Hero Profile: Star-Lord

Love the Mask.

Finally we come to the leader, Peter Quill aka Star-Lord. Side note, what is with all the Peter’s in Marvel movies? Peter Rasputin, Peter Maximoff, Peter Parker, Peter Quill, granted Maximoff and Rasputin just have their names Anglicized for the movies, but serious, think of a different name. He is the leader of the Guardians of the Galaxy second and third addition.

Born from a close encounter between his mother and his alien father J’Son of Spartax, future ruler of the Spartoi Empire. So the whole Star-Lord thing isn’t for show. Though technically Star-Prince might be more accurate, I think Prince would have a fit over something like that. His mother was killed by the Badoon. (Remember them? They killed Gamora’s people too). Peter escaped, later joined NASA and somehow found himself in an intergalactic prison after having a brawl with a Herald of Galactus. Not the Silver Surfer, a guy by the name of the Fallen One. Not an auspicious start to the whole intergalactic superhero thing. He was eventually saved by a Nova (Kind of Marvel’s equivellent to the GL’s but with more colorful costumes) and set about protecting the universe.

Star-Lord in Avengers:EMH
Very bright costume.

Now many of you may be wondering why I keep mentioning the Second and Third Guardians of the Galaxy. Well, technically there is a Guardians team that in Universe happened centuries in the future but was shown to we readers a while before Quill’s incarnation. The reason we need a third version of the team is because, well Star-Lord is an idiot. Worried that the team wouldn’t even get off the ground, what with so many loners and sociopaths on the prospective list, Quill got the idea to ask a powerful telepath known as the Mantis to “help” his teammates decide joining was the right thing to do. Needless to say, they were not happy when they found out and broke up the band. Thankfully Rocket and Groot set about reforming the team sometime later and even convinced everyone having Quill back would be a good idea. Best intention's, am I right?

If Ulitmate Spider-man does anything right
It's redesigns.

Quill’s powers come from both technology and his 50% alien physiology. Apparently as a partial Spartoi he is more durable, stronger, and faster than most people and has the life expectancy of 240, thrice that of your average human male. (Get it? The Spartoi are very Spartan like.) He’s had several genetic and cybernetic enhancements over the years as well. He is very intelligent and a gifted strategist. I mean come on, he figured out that guys like Drax and Gamora would be good heroes. He specializes in small fire arms which include his Element Gun, a pistol size piece of alien tech that can shoot a form of fire, water, earth or air.

Like the other Guardians he hasn’t been in much. In Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes he was played as your typical stoic leader type, Cyclops in Space more or less, and Ultimate Spider-man made him more comical.That show and making serious characters into comedic bits, it is kind of depressing. If they didn't get guys like Doc Oct spot on there'd be no hope for it.

A decent redesign in my opinion.

Or ME! They did a great PG Deadpool. Didn't even think that was possible...

Just ignore him. My understanding is that the movie version, played by Chris Pratt, is going in a different direction with his origin story. Not sure if they are going to include his alien parentage, but he will have been kidnapped and raised on an alien freighter with a bunch of pirates. And as such he’s gonna be a bit more of a jerk then in his comic book version. I’m not saying it is good or bad until I see it, but the previews seem suggest a good mix between this newer jerk and the inherent nobility the character possesses. Tomorrow, or later tonight depending on when the movie gets out, I’ll post my review of Guardians of the Galaxy. Please be a good movie, I’m begging you Generalissimo.

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star-Lord

 http://avengersearthsmightiestheroes.wikia.com/wiki/Star-Lord

 http://thedailybugle.wikia.com/wiki/File:Starlord.png

 http://www.movieweb.com/news/guardians-of-the-galaxy-star-lord-groot-and-rocket-racoon-statues

Hero Profile: Gamora

Death by knife or gun, tough choice...

Gamora, the deadliest woman alive, or so she claims. Personally I think that Jean Grey with Phoenix power takes the top spot by far. When the very use of your powers causes future organisms to never be, it’s kind of hard for anyone else to measure up. And even if you take Dark Phoenix Jean off, Laura Kinney, Wolverine’s clone/daughter, could give Gamora a run for her money. I’m not saying she isn’t tough, but come on Gamora, don’t let your mouth write checks that you can’t cash.

Background, she’s is the sole survivor of the Zen-Whoberi species. Her kind was wiped out by another alien species called the Badoon. Thanos, being a watchful sociopath, decided she could be of use to him. Gamora was trained from her earliest days to destroy Thanos’ enemies, chiefly the Magus, an evil version of a future GotG teammate Adam Warlock (who I don’t think is in the movie) from an alternate time line. Since Magus wiped out Gamora's people in his timeline, it probably wasn't a tough sell.

The cape doesn't do much, besides adding
to her overall awesome.

It was from this training that she got her, in my opinion, inaccurate title as the deadliest woman alive. She completed her mission, with the help of Thanos and the current timeline's Adam Warlock, and then realized Thanos is the bigger threat. Realizing your boss is one of the evilest beings ever to be born in this universe will do that to a person. She joined with various heroes to put the mad Titan down. She later joined the second and third incarnation of the Guardians of the Galaxy.

She is a master of hand-to-hand combat and a number of melee weapons. Basically if you can use it to kill people she has trained with it, mastered it, and figured out a new way to kill someone with it. Her alien physiology combined with her harsh training under Thanos greatly enhanced her strength, durability, and speed. Later issues reveal she also has had extensive cybernetic and chemical enhancements via Thanos’ orders. She is really, really good at making people dead.

She could use a cape.

Like the previous three members, she has few appearances in Marvel greater universe. And, like most of her teammates she is played up her few comedic elements. Since they most likely won’t go into her history with Magus and the greater Marvel-verse (which hasn’t happened yet in the movies) it’ll be interesting to see how they tell her story without those elements. Not saying it can’t be done, but it’ll be a little harder, unless they can think up another reason for her leaving Thanos’ service, other than she suddenly developed a conscience.Not that that is unheard of, I just think it's lazy writing.

I think that Zoe Saldana will make for an excellent Gamora. She proved in the Star Trek movies that she can kick a little booty. Trailers have shown her fighting ability is believable, and she still looks good doing it. And given what I’ve seen from Star Trek and Avatar (she was Neytiri, the female lead) she can defiantly do the dramatic bits well too, so long as they don’t have her interrupt an important mission to yell at her boyfriend. Like Drax she’s probably going to be a bit more stoic then her comrades, and will hopefully add a little more seriousness into the movie. Next, we’ll go with the team leader Peter Quill aka Star-Lord.

http://www.comicvine.com/forums/battles-7/gamora-vs-wonder-woman-lady-shiva-1582435/

http://thedailybugle.wikia.com/wiki/Gamora

http://g4geek.com/new-photo-zoe-saldana-chris-pratt-in-guardians-of-the-galaxy/

Hero Profile: Drax the Destroyer

He's gonna cut somebody.

Some say that Rocket and Groot have the most unique background stories of the Guardians, but I disagree. For me the guy that has the most unique story is Drax the Destroyer. I know what you’re thinking, “A more unique story than a genetically modified raccoon and a talking tree, surely you jest!” to which I say, “Who says ‘surely you jest’ anymore?”

That’s not the point. For a guy that has spent a lot of time with Science Fiction, things like genetic engineering and mobile plant life aren’t exactly new. Heck, in some circles those are cliché. No, Drax is by far the most interesting story for me because he is the only member of this version of Guardians of the Galaxy that is 100% human. Or at least he used to be. Yep, of the other Guardians, the two exotic looking members are aliens, one is a genetically engineered raccoon, and one is a half alien born on Earth.  

Drax the Destroyer was born Arthur Douglas. Normal man, normal life, normal family. He and his family were driving through a desert when they had the awful luck of crossing paths with Thanos. This was Thanos’ first trip to our little blue ball, and he was nervous. So, to make sure nobody ruined his grand entrance, he fired upon the car. Needless to say, things probably should have ended there. Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, Thanos’ father, Mentor, was monitoring the situation and took pity on Douglas. Mentor and his own father, Chronos, were able to gather Douglas’ soul and implant it in a homunculus (artificial body). The new body, made of Earth soil, was imbued with superhuman powers. Douglas was reborn as Drax the Destroyer. His memories as Arthur Douglas were replaced with an all-consuming hatred for, and desire to destroy, Thanos.

I'd stay out of his way, if I were Ronan.

As Arthur Douglas, he had your standard human abilities. These included locomotion, communication via sounds and body language, consume matter to restore his strength, perform labor for payment and so on. As Drax, well, he got a few upgrades. The cosmic energy that fuels his new body serves as his life blood, allowing him to survive indefinitely without food, water, or even air. It makes him largely invulnerable, gives him the power to fly and make interstellar voyages in a matter of weeks. He can fire beams of energy from his hands. As if the other stuff wasn't enough, right?

I like the redesign, much more
elaborate tattoos on this version.

Like the other members of the Guardians, he hasn’t been in much outside the comics. Ultimate Spider-man and Lego Marvel Superheroes play him comically, like the other Guardians. They also downplay his immense power, and hate for Thanos. Lego Marvel claims he's a hell of a saxophone player. I wasn't all that impressed.

I’m not sure how well Dave Batista will be able to play Drax. As we all know, the transition from professional wrestler to Hollywood actor is… an imperfect process. The only one I can think of that transitioned well is the Rock, but he’s had a few hiccups along the way. Remember his Disney phase? (Shudder). Hopefully, like the promos seem to suggest, Drax won’t say too much and rely mostly on hurting things to get his character across. If he can’t talk, he can’t ham things up.

Drax can hopefully add a bit of dark humor, and a little more seriousness to a movie that looks like it’ll be pretty filled with comedic bits. They will probably play him up as a melee fighter and breaker of bones instead of a cosmic super weapon. But I don't know that for sure. I can say, just from looking at the previews and my knowledge of the individual actors that Batista is the weakest link in this team so his performance will probably be the deciding factor in whether this is a good movie or a great movie. Regardless, it’ll be interesting to see how things play out. 

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drax_the_Destroyer

 http://thedailybugle.wikia.com/wiki/Drax_the_Destroyer

 http://www.guardiansofthegalaxygames.com/drax-the-destroyer/