Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
Be honest - prior to 2014, could you tell me who Starlord was? Maybe Groot or Rocket, though I doubt it. Definitely not Drax or Gamora. When people talk about the gambles that it took to make the Marvel Cinematic Universe what it is today, one of the biggest amongst those gambles is the decision to make a movie about a group of heroes whose time in the spotlight damn near didn’t exist, and whose setting was far removed from the down-to-earth approach that the movies had taken up until this point.
Guardians of the Galaxy stars Chris Pratt, Bradley Cooper, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, and, believe it or not, Vin Diesel, as the titular group of dysfunctional space heroes. This is the story of their coming together, at first for selfish gain, but by the end, for a cause much bigger than themselves. What starts as a fun crime thriller of sorts evolves into an epic battle against Kree warlord Ronan the Accuser, all over the first Infinity Stone, or at least, the first one that the characters know is an Infinity Stone.
Going from mostly terrestrial fare (even Thor’s movies spent a lot of time on Earth or Asgard) to a straight-up space opera comedy is only half of the gamble that Feige and co. took with Guardians. The other half is whether or not they could even sell the concept to audiences AT ALL. A talking raccoon? A tree?! How does one relate to such things? The answer is, “You can if they hire James Gunn.”
Rocket is, in many ways, the heart of this movie. That’s no mean feat, especially since he’s, well, a raccoon. It’s one thing to relate to Thor, who’s technically not human, but still very humanoid. Rocket is a sentient, wisecracking RACCOON. Where’s the connection point there? By the end, though, you realize that Rocket is easily the most human of the cast, a bundle of character flaws that’s trying its damnedest to feel something other than contempt for the world that created it, and doing so with such sass, belligerence, and violence as it possibly can. Rocket is the human condition, and the form he takes does nothing to lessen the impact of his character growth.
Groot, meanwhile, doesn’t sell a human story, but rather an emotional one. Groot, despite saying a grand total of 5 words in the entire film, is the emotional core of the group. You learn so much about his character, and he’s the final glue that holds the team together. He feels the strongest about any given even in the story, and you can tell just by looking at him what he’s thinking at any given moment. He implores his buddy Rocket to find compassion. He actively empathizes with the downtrodden. He is a visual metaphor of emotions that is unburdened with dialogue, and it makes the events and drama all the more effective.
Besides those two, we still have fantastic characters, whose journey from criminal with little to no qualms to selfless heroes is not only fun to watch, but believable, too. Starlord/Peter Quill is a human who was snatched from Earth at a young age, who was raised by a band of outlaws, and who is really just out here trying to make a living, law be damned. Gamora is a warrior of Thanos, and his adopted daughter to boot. She doesn’t even bat an eye at the prospect of killing to get to what she needs, even if what she needs is to get one over on her genocidal father. Drax is a broken warrior whose planet was decimated by Thanos, his wife and daughter included, and who will stop at nothing to have his revenge for their deaths.
These characters only come together through circumstance, and don’t even like to be put together for much of the movie. Even when it’s better for them to operate as a unit, they do so through gritted teeth and many biting remarks. It’s in that tumultuous fire that their bonds of friendship are forged, with all of the fun, clichéd trappings that go along with that line. The comedy of these disparate, dissonant personalities clashing, even when they’re on the same page, is what really sells this concept and makes it one of the most beloved MCU institutions ever.
It’s truly something to behold, honestly. On paper, this idea was one that couldn’t possibly succeed. Comics fans probably knew the Guardians of the Galaxy, sure, but the odds that even THEY had actually read their runs were not great, and the MCU prided itself in its appeal to more than just the hardcore crowd. Going with virtual unknowns, and even tying them to the most important aspect of your overarching canon, was a recipe for disaster, and it probably shouldn’t have worked. Nothing about it makes sense.
Yet, whether it be through the viewer goodwill that Marvel had fostered by this point, the monumental talent on display, or just pure pluck alone, Guardians of the Galaxy went from a name barely even mentioned in comic shops to one of the most beloved household names in pop culture history, and it’s all thanks to a movie about an Earthling space outlaw, a green killer gal, an unkillable dude with impulse issues, an angry kleptomaniac raccoon, and a talking tree.
They’re not just some ragtag bunch of idiots - they’re the Guardians of the Galaxy, bitch.
