Growing up in the Silver Age of Marvel comics, I strongly preferred the adventures of Spider-Man, Hulk, and Daredevil to those of Superman, Batman, and Green Lantern… because the latter group had zero feels. The DC characters rarely turned inward on themselves, except to occasionally express some vague apprehension over lackluster romances or having their secret identities exposed. Meanwhile—regardless of their extraordinary abilities—the Marvel characters seemed to be just as insecure, doubtful, and in search of themselves as 12-year-old me. A connection was established between comic and reader—and while today’s cinematic offerings from Marvel Studios are generally more action-oriented than emotionally based, the Guardians of the Galaxy movies are solidly in their feels.
The first Guardians was an origin tale, featuring five emotionally broken characters: Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), an Earth kid kidnapped from his dying mother by space pirates who later grows up to give himself the ostentatious name “Star-Lord”; Gamora (Zoe Saldana), a green-skinned warrior princess who rebels against her adopted intergalactic dictator dad; Drax (Dave Bautista) a man-mountain bent on revenge against those who murdered his family; Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper), a genetically altered b-hole raccoon; and Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel), a walking tree who… umm, you know… is Groot. All had serious bones to pick with the people who wronged them, but eventually overcame their hard-earned defensiveness to band together, put others first, and save the galaxy.
