With Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 on the horizon, it feels like the perfect time to
remind the world of exactly why the Guardians are so great. These intergalactic superheroes
have battled the forces of evil for almost fifty years now… or at least some incarnation
of the group has, anyway. If that sounds confusing, then keep watching, because we've got plenty
of Guardians trivia you've probably never heard before.
The original Guardians
Sure, Star-Lord and Groot are awesome, but they’re total newbies to the Guardians of
the Galaxy. The original team was created in 1969 as a parallel to DC's Legion of Super
Heroes. The team was based in the 31st century, and included very different members: Vance
Astro from Earth, Martinex from Pluto, Charlie-27 from Jupiter; and finally one you may almost
recognize...Yondu from Centauri IV. The foursome initially joined forces in Marvel Super-Heroes
#18 to battle an alien race known as the Badoon. The team would soon grow to take on two additional
members: Starhawk and Nikki.
A wild Star-Lord appears
Once upon a time, Marvel published a black-and-white magazine called Marvel Preview. The experimental
title provided creators with the opportunity to do stories about characters a bit too far
outside the mainstream. Star-Lord was one of them, first appearing in 1976. Although
the character continued to pop up here and there over the years, it wasn't until the
2004 series Thanos that he officially returned. In this incarnation, his backstory was tweaked
and his earlier adventures were ruled as being outside Marvel's main continuity. But make
no mistake: the purists still remember.
The Milano
You may have picked up that Star-Lord’s cinematic ship is called The Milano, and no,
it’s not named after the delicious cookie. Director James Gunn tweeted in July of 2014
that the ship is actually named after actress Alyssa Milano, which falls perfectly in line
with young Peter Quill’s 1988 abduction. After all, the pubescent Quill disappeared
from Earth just as Milano was the most famous 16-year old on the planet due to her role
in Who’s the Boss?
I am Groot
It was all the way back in 1960’s Tales to Astonish #13 that Groot made his debut.
At the time, the creature of walking wood came from Planet X, was much more talkative,
and was bent on capturing humanity. Within a few pages, Groot is defeated by a guy with
a box of termites, and it takes decades for the merciless mahogany to turn up as anything
other than a guest-starring ginkgo. Groot's reinvention took place around the same time
as Star-Lord's, thanks to Marvel's epic 2004 crossover storyline Annihilation: Conquest.
And even though movie Groot was reduced to a three-word script, consisting of…
"I am Groot."
"Yeah, you said that."
...voice actor Vin Diesel read his line over a thousand times.
"I am Groot…"
"Well, that's just as fascinating as the first 89 times you've told me that. What is wrong
with giving tree?"
During a red carpet interview with Marvel, Diesel explained.
"When I came into the recording booth, there was a 50 page document. And on the left-hand
side, it said 'I am Groot.' And on the right-hand side it would have a paragraph or a sentence
explaining what he was really meaning or what he was really trying to say."
Drax the Real Estate Agent
Guardians of the Galaxy is pretty short on origin stories, so trying to explain the history
of Drax the Destroyer is a little complicated. In the comics, he begins his existence in
1973 as real estate agent Arthur Douglas, who is then killed by Thanos, and later resurrected
by Thanos' father… for the sole purpose of killing Thanos. After missing his chance
to kill his killer twice, Drax decides that he may as well be a good guy. If you can’t
beat ‘em, and you can’t get sweet revenge on your murderer... Join ‘em.
Bug out
Bug has been a part of Marvel since 1979, when the company obtained the rights to produce
a Micronauts comic, based on the toy line of the same name.
"Acroyear the enemy and the Micronaut space warriors, all sold separately."
Bug was originally known as Galactic Warrior, but because the comic character looked nothing
like the toy, Marvel changed his name and made him their own. Bug bounced around the
Marvel Universe for years, eventually turning up with the newer Guardians. James Gunn was
psyched about the idea of using Bug, but it didn't work out. He broke the bad news on
the podcast The Movie Crypt:
"There was a really good chance Bug was going to show up in the first movie."
"Oh really?"
"But he is not...we do not own him."
Also just barely missing from Guardians due to rights squabbles? Fan favorite Rom the
Space Knight, a toy/comic crossover that Gunn also wanted to include, but Marvel just didn’t
have the rights anymore.
The Collector's collection
There are a lot of fascinating things to be seen within the Collector's collection, many
of which are Easter eggs aimed at hardcore Marvel fans. These include Cosmo the Space
Dog, what may or may not be Adam Warlock's cocoon, and even Howard the Duck. In a nod
to his own film catalog, Gunn also included some of the alien slugs that terrorize the
town in his 2006 film Slither. So, wait, does that mean that film is part of the Marvel
Cinematic Universe? The mind boggles.
Also originally intended to be part of the collection: Stan Lee himself. Gunn didn't
think the first idea for his cameo was quite up to par, however. That's a shame, too, because
the plan had been to show him as part of the Collector's collection… and have him flip
off the camera.
Road to Knowhere
You may have noticed that The Collector kinda lives in a giant, floating head. The film
doesn’t go into it much, but that head formerly rested on the shoulders of a Celestial. According
to Marvel’s official documentation,
“Celestials are a star-faring race of humanoid aliens who possess untold cosmic power. Standing
two thousand feet tall, the Celestials are clad in full body armor. No Earth being has
ever seen what they look like beneath their armor or knows their origin."
Something else that remains unknown is how the head of one of these things even fell
off, and ended up as a port of call at the end of the universe. We don’t want to meet
the guy who can decapitate a half-mile tall god.
New Endings
Gunn's original vision for the end of Guardians involved Peter Quill's grandfather, played
by Gregg Henry. In an interview tied to the Blu-ray release of the film, he explained
that Henry's moment in particular was just too much of a downer to keep.
"He has this photograph of Meredith (Peter Quill's mother) and Peter as a little boy,
and he looks up at the stars, and we go up to the stars, and it was really sweet.
It means that he must have seen Quill getting abducted at the end of that day and is still
waiting for him to return. But it was freaking sad, so we took it out."
Star-Lord and Starman
Rock god David Bowie spent much of his career focusing on space. He famously played an alien
in The Man Who Fell to Earth, and even once led a band called the Spiders from Mars.
"You're really a freak. I don't mean that unkindly—I like freaks."
So, he would've been a perfect fit for the Guardians' galaxy. Unfortunately, Bowie didn’t
live long enough to appear in the sequel. Like most of us, Gunn found out about Bowie’s
passing on Twitter, and took to Facebook to express his grief.
"Just a very short while ago Kevin Feige and I were talking about a cameo role in Guardians
Vol. 2, and he brought up Bowie's name. I told him nothing in the world would make me
happier, but I heard from common friends he wasn't doing well. We heard back that he was
okay and it could potentially happen. Who knows what that was about? But, for whatever
reason, it made my Twitter revelation more of a surprise."
Oh, what might have been...
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