Beyond Guardians: Four Cosmic Super-Teams We Want To See On The Big Screen

After Guardians, things could really get weird.

By David Wharton | Updated

This article is more than 2 years old

AnnihilatorsAnnihilators
As the Marvel Cinematic Universe dives deeper into their more obscure characters, many are already speculating about what other so-called “cosmic” characters might be spun out of the Guardians series. The Annihilators are even more obscure than the Guardians, but have deep ties to Star-Lord and company, so they might make for a nice entry to the MCU on down the line. The Annihilators were formed by an unlikely figure: Cosmo the Spacedog. You’ve actually already seen him if you’ve seen the Guardians movie: he was the dog in the spacesuit seen in the Collector sequence and the after-credits stinger. In the comics, Cosmo became the security chief of the Knowhere space station, and a member of the Guardians himself. After the death of Star-Lord — something the movies hopefully won’t get to anytime soon — Cosmo assembled a team of ultra-powerful badasses to help protect the cosmos.

The Annihilators lineup could prove tricky for a variety of reasons, however. The team included the human hero Quasar, the Shi’ar alien Gladiator, and Thor supporting character Beta Ray Bill…as well the Silver Surfer and an ornery Kree named Ronan the Accuser. That last one should stand out given that he was the primary baddie in the Guardians of the Galaxy movie, and if you’ve already seen it, you know that enlisting him for the group could prove difficult. On the other hand, this is the world of comic books, so it’s not outside the realm of possibility. However, the Guardians are a Marvel Studios production and the movie rights to the Silver Surfer are held by Fox, who also have the X-Men and Fantastic Four. Still, Marvel Studios has already taken liberties with the source material where needed, so there’s no reason they couldn’t fill out the Annihilators membership with other characters.

We didn’t get any hint that Cosmo was anything more than a regular dog in the Guardians movie, but that could certainly change. And while we haven’t seen Beta Ray Bill himself yet — he’s a big horse-looking dude who dresses like Thor, so he’d be hard to miss — eagle-eyed viewers spotted a skeleton on the abandoned world in the opening sequence of the movie that suggests that, if nothing else, his species, the Korbinites, might exist in the MCU.

Rocket-Style Potential Breakout Character: Cosmo, obviously! Marvel just proved that audiences will buy into a gun-crazed raccoon and a talking tree, so there’s no reason they couldn’t sell us on a talking Russian dog wearing a spacesuit. And since Knowhere becomes the Guardians’ base of operations in the comics, Cosmo could easily get a bigger part in the sequel. Hell, maybe he could deputize Howard the Duck now that the Collector’s collection is all fucked up.

Cosmo


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