OK, let's talk about Guardians of the Galaxy

First, let's start with the stuff that everybody should know by this point.

So, Marvel is releasing a film late next year (August 1, 2014 to be precise) called "Guardians of the Galaxy" and named after a superhero team from the comics. Well, actually, named after the second superhero team with that name in the comics. This was announced during comic-con and so far most of what we have is the following concept art, showing (from left to right): Drax the Destroyer, Groot, Star-Lord, Rocket Raccoon, and Gamora.

Now, if you want details on the characters, look them up on wikipedia. But basically, Drax is a former human whose family was destroyed by Thanos (you know, Thanos, the purple guy that showed up during the credits of The Avengers), so Arthur Douglas did XY and Z to gain super-everything and became the green guy, D the D. Groot is a giant, sentient tree. So, exactly what he looks like in the picture. Star-Lord (Peter Quill) is half-human and half-alien (giggity) and has super-neat guns and a super-neat suit and is super-tactical, so he's an intergalactic policeman dude. Right. (That would be the team leader). Rocket raccoon is a talking raccoon that can shoot guns and fly aircraft. And Gamora is the adopted daughter of Thanos (there's that name again) who spends most of her time (and super-powers, including a healing factor) fighting her father.

So, based on that info, we can pretty much assume that the villain for the film will be Thanos. What we don't know is how much company Thanos is going to have. Loki? The Chitauri? The Other? (That's the creepy alien dude from The Avengers that was having magic meetings with Loki). Some new crew of evils? Kree/Skrull people? That I can't say.

There's also a big list of "maybes" for characters that might be in the film. The biggest on I'll save for later, but others include some Galactus heralds like Nova or Silver Surfer, which leads me to ask about the big purple guy himself, Adam Warlock, Thor, and Doctor Strange. Of course the Kree/Skrull element begs questions about Captain Marvel (Mar-Vell) which then leads to Ms. Marvel. And others.

As far as storylines go, pardon the pun but the sky is the limit. Most likely, since we've already seen the Infinity Gauntlet in the Thor film (did you miss it? It was shown brienfly in Odin's vault as the Frost Giants were breaking in), it will involve Thanos gathering Infinity Stones and the good ol' guardians trying to story him. Or something else, who knows? Oh, but that reminds me, second spoiler coming at the end of this post.

Now about casting. So far, only two roles have been cast for sure. Chris Pratt, who I've never seen in anything but apparently is becoming somewhat famous, has been cast as Star-Lord. Meanwhile, wrestler/MMA fighter/actor Dave Bautista/Batista has been cast as Drax the Destroyer, which I guess makes sense. Other rumors for roles include Adrianne Palicki for Gamora, and both Jim Carrey and Adam Sandler reportedly in talks to do a voice, presumably for either Groot or Rocket Raccoon. Beyond that, there's a lot of speculation and fan fantasies.

So, besides the spoilers to come below, if you haven't been keeping tabs on GOTG info, that's about all we know at this point. Obviously, its still a ways off, and a lot could change in that time. We're still not even sure where in the continuity the film will fall. Most likely post-Avengers, but who knows? By then, Iron Man 3, Thor 2, and Cap 2 will already be out, and the SHIELD show will have run a full season.

Finally, because I don't want this blog to lose its usual concept of Beauty-is-a-Geek, here's a Gamora cosplay for you!

Before I get to the spoilers, I request comments! I'll set up a buffer between the spoilers and the end of the article so you can comment safely without accidentally reading the spoilers. But all this info took a lot of time to gather and present to you so nicely! So the least you could do (well, the least you could do after nothing, looking at it, staring to read it, and finishing read it) is to leave a comment. Alright, now on to spoilers!

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

_______________________________________________________________

THE FOLLOWING TEXT MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS! IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO SEE SAID SPOILERS, STOP READING THIS ARTICLE NOW! BUT PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT! I'LL LEAVE A BUFFER ZONE BETWEEN THE SPOILERS AND THE END OF THE ARTICLE.

SPOILER NUMBER 1

Word is that Iron Man/Tony Stark is set to appear in the GOTG film, most likely to help draw a bigger crowd since not many people know who they are. But its been revealed that Stark will have a new "Deep Space" suit in Iron Man 3, and will probably be taking off at the end of the film to help out the guardians.

SPOILER NUMBER 2

The legitimacy of this next spoiler is still up in the air, but there's some thought that the direction of the MCU in the next several years is leading to films about Planet Hulk and World War Hulk, which is also why Marvel is delaying any Hulk sequels for a while. How they go about this is all speculation: it could either be used as an end to the MCU after 10 years or so, or could just close one chapter while the rest continues on, or maybe not even have a definitive end of any kind, and just be another story they tell. Who knows. But be on the lookout for clues to this being true. Like an MCU version of the Illuminati.

END OF SPOILERS. NOW TO SET A BUFFER ZONE.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

LEAVE A COMMENT!