FAQ

On the populated planet Xandar. A cocky and idiotic thief called Peter "Star Lord" Quill gets into a fight with a woman called Gamora who snatches from him a mysterious orb which he retrieved on the desolate planet Morag. However, a short tempered amateur bounty hunter a enhanced racoon named Rocket and his sidekick, a humanoid tree creature named Groot interfere and attempt to capture Quill, so they can claim the bounty on his head and Quill, Gamora, Rocket and Groot are arrested by the local police force the Nova Corps. Escaping from the penal space station 'The Kyln' along with Drax the Destroyer, a reckless criminal who helped them escape, Quill, Gamora, Rocket and Groot head to the lawless mining colony Knowwhere to give the orb to a antiques dealer called The Collector in exchange for profit. After discovering the orb contains an 'Infinity Stone' one of six crystals which according to legend was created at the beginning of time. Knowwhere is attacked by Ronan the Accuser, a terrorist who has formed an alliance with Gamora's adopted father, the intergalactic tyrant Thanos and Ronan has come to Knowwhere to take the Infinity Stone and give it to Thanos and Ronan intends to use the Infinity Stone to destroy Xandar in retaliation for the death of his family. Realizing Xandar is in mortal danger, Quill, Gamora, Rocket, Groot and Drax join forces with The Ravagers, a band of space pirates led by Quill's adopted father Yondu Udonta and the Nova Corps as they set out to defend Xandar from Ronan who invades Xandar with his warrior army and Gamora's jealous adopted sister, the cyborg Nebula and Quill and the Guardians of the Galaxy set out to stop Ronan and save Xandar from destruction.

The Guardians of the Galaxy are a fictional superhero team published in Marvel Comics. From what has been confirmed so far, this film is based on the 2008 modern day incarnation thought up by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, not to be confused with the 1969 future version of the same group. Its members consist of Drax the Destroyer, Groot, Star-Lord, Rocket Raccoon, Major Victory, Phyla-Vell, Mantis, Cosmo, Bug, Moondragon, Adam Warlock and Gamora. They often team up with Nova, Quasar and the Inhumans, among other intergalactic characters. They have fought Annihilus, Thanos, Vulcan (Cyclops and Havoc's brother) and The Phalanx under Ultron's leadership. Drax the Destroyer, whose alias is Arthur Douglas, is a deceased human turned into a huge green space warrior created to specifically kill Thanos. Gamora is a lone survivor of her alien race who served as a former agent to (and is the adopted daughter of) Thanos. Star-Lord, whose alias is Peter Quill, is a half human, half Spartan intergalactic soldier. Groot is an extraterrestrial tree-like creature who is royalty on his homeworld and can regenerate most devastating wounds as a plant can. Rocket Raccoon is an intelligent, anthropomorphic raccoon created on Earth to be an expert marksman and master tactician.

The main villain is Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace). Nebula (Karen Gillan) and Korath (Djimon Hounsou) are secondary villains who serve Ronan. The Collector (Benicio Del Toro) and Thanos (Josh Brolin) also make minor appearances but pose no direct threat to the Guardians. Since the character Yondu (Michael Rooker) serves as a foil to the main protagonist Peter Quill/Star-Lord, he can be considered a minor antagonist. Collector, while cruel to his slave, is not a villain, but rather serves as a buyer for the Infinity Stone.

No, Thanos previously appeared during the closing credits of The Avengers (2012), where he was played by stuntman Damion Poitier.

The Nova Corps is a stateless interstellar police force in the Marvel Comics Universe, very similar to the Green Lantern Corps in the DC Comics Universe in many respects. The basic concept was introduced Nova vol. 1 #1 in September 1976 while the full organization introduced in Fantastic Four # 208. The main stylistic differences is that while the GLC members are primarily armed with a ring that can do nearly anything that the wearer has the imagination and willpower to create, the Nova Corps troopers are granted innate powers that are much like Superman's power set in many respects, such as super strength, flight, resistance to injury and power blasts from their bodies. Furthermore, they require more elaborate equipment for their operations such as their uniforms which have additional functions like built in communications and a life support system while using ships for long range space travel. Another notable difference between the two organizations is that the Nova Corps is a militia proper, featuring a formal ranking system (e.g. Corpsman, Millennians, Denarians, Centurions, etc). The Green Lantern Corps has no such system.

During a scene where Peter is talking to Gamora and lets her listen to music, he reveals that the cassette player reminds him of his time on Earth, or Terra, as they refer to it. At the beginning of the film, we see Quill's mother is about to die and gives a present to Peter during her last seconds. At the end of the movie it was revealed that the present was another cassette that read "Awesome Mix. Vol 2". Since Peter Quill was born around the 1980's, most of the tracks that are recorded in those cassettes represent special moments in his life. It's one of the symbols that show that Peter is human, just like the insides of his spaceship, the Milano. It also represents an emotional attachment that Peter has to his mother, and it makes perfect sense since his mother was actually human. That is why, during his prison escape with the rest of the Guardians, he refuses to leave without retrieving his cassette player.

Stan Lee is seen on the planet Xandar. Rocket spots him with a younger woman and berates him for cheating on his wife. He laughs and calls him a Pervert.

Yes. This film is part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the same universe as Iron Man (2008), The Incredible Hulk (2008), Iron Man 2 (2010), Thor (2011) Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) The Avengers (2012) Iron Man 3 (2013) Thor: The Dark World (2013), Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) , Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) and Ant-Man (2015). This film is part of Phase 2 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe setting up Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015). It takes place largely away from planet Earth (as does the comic book). In the mid-credits scene of Thor: The Dark World, Lady Sif and Volstagg bring the Aether to the Collector, who is played by Benicio Del Toro. When the Collector asks him why they are giving him the Aether, Lady Sif and Volstagg respond that they already have the Tesseract in Odin's vault on Asgard, and it would be unsafe to keep two Infinity Stones in one place. After Lady Sif and Volstagg leave, the Collector says, "One down, five to go". This scene serves a link between Thor: The Dark World and Guardians of the Galaxy. One important highlight of this scene is Adam Warlock's cocoon, which can be seen when Volstagg and Lady Sif are entering The Collector's vault.

In the comics, the stones were fastened to the Infinity Gauntlet, which is also stored in Odin's vault and was briefly seen in Thor. Thanos gets hold of the Infinity Gauntlet and has fought The Avengers on many occasions. Gamora is also Thanos' adopted daughter, which could have implications to her background as an assassin. It is possible that the film and the Marvel Cinematic Universe could follow this trend. Since this film takes place in outer space, referencing other characters and films was somewhat difficult. Most of the action that's happening in the Marvel Cinematic Universe occurs on Earth, so it seems there won't be any interaction with the Avengers for now. Even though this film has limited references compared to the rest of the films, there are still some that help establish a connection between them. During a scene when the Guardians visit the Collector, a Chitauri mask can be seen, referencing the events that took place in The Avengers. There is also a Dark Elf mask from Thor: The Dark World, which is shown while Carina is cleaning the cage. In the after-credits scene, Adam Warlock's cocoon is seen again, this time in the background, but it is now open, probably due to the explosion after Carina touched the Infinity Stone. Shortly after the film's release, director James Gunn confirmed that Adam Warlock would thenceforth be a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The first trailer uses Blue Swede's cover version of "Hooked on a Feeling". It can be found as Track #1 on the Awesome Mix Vol. 1 soundtrack. The second trailer uses Norman Greenbaum's "Spirit in the Sky" (Track #3 on the Awesome Mix Vol. 1 soundtrack) in addition to "Hooked on a Feeling".

Young Peter at the hospital - "I'm Not in Love" by 10cc (Track #6 on the Awesome Mix Vol. 1 Soundtrack)

Planet Morag dancing and the title sequence - "Come and Get Your Love" by Redbone (Track #8 on the Awesome Mix Vol. 1 Soundtrack)

Leaving Morag with the orb - "Go All the Way" by The Raspberries (Track #2 on the Awesome Mix Vol. 1 Soundtrack)

Kyln Prison impound - "Hooked on a Feeling" by Blue Swede (Track #1 on the Awesome Mix Vol. 1 Soundtrack)

Recovering the walkman from Kyln and escape - "Escape (The Piña Colada Song)" by Rupert Holmes (Track #10 on the Awesome Mix Vol. 1 Soundtrack)

Arrival at Knowhere - "Moonage Daydream" by David Bowie (Track #4 on the Awesome Mix Vol. 1 Soundtrack)

Gamorra and Quill dance - "Fooled Around and Fell in Love" by Elvin Bishop (Track #5 on the Awesome Mix Vol. 1 Soundtrack)

Preparations to take on Ronan - "Cherry Bomb" by The Runaways (Track #9 on the Awesome Mix Vol. 1 Soundtrack)

Peter distracting Ronan on Xandar - "O-o-h Child" by The Five Stairsteps (Track #11 on the Awesome Mix Vol. 1 Soundtrack)

Peter opening gift from mom ("Awesome mix tape vol 2") - "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" by Marvin Gaye (Track #12 on the Awesome Mix Vol. 1 Soundtrack)

End sequence and dancing Baby Groot - "I Want You Back" by Jackson 5 (Track #7 on the Awesome Mix Vol. 1 Soundtrack)

Terminal Brain cancer.

The Infinity Stones (Infinity Gems) are items with reality-altering powers that exceed every other force or power shown so far in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). When all of them are collected in an Infinity Gauntlet, the wielder is given power to destroy complete universes. Up to this point, a Infinity Gauntlet have been revealed, the right-handed one that was briefly shown in Thor (2011) inside Odin's chambers. It's hinted that only extraordinary individuals can survive touching the Stones barehanded, and even in that case, it requires a great willpower to use the power of the Stones without a Gauntlet itself. Although the Stones had not yet been explicitly mentioned in the MCU at this point, several of them had already come by up. In a proper filmmaking point of view, these are the MacGuffin that keeps the entire MCU franchise united. At the end of The Dark World, three of the six Stones have been revealed and located:

• Blue (Space Gem): Hidden inside the Tesseract, it can open portals to between universes. First seen in Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) (2011), where the Red Skull located it in a Norwegian monastery and used its energy to create highly advance weaponry during World War II. It's hinted in Iron Man 2 (2010) (2010) that the original Arc Reactor technology used by Iron Man was designed based on knowledge Howard Stark once he recovered the Tesseract. In The Avengers, Loki and a mind-controlled Erik Selvig use it to open a portal to let the Chitauri army enter the Earth. Also, it's revealed that S.H.I.E.L.D designed new weaponry based on Tesseract technology as a backup in case the Avengers Indicative would fail. After Loki's defeat, Thor took it back to Asgard. It's kept in Odin's chambers and accessible to Loki once again, as well as the aforementioned Infinity Gauntlet, having taken control of Asgard during the events of The Dark World.

• Red (Reality Gem): Hidden inside the Aether, it has the ability to transform matter into dark matter. First seen in The Dark World, thousands of years ago in a war where King Bor of Asgard (father of Odin) defeated Malekith, leader of the dark elves. In modern times, Dr. Jane Foster discovered it once again while studying gravitational disturbances in London, putting her own life in danger. During the events of the Convergence, Malekith briefly took control of it inside his body, rendering him near invincible. After Thor's victory over him, it was handed over to the Collector to avoid having two Infinity Stones together in the same place. The Collector's alliances and ultimate goal were unknown at this point.

• Yellow (Mind Gem): Hidden inside Loki's scepter, it has the ability to control minds as well as create new ones, such as Ultron and the Vision. First seen in The Avengers when it is assumed that Thanos himself or The Other (leader of the Chitauri army) gave it to Loki. With it, Loki stabbed and killed Agent Phil Coulson, causing Iron Man, Black Widow, Thor, Captain America, Haweye and Hulk to unite to avenge him. Natasha Romanoff (Black Widow) used it to close the portal Loki and a mind-controlled Dr. Selvig created it to let the Chitauri army attack New York. S.H.I.E.L.D. took it under custody for study.

• Purple (Power Gem): Hidden inside The Orb. First seen in Guardians of the Galaxy, it has the ability to destroy entire planets at a molecular level. In a distant, unknown past, an old being called Celestial is depicted using it to eradicate life in a planet with a single blow. At some point of this remote past, it was guarded in planet Morag and lost in time until Peter Quill (aka Starlord) seized it from the planet's ruins just minutes before Kree soldiers under the command of Ronan the Accuser retrieve it. Ronan had the intention of wiping out the Nova Prime civilization as a revenge against them for an ancient war. Having each their own separated agendas, scavenger leader Yondu and The Collector (who at this point already has the Reality Gem), want to take control of it. Both Ronan and Starlord are seen surviving while using it barehanded for a short time. Following the failed massacre by Ronan, the Nova Corps, a planetary law enforcing organization, are protecting it.

• Green (Time Stone): Yet to be revealed.

• Orange (Soul Stone): Yet to be revealed.

These remaining two Stones and their respective powers are revealed over the course of MCU's Phase 3—comprised of Captain America: Civil War (2016), Doctor Strange (2016), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017), Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Thor: Ragnarok (2017) and Black Panther (2018), culminating in Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019), with Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018) and Captain Marvel (2019). Doctor Strange expands on the mythology surrounding the Infinity Gauntlet and reveals the Time Stone. Thor revealed that he would return to Asguard to learn more about the Infinity Stones; the backstory of which, the Infinity Stones and their creation may be unveiled in Thor: Ragnarok.