Avengers Assemble!

[BillyG]

With them locking up the stone it seems Nova will be a big thing in the future?

[BillyG]

So Rooker went to earth to pick him up for his dad, but instead he raised him for 25 years?

[Anderson]

With them locking up the stone it seems Nova will be a big thing in the future?

Well, Rich Ryder was one of the characters that were written out of the drafts of this film. Hell, they were going to show Halfworld (where Rocket is from), but it got cut.

I love what we got, but this is such the tip of the iceberg. Still, knowing the legal battles between Disney and Marvel over Howard the Duck and his depictions, that alone has just floored me.

[Anderson]

So Rooker went to earth to pick him up for his dad, but instead he raised him for 25 years?

Yep.

[BillyG]

Is there a reason all the enemy alien ships (Kree, Dark Elves in Thor) have the same style. Big black concrete monolith looking things...or just repetitive design?

[Captain Russ]

Probably to show how ancient their culture is and how steeped they are in conquering everything, leaving little time for decorative paint and decals.

They really don't look the same. Malekith had SWORDSHIPS. Ronan had the Jenga Tower from Hell.

The one problem I had with the Kree was the lack of their swank-ass green armor. But I can understand if it wouldn't register or might clash with all of the other bright colors present in the film (or if it reminded people of that shitass Lantern film).

[Timothy225]

Dark elves are blue. Kree are blue. Both have huge black monolithic spaceships.

[B_Metal]

Hey guys, haven't seen this yet. Fuck all of you okay? :-D

[Matt]

Got released from the hospital around 5pm and saw this. Very good, not great. It needed for funny rapport scenes and less hyperactive action scenes. Still processing.

[Timothy225]

Most Marvel Studios movies...



Guardians...



Definitely on par with The Avengers in my book. Admittedly some of the dialogue and character exposition needed some work, but Gunn directed the fuck out of this. Every character had a moment to shine to the point where I'd watch the fuck out of a solo movie for any of them. Villains were terrific - watching Karen Gillan's Nebula in action was a hoot, as was Ronan (needed more of Brolin's Thanos, though).

Totally in agreement with Chris Pratt being cut from the same cloth as Kurt Russell/Harrison Ford - dude delivered like a boss in this. Zoe Saldana's Gamora was great (needed more screen time, though), as was Bautista's Drax, which was a nice surprise. Bautista did some really nice work with his character. A little rough around the edges, but some decent chops there.

Cooper's rocket was a pisser - very funny, though he gets some moments to shine on an emotional level as well. Vin Diesel's Groot is gonna give you all the feels, folks. So much so that if Disney ever goes all environmental and shit, Groot is the perfect spokestree. Shit, I want to plant a bunch of Groots around my development right now.

MVP? Michael Rooker. Dude steals every scene he's in. His big scene is fucking brilliant, yo, and I want a Yondu solo film right fucking NOW.

Film is heavy on the action. Spaceship battles, prison fights, epic third act throwdowns... all looked spectacular. Yep, Marvel got this one right and hopefully they've got Gunn under lock and key, because I want more Guardians films ASAP.

[Matt]

OK, finished processing.

The GREAT:
- Chris Pratt/Star Lord: A very engaging frontman with an easy charm. This guy is going places and should be getting a LOT of work off of this film.
- Dave Bautista/Drax: A subtle performance that steals the movie, in my opinion.
- Vin Diesel/Groot: A great vocal performance by Vin. Nice job, and nice job on the animation of Groot himself. Some of his scenes were truly great.
- The Soundtrack: I was afraid going in that this would be a bit too 'on the nose' and SHREK-like. Not the case at all. The songs were used perfectly (best use: 'Fooled Around and Fell In Love'). Clever as hell.
- The special effects: Very solid. The spaceships all looked pretty great, and the battles were engaging. The CGI characters were all rendered pretty well.
- The humor: There's some damned funny stuff in here, especially (and unexpectedly) from Drax. The dance-off at the end brought down the house.

The OK:
- Zoe Saldana/Gamora: She looked great and had some good moments, but she was waaaaaaaay underwritten and underused. She needed more screentime.
- Bradley Cooper/Rocket: YELL YELL YELL SCREAM every line. It got grating. He was fun to watch, but the constant screaming of every line got fucking annoying. He had some funny moments (especially towards the end), but I didn't like him as much as I thought I would. He looked great, though.
- Nebula: Looked great, underwritten.
- Ronan: Looked great, underwritten. Malekith 2.0
- Yondu: Again, yelled his lines too much. Was engaging and had some great scenes, though. Underwritten.
- Glenn Close/John C. Reilly: Did fine for their 4 hours of work.
- Benicio Del Toro/The Collector: Eh.
- The Action: Too much of it. The movie absolutely flies when it's relying on character interaction, but it got a tad too bogged down in nearly constant action.

Also, there was a bunch of stuff in the trailers that apparently didn't make the final cut of the film. That annoys me, dammit.

It's very, very good and I had a good time, but I'm just not feeling the OMG IT'S AWESOME afterglow that I was expecting.

[B_Metal]

Maybe that's your meds talking man? :-D

[Anderson]

OK, finished processing.

The OK:
- Zoe Saldana/Gamora: She looked great and had some good moments, but she was waaaaaaaay underwritten and underused. She needed more screentime.
- Bradley Cooper/Rocket: YELL YELL YELL SCREAM every line. It got grating. He was fun to watch, but the constant screaming of every line got fucking annoying. He had some funny moments (especially towards the end), but I didn't like him as much as I thought I would. He looked great, though.
- Nebula: Looked great, underwritten.
- Ronan: Looked great, underwritten. Malekith 2.0
- Yondu: Again, yelled his lines too much. Was engaging and had some great scenes, though. Underwritten.
- Glenn Close/John C. Reilly: Did fine for their 4 hours of work.
- Benicio Del Toro/The Collector: Eh.
- The Action: Too much of it. The movie absolutely flies when it's relying on character interaction, but it got a tad too bogged down in nearly constant action.

Also, there was a bunch of stuff in the trailers that apparently didn't make the final cut of the film. That annoys me, dammit.

It's very, very good and I had a good time, but I'm just not feeling the OMG IT'S AWESOME afterglow that I was expecting.

Gamora has never been a well developed character, outside of being Thanos's daughter.

That's Rocket Raccoon for the most part. There's some character development when you see how he was created, but that's it.

Nebula - claim to fame being Thanos' granddaughter, getting fucked up by Thanos, turned into a cyborg and then being used as cannon fodder.

Ronan - the good stuff applications belong to FOX, what Marvel could use is what you saw.

Yondu - Altered from the comics, but works for what he needs to do.

Xandar/Nova Corps - Apparently was cut to shit in the scripting phase to help out other aspects of the movie.

The Collector - More stuff was shot, but edited out. Del Toro is supposed to have 4-6 movie deal, he'll be back. Serial entertainment and all that jazz.

[Anderson]

That being said, the usual outlets are now starting speculation on who Star Lord's father might be and I'll throw my hat in the ring. I'd do a write-up for AV, but I'm all comic'd out after setting up the next round of X-stuff.

  Spoiler: GOTG 2 parentage 

Faraci thinks it's Starfox and it's a pretty solid guess based on what's out there. I'd believe it, but there's just a twinge of doubt that keeps me from being 100%.

Those that follow Marvel history and know the uses of The Collector realize that he peaked during a very specific time in comic history that Whedon and Company love to mine for story material. Specifically, the late 70s through early 80s.

What else happened during that time? The Korvac Saga.

Michael Korvac was a victim of the Badoon in 3007. They experimented on the guy and turned him into a cyborg. Desperately looking for aid, he turned to the Elders of the Universe. They sent him back in time as a pawn to use against Dr. Strange, the Defenders, Thor and the Guardians of the Galaxy.

Over the fights, Korvac uses his cybernetics and natural abilities to begin siphoning off the cosmic powers of the Elders. Eventually, he has enough power to will himself back to the 20th Century under his own steam.

He finds Galactus's space station and tries to download all of the knowledge that the Purple Planet Eater has stored on heroes in this era. Unfortunately, the plan backfires and Korvac absorbs enough residual energy to become a cosmic powered Demi God.

The Guardians are hot on his trail and team up with the Avengers to stop him. Starhawk (a Guardian that I hope we see in some form) finds Korvac first, but Korvac uses his powers to defeat Starhawk and remove his ability to detect Korvac.

The Collector watches and is impressed by what he sees. To ensnare Korvac, Korvac remakes his daughter Carina (she's in the Guardians film kept as a slave who blows up upon touching Infinity Gem). The Collector offers up daughter snatch to entice Korvac. Korvac takes Carina and uses her to begin all sorts of weird cosmic family life shenanigans.

The Avengers show up and screw up the plans. Korvac learns what the Collector tried to do and vaporizes him. The Collector would stay dead for another 11 years.

The Guardians, Ms. Marvel and The Avengers track down the Korvacs to their hiding place in Queens. Where Korvac freaks out and murders everyone, but Dr. Donald Blake. They're eventually resurrected by Korvac, as he kills himself after realizing that no one is going to let him be a cosmic powered demi-god doing what he wants.

Now, after all of that...here's how I think it works into the MCU.

I feel that we're going to see a lot more alien races in GOTG 2, specifically someone like the Badoon. We'll get a flashback much like GOTG had in its opening, where we meet Star Lord's dad for the first time. I feel it will be a Michael Korvac in the present day, who is being tortured by the Badoon.

Tying it into the comic origins of the Spartax shit, he might be of some high position of importance. Through outside meddling, he ends up with an Infinity Gem that he abuses its powers. Something about his alien constitution gives him the ability to wield it for long periods without any ill effect.

He destroys the stand-in race for the Badoon, frees prisoners and then escapes for the last place in the Universe (Earth) that people would find him. Korvac meets Meredith Quill, falls in love, but has to flee. He leaves her with the Element Guns to give to Peter and disappears.

10 years later, he finds out about Meredith's pending death and hires some Ravagers to fetch his son. Yondu is a bit freaked out by the guy due to the last decade of working for a man who's done some fucked up shit. Cue how Yondu's head fin became a head stub in the movie.

Yondu and the Ravagers take the kid and then become nomads hiding out on the edges of existence. Korvac and Thanos battle it out and we see in flashback, Thanos getting his first Infinity Gem.

Cut to present, where GOTG 2 could be about Thanos using his gem to hunt down the others. The gems speak to each other and they wanted be united in the Gauntlet. Throw in Korvac, Novas actually acting like Novas, destruction of Xandar, the Worldmind, the Infinity Gems actually being combined and even Starfox.

Fuck, I'd like to see Ego up in this bitch.

[Timothy225]

Sound theory, Troy. Though I wouldn't mind if they went with the old Marvel Premiere stories (#11 was the first appearance of Star Lord's father, written by Chris Claremont and drawn by John Byrne), I'd definitely check out a flick based on what you're cooking.