Guardians of the Galaxy (film)

"You are mortals! How...?" "You said it yourself, bitch! We're the Guardians of the Galaxy!"

- Ronan the Accuser and Star-Lord

Guardians of the Galaxy is a superhero film made by Marvel Studios and is the tenth main installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the fourth in Phase Two.

The original concept for the Guardians of the Galaxy, which dates back to 1969, focused on a team of superhumans and extraterrestrials dedicated to the safeguarding of the Milky Way Galaxy. However, studio chief Kevin Feige said that the new film would focus on the more recent 2008 version of the team, rather than the original. The film stars Chris Pratt as Star-Lord, Zoe Saldana as Gamora, Dave Bautista as Drax the Destroyer, Bradley Cooper as the voice of Rocket Raccoon, and Vin Diesel as the voice of Groot.

The film was released on August 1, 2014. The sequel is set for release on May 5, 2017.

Synopsis
Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy expands the Marvel Cinematic Universe into the cosmos, where brash adventurer Peter Quill finds himself the object of an unrelenting bounty hunt after stealing a mysterious orb coveted by Ronan, a powerful villain with ambitions that threaten the entire universe. To evade the ever-persistent Ronan, Quill is forced into an uneasy truce with a quartet of disparate misfits — Rocket, a gun-toting raccoon; Groot, a tree-like humanoid; the deadly and enigmatic Gamora; and the revenge-driven Drax the Destroyer. But when Peter discovers the true power of the orb and the menace it poses to the cosmos, he must do his best to rally his ragtag rivals for a last, desperate stand — with the galaxy’s fate in the balance.

Plot
In 1988 Missouri, a young boy named Peter Quill stands by his mother, Meredith, as she lays dying in a hospital bed. Close to death and delirious, Meredith laments on Peter's father, whom the boy has never met, describing him as an "angel". When Meredith finally passes on, a distraught Peter flees from the hospital. After distancing himself from the building, he enters a field where a spaceship suddenly appears, the occupants of which bring Peter aboard and depart into space.

26 years later, Quill is now an adult and a member of the Ravagers, a group of intergalactic pirates led by the Centaurian Yondu Udonta. The Ravagers are hired by a Xandarian merchant called the Broker to recover a mysterious orb-like artifact from the planet Morag. Quill, who has grown bitter towards the Ravagers for abducting him and ruining his childhood, travels to Morag alone and steals the Orb for himself, only to be intercepted by Korath the Pursuer, a Kree warrior serving the fanatical Kree admiral, Ronan the Accuser. For the past several years, Ronan, despite a delicate peace treaty between his people and the Xandarians, has been systematically invading Xandarian controlled and allied worlds, killing hundreds of thousands in a mad quest for Kree purity. The Xandarians have tried to plea their case to the Kree hierarchy, but the Kree refuse to get involved.

Although Quill escapes with the artifact, Yondu discovers he has stolen the Ravager's prize, and issues a bounty for his capture. Meanwhile, Ronan is revealed to be searching for the Orb as part of a deal with the galactic lord Thanos in exchange for the annihilation of Xandar. To aid in the hunt, Thanos has lent Ronan his two daughters, Gamora and Nebula. By tracking the Ravagers' brokers and past dealings, the villains learn of Yondu's deal with the Broker and send Gamora to Xandar to intercept Quill. On Xandar, Quill attempts to sell the Orb to the Broker, but upon learning that Korath was working for Ronan, the Broker refuses to become involved with the Orb and turns Quill away. Suddenly, Quill is ambushed by Gamora, who takes the Orb and flees into the streets. A fight ensues, drawing in two bounty hunters, the genetically-engineered raccoon Rocket, and the humanoid tree Groot, who both seek to collect Yondu's bounty. The Nova Corps, Xandar's prime military force, arrive and arrest the group, imprisoning them in the Kyln.

On the Kyln, the other prisoners, aware of Gamora's relationship with Thanos and Ronan, threaten her life. One of the more powerful inmates, Drax, attempts to kill Gamora for the murder of his wife and daughter by Ronan, but Quill convinces him that he can get to Ronan through Gamora. Gamora reveals that she intended to betray Ronan and keep the Orb, having grown weary of Ronan's methodology, deeming him insane and a risk to galactic stability. Learning that Gamora has a buyer who is willing to pay a very hefty fee for the artifact, Rocket, Quill, Groot and Gamora work together to escape the Kyln. Learning of Gamora's betrayal, a furious Ronan meets with Thanos in person and angrily berates him for not taking Gamora's betrayal seriously. When the Other, Thanos' vizier, scolds Ronan for disrespecting the warlord, Ronan angrily breaks the Other's neck, killing him and forcing Thanos to speak to Ronan directly. Undaunted by Ronan's complaints, Thanos waves the Kree away, and while Gamora's betrayal is an issue, Thanos entrusts both Ronan and Nebula with fixing that problem. As Ronan departs, Thanos grimly warns him that if he returns empty handed again, he will "bathe the starways" in his blood.

Quill and his allies, accompanied by Drax, manage to escape the Kyln, where they distract the guards by disabling the station's artificial gravity. They flee in Quill's ship, the Milano, and travel to Knowhere, a remote outpost built in the giant severed-head of a Celestial. While waiting for Gamora's contact to meet with them, the fugitives spend time in the local casino and bar, Boot of Jemiah. Drax and Rocket, both heavily intoxicated, get into a fight after Drax insults Rocket's appearance, after which a morose Rocket laments on his creation and the pain he was forced to endure. While Drax furiously leaves the proceedings, the rest of the group are summoned by Carina to meet with Gamora's contact, Taneleer Tivan. Arriving at Tivan's collection, the group hand the Orb over to Tivan, who opens up the artifact to reveal an Infinity Stone, an item of immeasurable power that destroys all but the most powerful beings who wield it. Tivan explains that ithe stones were the remnants of six singularities that predate the universe, their power compacted into six "stones", and that their power was too great for all but the most powerful beings to wield; all others are inevitably destroyed.

Tivan prepares the give the outlaws their payment, but Carina, seeing this as a chance to free herself from servitude under Tivan, suddenly grabs the stone and taps into its power. A massive energy pulse is fired from the Orb, killing Carina and blowing up much of Tivan's collection. Quill, Gamora, Rocket, and Groot barely escape with their lives. Gamora, finally understanding the full extent of the danger the Orb holds, attempts to convince the others to hand it over to the Nova Corps for protection, when Ronan and his forces suddenly arrive, having been summoned by a drunken Drax. While Drax battles Ronan, the others attempt to escape by ship and are pursued by Ronan's Sakaaran minions, led by Nebula. Ronan easily defeats Drax, while Nebula destroys Gamora's ship, leaving her floating in space. Nebula takes the Orb and Ronan's forces depart. Despite Rocket's insistence that they flee, Quill finds himself unwilling to leave Gamora and summons Yondu before following her into space, giving her his helmet to survive; Yondu arrives and collects the pair before they succumb to the exposure.

Quill manages to negotiate a truce with the Ravagers after convincing Yondu that they can recover the Orb from Ronan and sell it. Groot convinces Rocket and Drax to rescue Quill and Gamora, and the three attempt an attack on Yondu's ship to recover their friends. Reunited, the group agrees that facing Ronan means certain death, but that they must stop him from using the Infinity Stone to lay waste to the galaxy. On Ronan's ship, the Dark Aster, Ronan contacts Thanos, who demands that the Kree deliver the Orb to him as promised. However, Ronan embeds the gem in his hammer, taking its power for himself, promising that after the destruction of Xandar, he will come for Thanos; hateful of her adopted father for all the suffering he wrought upon her throughout her life, Nebula agrees to aid Ronan. Quill sends a message to Rhomann Dey, a Nova Corps officer who had arrested Quill a couple times in the past, warning him of Ronan's attack.

Allying with a Nova Corps fleet, Quill's group and the Ravagers arrive at Xandar, confronting the Dark Aster. While Rocket assists the Nova Corps fleet, the rest of Quill's team breach the Aster and move towards Ronan. Gamora battles Nebula while Quill, Drax, and Groot battle and kill Korath and the Sakaaran soldiers. Defeating Nebula, Gamora tries to convince her sister to abandon Ronan and join her in freedom; deeming Gamora's new choice as insane, Nebula refuses her sister's offer and flees from the battle in a hijacked Ravager ship. Ronan uses his new power to destroy the Nova Corps fleet, including Denarian Garthan Saal, and easily overmatches Quill's team. Before he can kill them, Rocket flies his ship into the Aster and into Ronan, seemingly killing him. The extensive damage causes the Dark Aster to crash land on Xandar, with Groot apparently fatally sacrificing himself to shield the group. Quill's team survives the crash, but their relief is short-lived when Ronan, unscathed by the crash, emerges from the wreck and prepares to destroy Xandar. Quill suddenly starts dancing, distracting Ronan long enough for Drax to destroy the Kree's hammer with Rocket's Hadron Enforcer. The Infintiy Stone flies from the hammer, and Quill grabs it, but its power begins to destroy him until he joins hands with Gamora, Drax, and Rocket, who share its burden. The four then direct the stone's power towards Ronan, utterly destroying him. Gamora immediately places the stone in a new orb, and Quill gives it to Yondu as part of their deal, although Quill warns that he should not open it, since Yondu had seen what it was capable of doing. Yondu and the Ravagers then leave Xandar, commenting that they made a wise choice in not delivering Quill to his father like they had been hired to do all those years ago. Once they have left, Quill reveals that he had switched the containers- Yondu later opens the orb to find one of Quill's troll dolls. In the aftermath, Quill's group, now calling themselves the "Guardians of the Galaxy" after a mockery by Ronan, are praised by the Nova-Prime, Irani Rael, who expunges their criminal histories. She also reveals to Quill that, based on medical reports, they have deciphered that he is only half-human, and that his father belongs to an ancient alien race that they have not yet encountered. The Guardians then leave Xandar in the Milano, which was repaired by the Nova Corps, and venture out into the galaxy in search of adventure, accompanied by a recovered twig from Groot, which is already beginning to regrow.

Meanwhile, Tivan sits in his destroyed archive, where he is licked by Cosmo, and mocked by one of his collections: Howard the Duck.

Cast

 * Chris Pratt as Peter Quill/Star-Lord
 * Zoe Saldana as Gamora
 * Dave Bautista as Drax the Destroyer
 * Vin Diesel as Groot
 * Bradley Cooper as Rocket Raccoon (voice)
 * Lee Pace as Ronan the Accuser
 * Michael Rooker as Yondu Udonta
 * Karen Gillan as Nebula
 * Djimon Hounsou as Korath the Pursuer
 * John C. Reilly as Corpsman Rhomann Dey
 * Glenn Close as Commander Irani Rael
 * Benicio del Toro as Taneleer Tivan/The Collector
 * Laura Haddock as Meredith Quill
 * Sean Gunn as Kraglin Obfonteri/Rocket Raccoon (motion capture) /Thanos (motion capture)
 * Peter Serafinowicz as Denarian Garthan Saal
 * Christopher Fairbank as the Broker
 * Krystian Godlewski as On Set Groot
 * Wyatt Oleff as a young Peter Quill
 * Gregg Henry as Peter Quill's Grandfather
 * Robert Firth as Dr. Fitzgibbon
 * Melia Kreiling as Bereet
 * Tom Proctor as Horuz
 * Stan Lee as a Xandarian Ladies’ Man (cameo)
 * Tomas Arana as Kree Ambassador
 * Alexis Rodney as Moloka Dar
 * Nathan Fillion as a Monstrous Inmate (voice)
 * Alexis Denisof as The Other
 * Ophelia Lovibond as Carina
 * Fred the Dog as Cosmo
 * James Gunn as a Maskless Sakaaran (cameo)
 * Rachel Cullen as Corpsman Rhomann Dey's Wife
 * Isabella Poynton as Corpsman Rhomann Dey's Daughter
 * Imogen Poynton as Corpsman Rhomann Dey's Daughter
 * Seth Green as Howard the Duck (uncredited)
 * Josh Brolin as Thanos (uncredited)

Locations

 * Missouri‏‎
 * Morag
 * Temple Vault
 * Xandar
 * Nova Corps Headquarters
 * Broker's Shop
 * Kyln
 * Sanctuary
 * Knowhere
 * Collector's Museum
 * Boot of Jemiah
 * Tivan Dispatch Center
 * X (mentioned)
 * Halfworld, Keystone Quadrant (mentioned)

Events

 * Kidnapping of Peter Quill
 * Quest for the Orb
 * Battle of Morag
 * Attack on Peter Quill
 * Escape from the Kyln
 * Skirmish on Knowhere
 * Battle of Xandar

Items

 * Infinity Stones
 * Orb
 * Power Stone
 * Tesseract (hologram only)
 * Space Stone
 * Aether (hologram only)
 * Reality Stone
 * Scepter (hologram only)
 * Mind Stone
 * Star-Lord's Helmet
 * Quad Blasters
 * Plasma Sphere
 * Holographic Map
 * Gravity Mine
 * Yondu's Fin
 * Godslayer
 * Drax the Destroyer's Knives
 * Hadron Enforcer
 * Laser Cannon
 * Universal Weapon
 * Necroblaster
 * Yaka Arrow
 * Yaka
 * Cocoon
 * Chitauri Helmet
 * Zodiac Key
 * Chitauri Helmet
 * Zodiac Key

Vehicles

 * M-ships
 * Milano
 * Warbird
 * Star Blaster
 * Necrocraft
 * Dark Aster
 * Eclector
 * Ravager Construction

Sentient Species

 * A'askavariians (mentioned)
 * Celestials
 * Centaurians
 * Chitauri
 * Dark Elves
 * Flora colossus
 * Frost Giants
 * Gramosians (mentioned)
 * Guna (mentioned)
 * Humans
 * Korbinites
 * Kree
 * Krylorians
 * Luphomoids
 * Rainers
 * Rajaks (mentioned)
 * Sakaarans
 * Xandarians
 * Zehoberei

Creatures

 * Orloni
 * Cotati (mentioned)
 * F'saki
 * Dogs
 * Slugs

Organizations

 * Nova Empire
 * Nova Corps
 * Guardians of the Galaxy
 * Ravagers
 * Kree Empire
 * Exolon Monks
 * Tivan Group
 * Cosmic Beings
 * NASA (logo)

Mentioned

 * Peter Quill's Father
 * Kree Emperor
 * Hovat
 * Kamaria
 * Lylla
 * Tibius Lark
 * Entropy
 * Eternity
 * Infinity
 * Death

Production
In June 2012, numerous sources claimed that Marvel Studios' mystery 2014 project was Guardians of the Galaxy and that a script had already been written by Nicole Perlman. Filming began around July 6, 2013 under the working title of "Full Tilt", with pre-shoots starting on June 24, 2013.

Filming
Filming began around July 6, 2013 under the working title of "Full Tilt", with pre-shoots starting on June 24, 2013. On August 11, 2013, filming began at London's Millennium Bridge. On October 12, 2013, Gunn tweeted that filming had completed.

Music

 * Guardians of the Galaxy – Songs from the Motion Picture Original Score
 * Guardians of the Galaxy: Awesome Mix Vol. 1
 * Pilot (deleted scene)