Sakaarans

"Won't there be hundreds of Sakaaran soldiers inside?" "I think of Sakaaran as paper people."

- Kraglin Obfonteri and Drax the Destroyer

The Sakaarans, also known as Sakaarians, are a sentient insectoid race native to the planet Sakaar, which they share with a large number of stranded individuals of many different species. A client race of the Kree, Sakaaran soldiers were commonly placed within Kree military ranks.

History
"Loyal Sakaarians, Lord of Thunder has stolen my ship and my favorite champion. Sakaarians, take to the skies. Bring him down. Do not let him leave this planet."

- Grandmaster

The Sakaarans originate from Sakaar, a world formed by the Grandmaster, infamously known for being a place where individuals from across the galaxy find themselves stranded from their respective homeworlds and are forced to compete in the Contest of Champions. Amongst those stranded there were two Avengers, Bruce Banner and Thor, who were forced to do battle in a gladiatorial match. During their subsequent escape, they incited a massive uprising against the Grandmaster. One Sakaaran, Miek, aided the two.

The Sakaarans are a close associate race to the Kree, and could often be found integrated into Kree society, such as the military. Korath the Pursuer, a close ally of Ronan the Accuser, was known to command a large platoon of Sakaaran mercenaries. When Ronan was ordered by Thanos to find the Orb, Korath and his Sakaarans joined Ronan in his hunt.

Korath and two Sakaarans found the Orb on Morag, just as Star-Lord had obtained it within the Temple Vault. They gave chase as Star-Lord activated his helmet to escape.

The Sakaarans would continue to aid Ronan and Korath until the end, which came during the Battle of Xandar, where all of Korath's Sakaaran allies were killed in the battle.

Characteristic Traits
"Ninja Turtle, you better stop poking me."

- Star-Lord

So far, two varieties of Sakaaran have been seen: a humanoid variant and a more insectoid variant.

Figure-wise, the former group of Sakaarans have human-like postures. However, when viewed up close, Sakaarans are insectoid in appearance, possessing insect-like mandibles and jaws, arthropodal exoskeleton, and four fingers on each hand.

The more insectoid variant of Sakaaran which Miek is a part of more closely resemble large pink grubs with little to no humanoid features. They also appear to lack the ability to vocalize in any coherent language, unlike their humanoid counterparts.

Trivia

 * In the comics, there are two Sakaarans species, the Sakaaran Natives, who are very similar to their movie counterparts; and the Humanoid Sakaarans, who split into two ethnic groups: the red-skinned Sakaaran Imperials and the grey-skinned Shadow People.
 * All the Sakaarans in Guardians of the Galaxy are voiced by James Gunn and his assistant Simon Hatt.

Behind the Scenes

 * Originally, James Gunn wanted to introduce and gave the role of evil minions to the Badoons. However, the cinematic rights to the Badoon were owned by the then-separately owned . Gunn eventually decided to replace them with the Sakaarans.