In the far reaches of space, an American pilot named Peter Quill finds himself the object of a manhunt after stealing an orb coveted by the villainous Ronan. In order to evade Ronan, Quill is forced into an uneasy truce with a group of misfits including Gamora, Rocket, Drax the Destroyer and Groot. But when Quill discovers the true power of the orb and the menace it poses to the cosmos, he must rally his ragtag rivals for a last, desperate stand — with the galaxy’s fate in the balance
For more on the Guardians of the Galaxy see
- The leader of the Guardians, who was taken from Earth as a child in the 1980s.Pratt signed a multi-film contract with Marvel. About the character, Pratt said, “He had a hard time as a kid, and now he goes around space, making out with hot alien girls and just being a rogue and a bit of a jerk, and through teaming up with these guys, finds a higher purpose for himself.”
- Zoe Saldana as Gamora:
- The adopted daughter of Thanos and an associate of Ronan, Nebula and Korath who tries to find a new path for herself. Saldana said that she would become Gamora through make-up rather than CGI or performance capture. On taking the role, Saldana said, “I was just excited to be asked to join by James Gunn and to also play someone green. I’ve been blue before [in Avatar].”
- Vin Diesel as Groot:
- A tree-like humanoid who is Rocket’s accomplice. Diesel stated that he provided the voice and motion capture for Groot, after originally being in talks to star in a new Phase Three Marvel film. On the character, Gunn said, “All the Guardians start out the movie as bastards – except Groot. He’s an innocent. He’s a hundred percent deadly and a hundred percent sweet. He’s caught up in Rocket’s life, really.”
- Bradley Cooper as Rocket:
- A genetically engineered raccoon who is an expert marksman. Gunn worked with live raccoons to get the correct feel for the character and to make sure the CGI raccoon used was “not a cartoon character,” saying “it’s not Bugs Bunny in the middle of The Avengers, it’s a real, little, somewhat mangled beast that’s alone. There’s no one else in the universe quite like him, he’s been created by these guys to be a mean-ass fighting machine.” Describing Rocket in relation to the rest of the Guardians, Cooper said, “I think Rocket is dynamic. He’s the sort of Joe Pesci in Goodfellas guy.”[19] Cooper voiced Rocket Raccoon, while Sean Gunn stood-in for the CGI character during filming.[20] Gunn said that for the role of Rocket, some physical movement from Cooper, including facial expressions and hand movements, was recorded as potential reference for the animators.
- Thanos’s admiral who hunts down the Guardians.Pace, who originally auditioned for Peter Quill, described Ronan as a “psycho” and a “monster”.
- Michael Rooker as Yondu:
- A blue-skinned hunter and tracker with an intuitive “sixth sense” perception and an associate of Quill’s.
- Karen Gillan as Nebula:
- An employee of Thanos who “has an interesting and complex relationship with Gamora”. About the character, Gillan said, “She is the female villain of the film. She teams up with Lee Pace who is the male villain. She is very sadistic and evil, but I like to think for a very valid reason.” Gillan shaved off her hair for the role.
- Djimon Hounsou as Korath:
- An ally to Ronan and Thanos. As to why he took the role Honsou said, “I have a four-year old son who loves superheroes from Spider-Man to Iron Man to Batman. He’s got all the costumes. One day he looks at me and says ‘Dad, I want to be light-skinned so I could be Spider-Man. Spider-Man has light skin.’ That was sort of a shock. This is why I am excited to be a part of the Marvel Universe, so I could be hopefully provide [sic] that diversity in the role of the superhero.”
- A high ranking officer of the Nova Corps.
- A powerful member of the Elders of the Universe. Describing del Toro’s performance, Gunn said, “…he’s like an outer-space Liberace. That’s what it says in the script, which he’s kind of doing.”
Additionally, Ophelia Lovibond was cast as the Collector’s aide, while Peter Serafinowicz plays a Nova Corps officer.Laura Haddock, Gregg Henry, Stephen Blackehart, Emmett J. Scanlan, Sean Gunn, Marama Corlett, Alexis Rodney, Melia Kreiling, and Spencer Wilding have been cast in unspecified supporting roles. Director James Gunn stated that Sean Gunn’s role will be an “integral” part of the film. Lloyd Kaufman will have a cameo in the film