Brian Michael Bendis On The Guardians of the Galaxy Movie

By Rudie Obias | Published

This article is more than 2 years old

Guardians

There is no doubt that Marvel Studios is on top of the world at the moment. Last year, The Avengers became the highest grossing movie of all-time (that wasn’t made by James Cameron). The movie took in $1.5 billion and became the crown jewel in creating Marvel’s Cinematic Universe – Phase I. Phase II will begin this summer with the release of Iron Man 3, and it will be very interesting to see if Marvel can continue its record of success. The only movie that Marvel is slated to release that is a big question mark is Guardians of the Galaxy.

Let’s face it, Guardians of the Galaxy is weird. It takes place in outer space and nearly all of its characters are aliens. There’s no telling how successful the movie will be, and it’s certainly possible that Guardians of the Galaxy could be Marvel’s first failure in a while.

While promoting the publisher’s Marvel NOW! initiative, Guardians of the Galaxy comic book writer Brian Michael Bendis talked about the upcoming James Gunn-directed movie with USA Today. It sounds like the movie will be more accessible than we think. According to Bendis:

You look at Star-Lord and once you find his origin story, there you go, man. He’s our Luke Skywalker. That’s our Peter Parker right there. In the fight [Drax] is amazing, but in between those fights not only does he not know what to do with himself but there are constantly people challenging him or trying to make their name on him. [Gamora] thinks her father is a monster and is going to do whatever she can to stop it. Rocket’s got a whole thing going on in his past and it’s all messed up and he’s the only one of his kind. It’s hilarious how much you end up caring about him, and how much he cares about Groot makes you care about him. You start with the gag, then all of a sudden they’re the heart and soul of the piece.

The re-introduction and re-launch of Guardians of the Galaxy comic book will be a glimpse into the movie adaptation. Star-Lord’s origin story is brutal and heartfelt, while Bendis’ remarks about Rocket Raccoon and Groot are true, they could definitely be the emotional and comedic center of the film. But it’s still unclear whether or not Guardians of the Galaxy will be a box office hit when it’s released in 2014.

The peacekeeping cosmic team is not very well known among general audiences, or even among casual comic book fans. Guardians of the Galaxy has a lot of mythology and backstory, which may leave people alienated. Despite all of this, Brian Michael Bendis still believes Guardians of the Galaxy will be a big success for Marvel Studios and Disney. Bendis continues:

It’s fantastical imagination. It’s the best of what comics and movies can do — here is a new world, here is a new agenda. When the first Iron Man movie was put on the schedule, a lot of people were commenting in the exact same way: ‘He’s not a household name like Spider-Man. I don’t know…’ It’s almost the exact same conversation we’re having about Guardians. The potential is definitely there.

Guardians of the Galaxy will hit theaters everywhere on August 1, 2014, in 3D.