By Andrew A. Smith
Tribune Content Agency
July 24, 2014 -- In a trailer for Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy movie, premiering Aug. 1, a law enforcement official of some kind says in that the team is a bunch of … ah, how can I phrase this? Let’s say “apertures found in the posterior of most mammals.”
Are they? Well, pull up a chair for Guardians of the Galaxy 101 – and you can decide for yourself!
For the origins of the name – but not the present team or concept – you have to go back to 1969, and a story in a try-out book titled Marvel Super-Heroes. That story was predicated on the solar system of the 31st century being conquered by one of Marvel’s nastier alien races, the lizard-like Badoon. Various survivors band together to fight Badoon as guerillas, including Charlie-27, the last bio-engineered, super-strong Jovian; Martinex, the last bio-engineered Plutonian, capable of shooting heat or cold through his hands; Yondu, the last blue-skinned, “noble savage” from a tribe in the Alpha Centauri system; and Vance Astrovik, a 20th century Earthman who had been cryogenically frozen.
Why this band called itself the Guardians of the Galaxy – when they couldn’t even protect their own solar system – is a pretty good question. Another is why these guys had any success at all, when presumably all the other Jovians, Plutonians and Alpha Centaurians had exactly the same powers and died by the thousands, if not millions – surely the Badoon knew exactly how to fight their “super-powers.”
But while those questions are good ones, they’re not really worth the time to ponder – because those Guardians don’t exist on “our” earth any more.
They had a lengthy, if spotty, publishing history, lasting until around 1995. Thankfully they added a few members over the years to flesh out the lackluster original team, like the last Mercurian and a character destined to live his own life over and over again named Starhawk, who constantly referred to himself as “One Who Knows.” A couple of 20th century characters also joined, or had descendants who did, or something. And somewhere along the line they defeated the Badoon.
But Marvel then decided that their future wasn’t our future, perhaps realizing we readers have seen plenty of possible futures in various Marvel Comics that don’t include outer-space lizards. (The recent X-Men: Days of Future Past is one such possible future.) So Marvel declared that the Guardians of the Galaxy were from the future of a parallel earth!
You’d think that would be the end of this lame concept. However, Captain Comics Rule #14 states that no idea is so bad that somebody won’t try it again. And lo, in 2008, in answer to the prayers of absolutely no one, the Guardians were reborn.
But this time, they had interesting personalities. This time there was a lot of humor. This time the team was formidable. This time they were actually good!
And most fans – at least this one – didn’t see it coming.
For a while, two writers named Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning had been quietly updating and polishing Marvel characters set in outer space – the “cosmic” types, as we fans say. A hero named Nova got a reboot, another named Adam Warlock was given a makeover, alien races like the Kree and Skrull got another look, and so on.
And then, boom, Abnett & Lanning dropped the big guns, took a bunch of second bananas, and threw them together andas the all-new Guardians of the Galaxy. Why? Well, why not?
Anyway, the original group had seven or eight members, but we’re only interested in the five characters featured in the upcoming movie. They are:
* Star-Lord: Yep, you guessed it, he’s not really much of a lord of anything. He is the half-human son of the King of Spartak – the Spartaxians being another alien race in the Marvel Universe – whom he absolutely loathes for knocking up his mother and abandoning her. (The King of Spartak is not a nice guy.) Anyway, Star-Lord has an “element” gun that does something elemental or other, and only works for him.
* Gamora: The last of the Zen Whoberi species, she’s called “the most dangerous woman in the galaxy,” and that’s only a little bit hyperbole. She’s the adopted daughter of Thanos, the mad god of Titan who is in love with the personification of Death and is trying to kill the whole universe (he was the purple guy you saw in the credits scene who was Loki’s silent partner in Avengers). She’s inhumanly strong and fast, heals really quickly, and is the master of virtually every form of hand-to-hand combat or weapon extant. Also, she really hates Thanos, because the reason she’s the last of her kind is that he killed all the rest.
* Drax the Destroyer: Once an Earthman, Drax was transformed into a nearly unstoppable killing machine by Kronos, formerly of Titan (and Thanos’ grandfather), but now a conceptual being who protects the universe. Kronos created Drax to kill Thanos, and chose the Earthman because Thanos killed the Earthman’s whole family, and he really, really hates Thanos.
* Rocket Raccoon: There are at least two origins for Rocky out there, but a few things are certain: 1) he is a master tactician and expert marksman with almost any weapon; 2) he has been genetically engineered to have human-level (or above) intelligence; 3) he is not actually a raccoon – he’s from outer space, after all -- and hates being called one by humans. Also, he hates anyone calling him “Rocky.” Oh, one more thing: 4) He’s good friends with …
* Groot: A walking, talking tree, Groot first appeared in Marvel Comics when they were still called Atlas Comics in the 1950s, and specialized in giant monsters from outer space. With a wink to that old story, the current Groot claims to be the ruler of Planet X, which we have never seen. Nor will he ever tell us more, because all he ever says is “I am Groot!” which evidently can mean a lot of different things (Rocket usually translates). Oh, not only is Groot really strong – he is a giant tree – but if he’s burned or blown up, he can grow back from the tiniest surviving twig.
Of course, movies and comics are different media, and some changes will necessarily be made to the descriptions above. For one thing, the trailers seem to indicate that a character named “Ronan the Accuser” will substitute for Thanos in all those origins. Perhaps Thanos is being saved for Avengers 3.
Or maybe they’re saving him for Guardians of the Galaxy 2. Hey, I’ve already written this group off once, and I’m not gonna make that mistake again!
Reach Captain Comics by email at capncomics@aol.com.
Replies
Starlord's father isn't a good guy? As I recall he crash landed on Earth while he was on his way back to Spartex to take his position on the thrown and fight a war, he fell in love with Peter's mother but was afraid to take her with him because he wasn't sure he'd make it home. Once home he was so busy with his war and the was going so badly that he waited a few years and then trusted the task of getting her to his uncle who sent an assassin instead because he wanted the thrown. Peter survived the attack, later on went into space, got Ship -the sentient starship that housed the spirit of a sun that had gone nova- and killed the assassin and his uncle. Later on his father gave up the throne and joined Peter in traveling through space.
It was in the black and white magazines, was there a different Starlord for the color comics?
He appeared in a handful of comics as well as in B&W magazines, and was handled by several creative teams altogether. Someone else will have to give you the details. Possibly Abnett and Lanning made changes when they reintroduced him.
He's clearly not a good guy in current comics. He even betrayed all the other races and Avengers to the Builders in the recent "Avengers World" storyline.
And his leaving Star-Lord's mother is currently characterized as abandonment, and to him it was no more than a one-night stand.