SDCC 2012- Marvel Reveals Guardians of the Galaxy Movie AND Team Lineup

Marvel’s next step is out of this world, and Comic Con revealed the lineup for 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy!

If there’s one thing I was sad to miss at Comic Con it was the Marvel Studios panel, which packed an insane amount of coolness into 60 minutes. From the reveals of the Captain America and Thor sequel titles, to a look at Iron Man 3 and Edgar Wright’s intriguing “size-fu” test footage of Ant Man using his shifting mass as a weapon in battle, there was a lot going on.

The most exciting reveal for me was the announcement of the team roster for Guardians of the Galaxy, the next, cosmic step in the Marvel movie universe’s master plan. And while I’m a little bummed none of the classic Guardians made the cut, the choices– based on the 2008/ Annihilation era– have lots of promise.  Here’s the rundown:

Star-Lord – A human adventurer granted super strength courtesy of his supersuit, Star-Lord serves as a Green Lantern-esque space cop, traveling across the cosmos in his spacecraft called Ship.

Rocket Raccoon – A sentient raccoon from a planet called Halfworld, the gruff and tough creature is based on a Beatles song, and should be very interesting to see translated to live action.

Drax the Destroyer – A warrior driven by unstoppable vengeance, Drax was once a human killed by Thanos, before being reanimated in a giant, green skinned body and sent on a mission to kill the mad Titan.

Gamora – Raised by Thanos, Gamora was the last of her alien race and eventually switched allegiances to help combat her evil step father alongside The Avengers.

Groot – A living tree, and the last of his species, Groot can grow to massive size just like a real tree, and can reincarnate as a sapling if his body dies.

What I find most intriguing about this lineup is the lack of a “human”/ audience surrogate character. It feels like Marvel is pretty confident in their cinematic take on the Guardians, and they’re really going all-in. Our most recognizably human character is Star-Lord, and based on his comics look, his face will be obscured by his cool cybernetic mask, and he’s introduced in the comics as a seasoned warrior, not exactly a n00b to the wide Marvel universe.

And with two characters obviously being realized via CGI, I’m curious of Drax and Gamora will be played by actors painted green, or also CG/ motion-captured creations? While part of me hopes they’re practical, Marvel proved with The Avengers’ Hulk that they can really make a mo-cap digital character work on screen, and I have more than a little confidence in their abilities.

Gamora and Drax obviously both have major ties to Thanos, so it looks like GoTG will be the movie where the mad Titan’s Avengers cameo finally pays off.  Of all the promising Marvel movies on deck, Guardians of the Galaxy is by far the riskiest, and the one I am most excited for.