Hearing that one of the films in Marvel’s Phase 2 would be GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY came as a huge shock. The little known group of galactic battlers beat fairly recognisable Marvel characters to join the likes of IRON MAN, THOR, and CAPTAIN AMERICA sequels.Marvel have now announced two writers working on the project and they are just as surprising.
The first draft was by Nicole Perlman. She was part of a no longer existing writing program set up by Marvel. She has written two space themed screenplays, neither of which has been produced as of yet. Those were an Untitled Neil Armstrong project, and a film titled CHALLENGER which focused on the 1986 shuttle of the same name.
The second writer currently tapped to rewrite Perlman’s script is Chris McCoy. McCoy is also fairly unknown as he is yet to have written a produced screenplay but is most well known for reaching The Black List three times. The Black List is a list of Hollywood’s ‘most liked unproduced screenplays’. Previous Black List scripts include Academy Award winners such as THE KING’S SPEECH, SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, JUNO, and THE SOCIAL NETWORK.
I think it’s wonderful that Marvel are heading for unknown talent for their unknown heroes. It means we’ll hopefully be getting a fresh take and something that will stand out from previous Marvel movies.
The cast of characters has also been announced for the film:
Drax The Destroyer
First appearing in 1973 in an Iron Man comic book, Drax was once a human named Arthur Douglas. Whilst driving in a desert with his wife and child his car was attacked by a spaceship. That spaceship was piloted by none other than Thanos (the baddie in the mid-credit scene of THE AVENGERS). Arthur and his wife were killed, but his daughter was kidnapped and raised by Thanos’ father. Arthur was then resurrected as a green warrior known as Dax.
Groot
Groot is an alien tree monster that first appeared in 1960. He has seemingly died a number of times but is able to come back if there is a clipping left of him and he has time to regrow. Groot was created by Marvel legends Stan Lee, Dick Ayers, and Jack Kirby. He originally came to Earth to capture and study humans.
Star-Lord
Star-Lord’s alter ego is Peter Quill. A half human/half alien vigilante. He became Star-Lord, an interplanetary policeman, by an act of deception. Although he originally volunteered for the part, a NASA colleague of his was chosen instead. Quill was able to take to his place. His weapons of choice are two Kree sub-machine guns.
Rocket Raccoon
My personal favourite. Rocket Raccoon is a genetically engineered animal originally set to protect an out-of-bounds part of space. He was the captain of a starship called Rack N’ Ruin, and his first mate was Wal Russ. Yes, he was a talking walrus. Rocket Raccoon likes guns and explosives and is good friends of both Star-Lord and Groot. He was inspired by The Beatles song Rocky Raccoon.
Gamora
Unfortunately, not the giant rocket turtle from the Japanese films. Gamora is the adopted daughter of Thanos. She has been trained as an assassin and is the last of her kind. Will she start on the side of Thanos or will she have already turned by the start of the film? One of her aliases is The Most Dangerous Woman In The Universe. Best be on the careful side then.
So it seems as though, judging by these characters’ pasts that the villain will be Thanos. Perhaps a precursor as Thanos makes his way to Earth to fight The Avengers. Here’s Thanos popping up in THE AVENGERS in case you didn’t wait during the credits.
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY will be released 1st August 2014.
Source: Collider
