Does Marvel have it’s work cut out for them with their newest movie this summer? Considering that none of the Guardians of the Galaxy (GotG) are exactly household names, you’d think it would be tough to get the average moviegoer in the theater for this film. Honestly, I don’t think Marvel is looking at that hard a task. When Marvel started producing their own movies with Iron Man, he wasn’t exactly all that well known to anyone outside of the comic book community. Marvel made sure to get everyone’s attention by taking a risk (at the time) in hiring Robert Downey Jr. to play the title character. Looking back now, it seems like a no-brainer, but a the time it was considered a risk. From there Marvel has done a great job of adding the pieces to their universe and getting the fans behind each piece.

Here’s a little spoiler-ish history of the team:

The GotG have been around for some time in the comics and in the last few years have seen a reassurance in their popularity. Marvel basically let creators Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning run wild with the cosmic portion of the Marvel Universe. The two of them took what could be considered a very confusing assemblage of characters and made it into a cohesive narrative. Their sprawling space epics have included characters from every part of the Marvel Universe, which could easily tie into any part of what Marvel wants to do in the future with their films. A few of the epic stories: Annihilation, Annihilation: Conquest, The War of Kings and The Thanos Imperative. The list of characters included in these story-lines have ties with almost every major team in the Marvel Universe, so it leaves a lot of wiggle room for how Marvel wants to proceed with the next phase of their movie projects. Beginning with the five main members of the team:

Drax the Destoryer:

Gamora:

Rocket Raccoon:

Groot:

Star Lord:

Besides the main team, a number of other Marvel characters are going to be in the film, while others might be included in a few Easter Eggs spread throughout the film (as the GotG have ties to so many of them) to make all the fanboys happy:

Ronan the Accuser, The Nova Corps, Thanos, Galactus, Ultron, Annihilus, The Phalanx, The Kree, The Skrulls, The Shi’ar, The Starjammers ,The Imperial Guard, Mantis, Quasar, Adam Warlock, Bug, Moondragon, Blastaar, Kang, Yondu, The Collector, Yondu, Nebula, Black Bolt, The Inhumans, Vulcan and The Silver Surfer.