'Guardians of the Galaxy' works because of its amazing, unique characters.
James Gunn was somehow able to take Marvel’s most eclectic
cosmic heroes and bring them to the silver screen.
Rocket Raccoon and Drax the Destroyer weren’t
exactly household names before the first film.
With the sequel almost here, we’re about to get some great new additions to the
Guardians lineup, so let’s take a look at who they are and where they come from.
Here’s everything you need to know about the comic book origins of the
New Characters in 'Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2'
James Gunn actually did an interview where he
talked about simplifying character origins.
Surprisingly, a lot of cosmic Marvel heroes actually come from Earth..
But Gunn really wanted Peter Quill to be the only Earthling member of the Guardians.
So in order to keep him unique, he added alien origins to formerly Earth-based characters.
We’ll see some of those later in the video. For now, let’s start out in the vastness of space with:
EGO THE LIVING PLANET
Ego the Living Planet could be the breakout character in Vol. 2. He’s Star Lord’s dad. He’s
Kurt Russell. He’s also, wait for it, a sentient planet. But did you know he has a twin?
In 1966 Jack “the King” Kirby was going through a big cosmic phase.
And Ego was part of the same streak of brilliance that gave us Galactus, the Silver Surfer and the Inhumans.
The idea of a living planet wasn’t all that new.
The 1961 Russian novel 'Solaris' is probably the most famous example.
Kirby and Stan Lee imagined a place in the cosmos, a Black Galaxy
where the fabric of the universe condensed into a liquid.
Inside, a virus multiplied over millions of years.
It evolved and solidified into a massive, intelligent planet hell-bent on absorbing everything in its path.
This was Kirby’s original vision, and it was Ego’s origin for years.
The Living Planet spent the next few decades menacing the Marvel Universe.
In Thor’s 2010 storyline ' Planetfall,' writer Robert Rodi reveals that
Ego was actually created by a mysterious entity known as the Stranger.
The Stranger is a godlike cosmic being of the Marvel Universe.
In terms of power he’s right up there with Galactus and the Living Tribunal.
He created Ego as a simple science experiment.
But even the all-powerful Stranger didn’t have the means to make a living planet.
He had to borrow equipment and knowledge from none other than the
Collector, Benecio Del Toro’s character from the first 'Guardians.'
The Collector agreed, but had one stipulation.
He wanted a spare for his space museum, so the Stranger had to create two living planets.
Thus Alter-Ego was born.
Ego was overjoyed to learn he wasn’t alone in the universe, but Alter-Ego
was furious when he discovered he was no longer one of a kind.
He attacked his brother, and Ego was forced to defend himself.
A furious Ego blasted his twin apart.
Luckily, Alter-Ego survived the explosion.
He was re-formed into a small moon, and now happily orbits
his big brother as they explore the vast universe together.
2. MANTIS
Mantis was born in Vietnam and abandoned by her father in
a temple run by alien monks called the Priests of Pama.
The Priests are a pacifist sect of the warlike Kree species.
They’re friends with the Cotati, a race of intelligent trees from the same home planet.
No relation to Groot by the way.
The Priests believed Mantis was the Celestial Madonna.
Her destiny was to mate with the eldest tree person on Earth and give birth
to the “Celestial Messiah,” the most “important being in the universe.”
The Priests endowed her with empathic abilities
I touch someone, I can feel their feelings.
and martial arts training, earning her the name “Mantis.”
On her 18th birthday, the priests wiped her brain and kicked her
out into the real world so she could learn about human life.
The Swordsman, an on-again, off-again Avenger, found her working in a Vietnam bar
He fell hard for her, and together they went back to America and joined up with the Avengers.
Unfortunately for Swordsman, Mantis just wasn’t into him.
She developed feelings for the Vision, but he was in love with the Scarlet Witch.
70’s Avengers is full of great soap opera stuff like that.
But back to The Swordsman. He was killed saving Mantis from Kang the Conqueror.
And as he lay dying, she finally professed her love.
Lucky for Mantis, the plant person she was destined to marry managed to resurrect Swordsman’s corpse.
It wasn’t really the Swordsman, just the spirit of an ancient tree inside his husk of a body.
But you take what you can get when you’re the Celestial Madonna.
So Mantis married the Swordsman/plant-guy in a joint ceremony with the
Vision and Scarlet Witch, and left the planet so they could “mate.”
After giving birth, the plants took her son to raise among their people.
Restless and unfulfilled, Mantis returned to her adventures in the stars.
She eventually joined up with the Guardians of the Galaxy, where her empathic
abilities made her the perfect counselor for the dysfunctional team.
3. AYESHA.
Even though James Gunn recently burst our bubble, there was a
ton of speculation that Adam Warlock would show up in 'Vol 2.'
After all his Soul Gem is the only Infinity
Stone that hasn’t been seen in the MCU yet.
Also, he was hinted at in the first Guardians, and his sister Ayesha is the main villain of the sequel.
Ayesha was created by a group of evil scientists called the Enclave.
They wanted to create the perfect human being, and Adam Warlock was their first try.
“He” escaped from his cocoon, destroyed the lab and flew off
to became one of Cosmic Marvel’s most important characters.
The Enclave gave it another shot, this time with help from an unwitting Dr. Strange.
The new creation was called Paragon.
Just like big brother, it went nuts and wrecked up the place.
Paragon returned to its cocoon and emerged years later as a golden-skinned woman called “Her.”
Ayesha was born.
She decided her purpose in life was to mate with Adam Warlock and give birth to a race of perfect superbeings.
But eventually Ayesha realized that mating with her genetic twin might not be the best idea.
With incest out of the question, she settled on Quasar, Marvel’s official Protector of the Universe.
She named herself Kismet, after the Arabic word for “fate.”
Years later, after returning to Earth, some bad guys mind
controlled her into a showdown with the Fantastic Four.
This time she called herself Ayesha.
TASERFACE
James Gunn actually posted a picture of Taserface on his Facebook in 2012.
He called him “the dumbest character of all time,” and swore that he’d never feature him in a film.
But Gunn had a change of heart.
In 'Vol. 2,' Taserface is now the leader of the villainous Ravagers
In the comics, Taserface is a member of an alien species called the Stark.
Once upon a time on an alternate Earth, Tony Stark had to jettison a bunch
of his technology into space so it wouldn’t fall into the wrong hands.
It landed on a primitive world, but the locals were able to reverse
engineer the tech and basically build their civilization around it.
Soon, the entire species evolved into cyborgs wrapped in Iron Man armor.
The Stark quickly used up their planet's natural resources and they moved on to conquering new worlds.
Taserface was their advanced scout, obsessed with reclaiming his
honor after a fellow Stark died saving his ass from the Guardians.
He was eventually renamed “Overkill” and beyond that…
Well, he hasn’t actually appeared all that much in the comics.
He’s a blank slate for the filmmakers to build on.
The MCU Guardians are pretty different from their comic book counterparts.
Gunn streamlined, simplified, and outright invented new backstories for his Guardians, but it worked.
And we wouldn’t have them any other way.