your diaries people, Josh Whedon and his Avengers are back on May 1st 2015) in the next few years, not to mention questions that need asking like ‘What do they do with The Hulk now?’ or ‘Now you have Daredevil back, do we cast Ben Affleck again?’ or more importantly ‘Did Black Widow and Hawkeye ever get it on?’. To launch a new franchise with characters that hardly anyone knows that resembles the team aspect of The Avengers quite a lot and with a Racoon as their leader, is very risky, but actually quite smart, and here’s why……….
This week i'll be talking about Marvels announcement that they’re major movie for 2014 will be the release of Guardians of The Galaxy!
So Marvel overlord Kevin Feige wasted no time in unveiling the cosmic super team just minutes into his Hall H preview panel at Comic-con, he did so by showing a slide with the Guardians leader, his name is Rocket Raccoon. He also confirmed the date for the film as 1st August 2014 and (here’s the smart part) he also confirmed the line-up of the team. Now I will go into each one individually and let you know a little about them but how crazy smart is it to tell people what characters are going to be in a film that is two years down the line?! First off, we all loved Avengers and the whole team spirit of the thing was great so giving us another film with the same dynamic is a great idea, we kind of know what to expect from it already right, so not only does he tell us there is going to be another ensemble movie, he realised that they haven’t got the time or budget to do single films on these characters like they did with the Avengers and maybe standalone films for these characters wouldn’t work as well, so by telling us who the characters are, it gives us 2 whole years to find out about them, to read up about the GOTG and also make us feel like we already know these characters going in so if there are any twists in the plot or any surprises then the audience feels in on it straight away and surely that’s the whole point of making movies, so you can connect to an audience. Plus **SPOILER ALERT** with Thanos appearing in the post-credits of the Avengers adds an interesting arc as within minutes of reading about the GOTG, you quickly realise that there biggest enemy is and always has been Thanos himself. Now we’ve all been thinking that it’s obvious that Thanos is going to be the big bad in Thor 2 or Avengers 2 or even both, but again, by adding him in at the end of one of the biggest movies ever, and then leading him into a film involving characters you might not know very well so that the audience gets to see what he is like against a team is again very smart on Marvels part. So here I am thinking that if Thanos does in fact want to get revenge on Earth and the Avengers then maybe he might have to get through the Guardians first?
So here I am thinking that if Thanos does in fact want to get revenge on Earth and the Avengers then maybe he might have to get through the Guardians first?
The brief background that I can give you on the GOTG is this. They are a cosmic super team formed in an alternate future set in the 31st century; they are a team of superhuman and extra-terrestrial adventurers dedicated to the safeguarding of the Milky Way Galaxy from any force that threatens the security or liberty of its various people. They work primarily as a ‘pre-active’ group and their aim is stop any evil before it takes off as opposed to dealing with once it does. The comics started in 1969, but the film is based on a reboot of the series from 2008 that lasted only 25 issues until it was cancelled in 2010, this series was formed after a storyline involving the original GOTG called Annihilation: Conquest, which laid the foundation for the new GOTG book that Marvel had wanted to launch for some time. In the words of editor Bill Rosemann “As the planning on Annihilation: Conquest came together, it occurred to us that, if things went well, there would be a group of characters left standing who would make for a very interesting and fun team”
These characters and a brief explanation are as follows:
Rocket Racoon – Yes he is a Racoon, but a Racoon with a gun, so he is cool! He is the leader of this series of Guardians and he comes from the planet Halfworld, in the Keystone Quadrant. He joins the team at the behest of his friend Star-Lord. It is Rocket that adapts the GOTG name to his new team after hearing it mentioned by Major Victory. Rocket becomes the leader when the team almost disbands after Peter Quill disappears. Rocket leads the team on a rescue attempt for Quill while the attempt also involves trying to save the Earth from an alien invasion. He brings in Groot as a member as the two had become friends.
Groot is delighted Rocket Racoon will be leading the Guardians
Groot – He is an extra-terrestrial plant monster who initially came to earth seeking humans to capture and study. He played a part in Annihilation: Conquest and was seemingly destroyed. However, he survived as a sprig offshoot. In time, he was able to regenerate his body from that twig and grew back to full size. After another apparent death, A cutting of Groot was kept by Rocket Racoon and he was able to regrow again and joined the Guardians of The Galaxy (or as Groot would call it, ‘Groot and Branches’). He often sacrifices himself for the good of his team.
Gamora – She is the adopted daughter of Thanos, and is dubbed ‘The most powerful woman in the universe!’ She is the last of her species and was found by Thanos who thought he could use her as a weapon (that guy is just all heart!) She was trained by Thanos and became very skilled in the martial arts. She was given her strength by Thanos as a result of her coming into conflict with a group of thugs who overpowered her and raped her. She started to become suspicious of Thanos and eventually aided Captain Mar-Vell, Drax and the Avengers against Thanos as he planned to destroy all life in the universe (possible cross over anyone?!) She eventually joins the new GOTG, but it is not revealed why or at what point.
Gamora is the last of her species and was found by Thanos who thought he could use her as a weapon (that guy is just all heart!)
Drax the Destroyer – Needing a champion to combat the threat from Thanos, Titan god Chronos and Thanos’ father Mentor, capture the spirit of Arthur Douglas and place it in a powerful new body. He is rechristened ‘Drax the Destroyer’ and his sole purpose in life is to destroy Thanos. He is obsessed with this to the point that if anyone else were to defeat Thanos then Drax would attack them for robbing him of his life’s purpose. As seen when Thanos is defeated by Captain Marvel, which leaves Drax wandering the universe searching for a resurrected Thanos. In one story arc, Drax is recruited to GOTG by Star-Lord who has allied themselves with Thanos. While battling madness, Drax attacks Thanos and is killed. He later reappears with the Guardians on Earth without any reference to his death and once again, they are hunting a resurrected Thanos.
Drax the Destroyer’s sole purpose in life is to destroy Thanos. He is obsessed with this to the point that if anyone else were to defeat Thanos then Drax would attack them for robbing him of his life’s purpose.
Star-Lord – The first Star-Lord was Peter Quill (see above in Rockets Bio), Quill was born on Earth during an unusual astronomical phenomenon when many of the planets align. Seeing no resemblance in his son, Quills father accuses his wife of infidelity and attempts to kill the child but dies of a Heart Attack before he can. Quill is raised by a single mother until she is killed by an alien. Quill is placed in an orphanage but escapes and eventually becomes a trainee NASA astronaut. An alien entity called the ‘Master of the Sun’ visits the space station that Quill is on and offers the mantle of Star-Lord (basically an interplanetary policeman. Think Green Lantern but without the ring.) Quill volunteers and after an initial rejection from NASA, Quill steals a scout ship and returns to the Master of the Sun and becomes Star-Lord. In an effort to prevent another interstellar war, Star-Lord forms the new version of GOTG.
In an effort to prevent another interstellar war, Star-Lord forms the new version of GOTG.
So these are the characters that Feige has already stated will be in the Guardians of the Galaxy. There are many other members that have been and gone throughout their run but these remain the stable ones from the reboot in 2008. Just from reading these little bios that I have presented, it appears absurd that they would battle anyone else but Thanos. You can see the human element in this film with Peter Quill and if they show you the origin of Drax you can see the potential with crossover is huge.
The press release states that ‘It will focus on a US pilot who ends up in space in the middle of a universal conflict and goes on the run with futuristic ex-cons who have something that everyone wants’. Now this throws up a few more questions. The US pilot could be Quill and of course the ex-cons could be the GOTG, but what is this thing that everyone wants?? Well when reading up on this, something I came across was that at one point, the GOTG were actually in possession of the Cosmic Cube, yeah THAT Cosmic Cube! Now I could just be blowing smoke in the wind here and the film may be nothing to do with this at all, but considering that the last time we saw the Cube, it was with Thor taking it back to Asgard along with Loki, and that we also saw Thanos’ gauntlet in the vault in Thor and the fact that the next 3 films concerning these 3 are in this order:- Thor: Dark World in November 2013, then Guardians in August 2014, then Avengers 2 in May 2015. Are we going to see Thor hand over the Cube to the Guardians for protection, Thanos attempt to take it from them and then the final battle in Avengers 2. It would make perfect sense; it would tie everything in and set up an epic finale in Avengers 2. Now of course this fan boy might just be fantasy booking here but it’s my blog so I can do it if I want!
Are we going to see Thor hand over the Cube to the Guardians for protection, Thanos attempt to take it from them and then the final battle in Avengers 2.
Of course I don’t know if any of this will be true and in all likelihood, I am probably way off and we won’t even see Thanos or a mention of The Avengers. Marvel could just decide to put this out there and hope everyone likes it without adding characters already well known. I personally think that would be a mistake, but I am but a humble blogger and know not what Marvel are planning, all I do know, is that after reading up on it and writing this piece, I am very excited about how this movie will turn out. Expect trailers before other Marvel movies and expect a lot of CGI!
Anyway the main point of this blog was to get people up to speed on The Guardians of the Galaxy, and mainly what this film may be about, so without knowing anything about the plot, then the above is what I’ve come up with. If I have missed anything important out or I have got something wrong then I apologise and feel free to comment and point it out to me on twitter at @Pete_the_Red.
For now, Thanks for reading, I’m off to get some Schwarma!
Posted on August 29th, 2012
Category: NEWS & VIEWS, THE COMIC ASYLUM
Tags: Comic Reviews, Drax the Destroyer, Gamora, Groot, Guardians of the Galaxy review, marvel studios, Pete Barrington, Rocket Racoon, Sean Favager, Star-Lord, The Comic Asylum