Judging by it's presence at this years Comic-Con, Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy is going to be huge on its release next year. But the big problem is, the comic is based on characters that are unknown by most of the mainstream public, causing many people to ask "Star-what?" or "Ronan the who?" whenever the film is mentioned. But have no fear! Thanks to years of unintentional research, we have compiled this handy guide to the weird, wonderful, and downright bad-ass characters who will light up the big screen next August.
Who: Star Lord/ Peter Quill (Chris Pratt)
What: Offspring of a human mother and alien father, Star Lord is a rogue and intergalactic convict. A bit of a jerk, really. When he teams up the outlaw band of the Guardians, he finds his higher calling.
Noticeable feature/power: Quill is a master strategist, an expert in close quarter combat, and various human and alien weaponry. The kind of guy you want backing you in a fight.
Weapon of choice: Usually content with using two Kree sub-machine guns, and various types of explosives, Star Lord also has access to an Element Gun, which pretty much says it all really: a gun capable of projecting either fire, earth, water, or air.
Bad ass rating: High.
Who: Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista)
What: Arthur Douglas was a normal human being, who was killed by the galaxy's greatest super villain, Thanos, pretty much for just looking at him. But that wasn't the end of Arthur's story. His spirit was captured by enemies of Thanos, and put inside a powerful, genetically engineered body. Reborn as Drax the Destroyer, his sole purpose in life is to kill Thanos.
Noticeable feature/power: Being a genetically bred killing machine, Drax is super strong, tremendously resilient, and can survive without food and water for long periods of time. He can also sense Thanos' presence across great distances. Which comes in especially handy at times.
Weapon of choice: A lover of close combat, he runs into battle brandishing two wicked looking knives.
Bad ass rating: High.
Who: Gamora (Zoe Saldana)
What: The last of her alien species, Gamora was adopted by Thanos (which will probably make for some awkward conversations with Drax), who, like any good father figure, subjected his new daughter to various treatments that enhanced her speed, strength, agility, and durability, skills she used to become the universe's greatest assassin.
Noticeable feature/power: On top of the gifts that daddy gave her, Gamora is also an expert in hand to hand combat, capable on taking on entire platoons on her lonesome.
Weapon of choice: Like Drax, Gamora prefers to use knives and swords.
Bad ass rating: Extremely high.
Who: Groot
What: The ruler of Planet X, probably because he is the only one left living there, Groot is a gigantic, sentient tree, and has had a few run-ins in with Earth, capturing humans for experimentation. But he's put that behind him, taking the path of good with the Guardians with his best friend, Rocket Raccoon.
Noticeable feature/power: Absorbing wood as food, Groot has the ability to rebuild himself and enhance his strength. He is also able to enhance his size at will, but it directly affects his speed. He is also virtually immortal, able to regrow himself from a twig if he is destroyed.
Weapon of choice: while he has been known to use guns at times, he more often than not rains his gigantic fists on his enemies, while shouting his trademark saying, "I am Groot!" (in actuality, the only thing he can say).
Bad ass rating: High.
Who: Rocket Raccoon
What: A genetically engineered raccoon from the planet Halfworld, and former head guard of an intergalactic asylum for the insane, Rocket joined the Guardian's after a prisoner escaped on his watch.
Noticeable feature/power: An excellent military leader, marksman, tactician, and starship pilot, he also retains the attributes of a normal raccoon, including an acute sense of sight, smell, taste, and touch.
Weapon of choice: His favorite weapon is dual wielded laser pistols, and also, as the name suggests, he has a love for heavy weapons.
Bad ass rating: Through the roof.
So, that's it for the heroes. What about the bad guys?
So, that's it for the heroes. What about the bad guys?
Who: Nova Corps (John C. Riely - Rhoman Dey, Glenn Close - Nova Prime)
What: An intergalactic police force, charged with keeping the peace throughout the cosmos. So yeah, not exactly villains, but when the heroes are a band of outlaws, there is going to be a grey area.
Noticeable feature/power: All members of the Nova Corps have access to the Nova Force, which grants them powers, ranging from enhanced perception, strength, and speed, the ability to heal rapidly, and the power to fly faster than the speed of light. The higher rank an Nova Corps officer has, the more powers they have access to.
Weapon of choice: Each member has the ability to project energy blasts.
Bad ass rating: Medium to high.
Who: Nebula (Karen Gillan)
What: A feared space pirate and mercenary, Nebula claims to be the grand-daughter of Thanos (this movie is going to have one hell of a family reunion), and once even destroyed the entirety of the Nova Corps.
Noticeable feature/power: An unparalleled military strategist and gifted in both armed and unarmed combat, Nebula is also part cyborg, having her left eye, left shoulder, and left arm replaced with robotic parts.
Weapon of choice: She usually fights with wrist mounted blasters, capable of incinerating anyone. She also commands a massive starship, Sanctuary II, which once belonged to Thanos.
Bad ass rating: High.
Who: Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace)
What: A high ranking member of the militaristic Kree empire, Ronan leads the Kree military in bringing planet after planet under the Empire's banner. Space Nazis, basically.
Noticeable feature/power: Like all the Kree, Ronan shares many human characteristics, with the exception of blue skin. Since the Kree home planet has a higher gravity than most planets, outside of his home world he possesses enhanced strength and speed. Essentially, Space Nazi Superman.
Weapon of choice: Ronan possesses the Universal Weapon, a device, in the shape of a hammer, which can absorb energy, rearrange matter, fire concussive blasts, produce force fields, and grant its wielder the power of flight, amongst many other things.
Bad ass rating: High.
Who: Yondu (Michael Rooker)
What: A founding member of the Guardians in the comics, for the movie Yondu has being recast as a villain, a space pirate who escapes from the prison where Rocket Racoon is warden.
Noticeable feature/power: Coming from a race of primitive beings, Yondu is a skilled hunter and mystic, able to access a mystical sixth sense and limited empathic connection with other lifeforms.
Weapon of choice: A bow which fires arrows made of a sound sensitive metal, mined by the people of his tribe. The arrows are able to change direction in reaction to high pitch sounds Yondu's people can emit.
Bad ass rating: He's played by Michael Rooker in the movie, so through the roof.
Who: The Collector (Benico Del Toro)
What: An immortal and god-like Elder of the Universe, The Collector developed a hobby of collecting life forms and artifacts from around universe to maintain his sanity, having had to witness his one true love relinquish her immortality.
Noticeable feature/power: A telepath and clairvoyant, The Collector fears only one being: Thanos, who he foresaw to have the power to kill him.
Weapon of choice: A menagerie of alien beasts, who he sends to attack his enemies.
Bad ass rating: Medium to high.
Who: Thanos
What: A native of Saturn's moon Titan, Thanos became fascinated with nihilism and death, eventually falling in love with Mistress Death, the physical embodiment of death. To be close to her, he began a mad crusade of destruction across the galaxy. In the movie, this brings him to side with Ronan and the Kree empire.
Noticeable feature/power: Before his destruction of Titan, he was trained in the art of war, and is a scientific genius, and well versed in the mystic arts. He is also insane, if you haven't gathered already.
Weapon of choice: Thanos once wielded the Tesseract (or Cosmic Cube, which caused all manner of the trouble in The Avengers movie), but his favoured weapon is the Infinity Gauntlet, which contain the Infinity Gems. With all the gems at his disposal, Thanos is pretty much a god, and has the power to rewrite reality.
Bad ass rating: Incalculable.
And finally, check out the cast on stage at this years Comic Con in our exclusive video below.
