Guardians Of The Galaxy Gets A New Poster, Photos, And Character Descriptions

By Nick Venable | Updated

This article is more than 2 years old

Guardians of the GalaxyWith the release of Godzilla this weekend, the summer movie season has officially begun. (Don’t start with me about Amazing Spider-Man 2 being a summer movie, because no.) Few films will go as big as and hard as James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy, and we’re already absentmindedly doodling Rocket Raccoon pictures on our cocktail napkins. (Tons of cocktails here at GFR.) Anticipation is growing, though the release of the poster above and a few behind-the-scenes photos are too generic to really get the blood pumping. But the second trailer will drop on Monday, and the cast will are offering a live Q&A on the film’s Facebook page the same day. We need this trailer in our lives.

But in the meantime, why don’t you join me in getting to know the titular Guardians and their enemies a little better with the official character descriptions, as parceled out by Marvel. Don’t expect anything groundbreaking in reference to the heroes, as this info covers a lot of what we already knew. But still, pictures of Star-Lord’s mask and blue screens.

Chris Pratt’s Peter Quill, A.K.A. Star-Lord, has been traveling the universe since his abduction from Earth at a young age. He finds an ancient artifact and rounds up a squad to help protect it from a dastardly villain, Ronan (Lee Pace). Also on the anti-Ronan train is Drax (Dave Bautista), a monstrous badass with a personal war to wage with the villain for killing his family. Gamora (Zoe Saldana) is an alien orphan who was raised by Thanos and became his personal assistant. She joins the Guardians as a way of redeeming herself for a life of evildoing. Then we have the trunked-up Groot (Vin Diesel), an outlaw with limited conversation skills who becomes an integral part of the group, and a tag team partner for Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper). Rocket is literally one of a kind, as he was created through a botched experiment, and he combats his loneliness with gigantic guns and large doses of badassery.

Guardians of the GalaxyNow let’s get to the villains. The previously mentioned Ronan is the radical leader of the Kree Empire who is promised by the almighty Thanos that his Xandarian enemies will be eradicated if he can get his hands on that ancient artifact. Man I wish there was a steel cage match in this movie. Nebula (Karen Gillan) is a cybernetically-enhanced, blue-skinned assassin whose loyalty to Ronan and Thanos is only challenged by her hatred for Gamora. Then there’s Korath (Djimon Hounsou), an intergalactic bounty hunter and ally of Ronan’s whose only motivation is taking down his targets.

Outlying characters include the Xandarian Nova Corps head Nova Prime (Glenn Close), who will do anything to protect her Xandar citizens, and Rhomann Dey (John C. Reilly), a Nova Corp military man who develops a strange kinship with Star-Lord. Also around are Yondu (Michael Rooker), a blue-skinned bandit, and The Collector (Benicio Del Toro), a hoarder of the largest magnitude who strikes a dubious bargain with the Guardians.

Guardians of the GalaxyI’ll pick all of you up on my spaceship to head to the theater when Guardians of the Galaxy debuts on August 1. I only have two seat belts though.