Marvel Mondays: Guardians of the Galaxy: Volumes 1 and 2

Hello again, and welcome back to Marvel Mondays! We're another week closer to Infinity War and that means it's time to break down two more movies. When I was brainstorming this series, I was tasked with combining two movies into most posts; however, I found it to be rather hard to pick two movies then went side by side well together. Thankfully, James Gunn directed Guardians of the Galaxy and was thinking of people like me when he directed Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2. Although it came out 3 years after the original, the story literally picks up right where the original left off, which is great for this series! So, I'm sure you can guess by now, but today I'm going to be talking about Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 1 and Volume 2.

Before we get started, here's the schedule for upcoming posts:
April 2nd- Avengers: Age of Ultron (exception 1; I'll explain why in the post)
April 9th- Dr. Strange and Thor: Ragnarok
April 16th- Captain America: Civil War (exception 2; I'll also explain why in the post)
April 23rd- Spider Man: Homecoming and Black Panther
April 30th- Infinity War Preview, Predictions, and MCU Review
May 7th- Avengers: Infinity War

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Guardians of the Galaxy is the 10th film in the MCU, and is classified under Phase 2. Similar to Ant Man, it is another origin story in Phase 2, but it's hard to think of it in that sense because it does give a very Avengers vibe off. The Guardians of the Galaxy consists of Peter Quill, or Star Lord, (played by Chris Pratt), Rocket Raccoon (voiced by Bradley Cooper, acted by Sean Gunn), Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel), Drax the Destroyer (played by Dave Bautista), and Gamora (played by Zoe Saldana). The fact that we're being introduced to that many characters, along with characters like Yondu, Ronan, and Nebula, it's easy to see why this film is as big of a hit as it is. It's an origin story so it introduces us to who the Guardians are, but it also does a great job of staying in tact with the way the MCU was forming by giving us a story revolving around another Infinity Stone: the Power Stone. The Stone is actually how the Guardians come together, and how they realize they all need each other. It's extremely important to the MCU in the fact that we're introduced to the Guardians, a new Infinity Stone, the Collector, and this is Thanos' biggest role to date. Released August 1st, 2014, the film was a box office hit bringing in a hefty $773 million during it's theatrical run, making it the 4th highest grossing film of 2014. The film was such a big hit that Gunn got the green light to make not just Guardians Volume 2, but also a Volume 3 as well.

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Development on this film was actually a lot different than the majority of the films that I've covered in the sense that it went really smooth. Marvel CEO Kevin Feige announced plans for a Guardians of the Galaxy film in 2010 and announced two years later that it was in active development. Later that year, James Gunn entered talks to direct the film, and within 4 months of the announcement, Gunn announced that Chris Pratt would be playing Peter Quill, aka: Star Lord. Other actors considered for the role include Eddie Redmayne, Lee Pace, Zachary Levi, Joseph Gordon Levitt, and Michael Rosenbaum; however, when Gunn's assistant scheduled a meeting between Gunn and Pratt, the director knew he had his main character. Later in 2012, former WWE wrestler Dave Bautista confirmed he would be playing Drax the Destroyer, while in 2013 Avatar star Zoe Saldana announced she would be green instead of blue and being playing Gamora. Shortly after Saldana was cast, Michael Rooker announced he would be joining the film playing the anti-hero, Yondu. Also around this time, Lee Pace (who originally auditioned for Star Lord) announced he wold be playing the villain Ronan the Accuser; also joining the film would John C Reilley and Karen Gillian announce she would be playing the lead female villain. Filming began on August 11th, 2013, and on October 12th, 2013, Gunn announced filming was completed. The last person cast was Josh Brolin as Thanos, who was different than the Thanos that appeared in Avengers.

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Now, let's get into some easter eggs, and boy are there some easter eggs here! In the Collector's Menagerie, there are boatloads of little nods including Dark Elves from Thor: The Dark World and some Chitauri from The Avengers. We even get a glimpse at the Marvel icon, Howard the Duck! Another nice little nod is when Quill says he has a plan, when asked what percentage of a plan he has, his response is 12%. Go back to The Avengers and you'll see Tony taking credit for the Avengers Tower; when Pepper says she deserves some credit, Tony gives her 12%, and she responds later on saying they were having 12% of a moment. The biggest easter egg comes in The Collector's scene with the Guardians when he tells them about the Infinity Stones. Obviously this would be huge going forward in the MCU as pretty much every movie from here on out featured a stone and culminates the entire MCU with Infinity War and Thanos' search for all the stones. Speaking of Thanos, it can be assumed that the scene with the character clapping and destroying a planet, can actually be Thanos' home planet of Titan, but I'm sure that will come out in Infinity War.

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The post credit scene from Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 1 really isn't that important. The first post credit is with Baby Groot and Drax. It shows Baby Groot dancing, but whenever Drax turns he freezes. I think of this as basically a scene to let anyone who was distraught about Groot's sacrifice that his legacy is living on with Baby Groot. The 2nd post credit shows The Collector in the ruins of his museum as Cosmo the dog comes up and licks his face, which results in Howard the Duck saying how that's gross. This is pretty much just for the comic book fans because there are no tie ins to the MCU here whatsoever.

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Following the release of Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 1, Marvel announced there would be a sequel with James Gunn returning to direct the film. Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 2 released on May 5th, 2017 and brought in a huge $863 million during it's box office run. Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 dives deeper into the story of Peter Quill and his father and re-unites the two, only for Quill to find out his father is trying to destroy the world. He, along with the other Guardians, must stop Ego the Living Planet from destroying the galaxy. While we aren't introduced to any new Infinity Stones, Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 is still very important to the MCU as we get the addition of a new Guardian in Mantis, but we also see some serious character growth within the current Guardians as well. It's also important going towards Infinity War because we see that bond between Gamora and Nebula, who are both adoptive daughters of Thanos, and could deliver some emotional blows to the Mad Titan. Although Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 1 takes place in Phase Two, Marvel has classified Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 under Phase 3. Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 will take place under the Phase 4 umbrella and is set for a 2020 release date.

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The production for Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 was really smooth, which in turn means there isn't much to talk about here! With the entire cast and crew returning to do the sequel, it made the production of the film seem just like the first one. James Gunn knew he would have to cast new characters for this film, so he began talks with Matthew McConaughey to play the new villain, Ego. However, McConaughey turned the role down to work on Dark Tower, so Gunn proceeded to enter talks with Kurt Russell to play the villain. Before long, it was confirmed that Russell would play Ego, while Pom Klementieff would join the cast to be the next Guardian, Mantis. Also joining the film would be Sylvester Stallone as he would be playing someone that would play a role in Michael Rooker's Yondu character development. Filming began on February 17, 2016 and wrapped up on June 16, 2016, which tells me that when James Gunn directs a movie, he pumps it out quick!

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Let's talk easter eggs! And since this is a James Gunn film, there's plenty of quirky, odd callbacks to other films in Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2! Early on the film, we get another appearance by Howard the Duck as we can be seen with the Ravagers partying on their ship. There's some pretty big celebrity cameos as well with Rob Zmbie, Jimmy Urine, and Steve Agee making appearances as part of The Ravagers clan. David Hasselhoff can be seen as Ego transforms himself into Hasselhoff during the movie. During the credits while the characters can be seen dancing, we get a nice image of The Grandmaster from Thor: Ragnarok showing off his moves (he's in the red circle below Star Lord on the picture above). In the scene where Ego's blob appears on Earth and begins swallowing things whole (RIP Dairy Queen), we see Grandpa Quill able to drive away from it; but did you notice the two people taking pictures of the blob before they were engulfed? That was none other than James and Sean Gunn's parents!

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Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 features SEVEN post credit scenes in total. Now, I'm only going to talk about the ones that are actually important to the MCU as the majority of the post credits are just funny tid bits. The first big post credit involves Sylvester Stallone. After Yondu's sacrifice (I'm Mary Poppins, y'all!), we see Stallone's character walking in a warehouse looking place and he begins to talk to 5 other people. These are actually the original Guardians of the Galaxy consisting of Stallone's Starhawk, Aleta Ogord, Charlie-27, Mainframe (who's played by Miley Cyrus), Martinex (who's played by Michael Rosenbaum), and Krugarr. It's also pretty safe to assume this won't be the last time we see these characters on the big screen, whether it be in the new Avengers movies or in Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3. The next post credit scene I'm going to talk about involved Ayesha the Celestial. After the Guardians escape her and the other Celestials, we see her after the movie talking with another Celestial and she appears to be looking at a cocoon shaped object. When asked what this is, Ayesha tells the Celestial "someone more capable of destroying the Guardians of the Galaxy." She also says his name will be called Adam. Comic book fans know she's referring to Adam Warlock, the character who defeats Thanos in the comic books, but Marvel CEO Kevin Feige has stated Adam Warlock will not be in Avengers: Infinity War. I believe we won't see him until Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 or Avengers 4.

The Wrap

All in all, these are two of everyone's favorite MCU movies...besides mine. While I do like them, I'm not head over heels infatuated with them like a lot of other fans, but I can understand the love for the Guardians. They're a funnier, cosmic version of the Avengers and their movies tend to be a lot more centered on comedy and great visual effects, while the Avengers movies build more on a storyline and crazy action scenes. That's not to say there's no action in Guardians of the Galaxy though, that opening scene of Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 is one of my favorite MCU scenes to date. I also think one issue is that there are so many amazing films in the MCU, and to me, Guardians is just right outside the amazing line. That being said, I rank Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 1 at 13 which is probably a little low for other people's rankings, let's not forget I have all the Iron Man films very high because of my love for RDJ. I also have Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 a lot low coming in at number 15. If I'm being honest, I moved Winter Soldier up higher and that resulted in both Guardians films falling a spot, and Black Panther releasing knocked them both down one more spot. Either way, they're still good films that you should watch, especially before Infinity War.


Kevin Scott is a contributing writer for The Mouse Knows Best Podcast. He is self proclaimed Disney addict and oftentimes annoys his family with how much he talks Disney. He enjoys walking around all Disney Parks and taking as many pictures as he can in one day. When he isn't at Walt Disney World, he is working to get back or re-watching Disney, Marvel, and Star Wars movie. His spirit animal is a mix between Simba and Kylo Ren with a dash of Tony Stark. You can find him on Twitter @doubleoh_kevin and on Instagram @waltdisneyduo.