Guardians of the Galaxy

About

Guardians of the Galaxy is an American action adventure film based on the comic book series with the same name. The film is about a man, Peter Quill (A.K.A Star Lord), who is taken from earth as a child and raised by a group of space outlaws. He then teams up with a group of criminals to protect the galaxy from a man with a powerful stone and a grudge.

History

Guardians of Galaxy was originally a comic book series released in 1969 that had various stories and series and was cancelled in 1995. In 2008 a series with the same title was released and featured the more well known members and was a part of the official Marvel continuity. The team was founded by Star Lord, a half Human and half Spartoi, and he recruited Adam Warlock, Drax the Destroyer, Gamora, Phyla-Vell, Rocket Raccoon, and Groot, with Mantis as support staff. The team has been a very important part to the cosmic part of the Marvel universe and has had many members that have joined and left, such as Iron Man, Agent Venom, Captain Marvel among many others.

A film of Guardians of Galaxy was released on August 1st, 2014. The film starred Chris Pratt as Peter Quill, the outlaw turned hero, Zoe Saldana as Gamora, a genetically altered assassin raised by the man who killed her parents, Dave Bautista as Drax, a man bent on avenging the death of his family, and the voices of Vin Diesel as tree-creature Groot and Bradley Cooper as genetically modified raccoon creature Rocket.

Premise

After his mother dies, a young Peter Quill is taken from earth by space outlaws. As an adult, Quill is still a petty criminal, and he is picked up with another group of criminals and taken to space jail. While in jail he joins forces with Gamora, Drax, Groot and Rocket to sell a dangerous stone to the highest bidder, to earn money and keep it out of the hands of Ronan (Lee Pace), who wants to use it’s power to wipe out an entire race. When Ronan gets ahold of the stone, Quill and Gamora, Groot, Drax and Rocket join forces to try to save the galaxy, ultimately succeeding.

Reception

The film broke the record for the biggest weekend premiere in North America^[2], earning over $94 million. The film was also a critical success, earning a score of 76 on Metacritic^[3] and a rating of 92% on RottenTomatoes.^[4]

Online Presence

As of August 2014, Guardians of the Galaxy’s offical Twitter account^[5] has gained over 110,000 followers and its Facebook page^[6] has gained over 1 million likes.

Fandom

There are several Tumblr blogs dedicated to the film including fuckyeahguardiansofthegalaxy^[8], starlord-peterquill-gotg^[9] and fyeahgotg.^[10] Fans tag their content with the film’s title and gotg.^[11] As of August 2014, DeviantArt^[7] has over 7,000 pieces of fan art tagged Guardians of the Galaxy.

Rocket Raccoon

Rocket Raccoon^[16] is popular character in the fandom, with fans viewing GIFs and fan art on the Tumblr blog fuckyeahrocketraccoon^[17]. Bill Mantlo, who helped create Rocket in the original comic, was able to watch Guardians of the Galaxy in his nursing home, where he’s been cared for after a 1992 car accident which caused Mantlo to suffer brain damage. However Mantlo’s brother Michael is currently fighting Marvel over profits which might belong to his brother. Rocket Raccoon was originally designed as a Raccoon that lived on the Halfworld, a abandoned colony for the mentally ill and the animals such as Rocket were genetically modified to have intelligence and Bi-pedal bodies to become care takers of the inmates and Rocket was a Ranger of Halfworld that protected the colony from threats.

Related Memes

I Am Groot

I Am Groot is a memorable quote oft-repeated by Groot, a sentient alien character embodied in the shape of a tree and member of Marvel’s superhero team Guardians of the Galaxy. Due to its frequent appearance in the 2014 live-action film adaptation of the comic book series, the self-referential quote quickly gained recognition among the fans of the film, in a similar vein to the creation of fan art surrounding the phrase Hodor, which is the only phrase uttered by the eponymous character in HBO’s medieval fantasy TV series Game of Thrones.

Viral Videos

On March 4th, 2014, YouTuber OnlyLeigh^[12] uploaded a video titled “Guardians Of The Galaxy Post Credits Scene” which imagined what the film’s post credit scenes might entail. As of August 2014, the video has gained over 160,000 views. On June 21st, 2014, YouTuber The Unusual Suspect^[13] uploaded a video titled “Star Wars (Guardians of the Galaxy Style!)” which features a trailer for Star Wars with the soundtrack from Guardians of the Galaxy. As of August 2014, the video has gained over 2.1 million views.

Also on June 21st, YouTuber atlantismedia83^[14] uploaded a video titled “Guardians of the Galaxy Zombie Parody Trailer.” As of August 2014, the video has gained over 21,000 views. On July 31st, YouTuber Joseph Germani^[15] uploaded a video titled “Guardians of The Durians.” As of August 2014, the video has gained over 40,000 views.