Need To Know: Guardians of the Galaxy (Part 2: Villains)
I have given a breakdown of the characters that make up the ‘Guardians’ that feature heavily in the first released trailer for this year’s must see Marvel blockbuster Guardians of the Galaxy. I will now give a run through of the main villains trying to stop the do-gooders along their mission. I will also give my two cents on how I feel the movie will be vital in tying together the future of Marvel movies in years to come and how we have been led up to this point.
First on the list of baddies is Ronan the Accuser:
Ronan the Accuser is a military leader and the “Supreme Accuser” (hence the name) of the Kree empire. The Kree are a blue (or pink) skinned humanoid race from the planet Hala, in the Large Magellanic Cloud, who since discovering interstellar travel have been trying to take over as much of the Universe as they can. They are a nationalistic, military-driven race. They worship “The Supreme Intelligence” (who resembles a mix between Krang from TMNT and Zordon from Power Rangers).
Ronan wears a full-body exoskeleton suit of armor, which parallels Doctor Doom from The Fantastic 4, and this gives him extra strength and agility. When on Earth he possesses superhuman strength and speed due to the difference in gravity from his home planet, just like Superman and his powers from our Sun. Ronan will be the central bad guy in the movie and he works for Thanos (discussed in part one and a little later on also) so I expect we will get to see what he is made of. In the trailer (if you look real close) you can see Ronan holding Drax the Destroyer, up off the ground, by the throat. No mean feat. He’s gonna give and take a beating in this movie.
Ronan will be portrayed in the movie by Lee Pace. You will recognize Pace from his very different roles as Ned in TV’s Pushing Daisies and, Elven King, Thranduil in The Hobbit trilogy. Pace when asked about his character at Comic Con last year said “He’s pretty unforgiving; he’s not in the Galaxy to make friends”. Ronan won’t have the likability of Tom Hiddleston’s Loki but it will be interesting to see Ronan’s progression towards the end of the movie or in future installments.
Next up is the super villainess Nebula:
Nebula is an evil space pirate and mercenary who tends to kick ass and take names. She is genuinely evil and ruthless, rarely partnering with anyone but her pirate crew. From the trailer, we can see Nebula has cybernetic parts attached to her bald, blue head which might not make much sense timeline-wise (from the comics) but I won’t complain like some fan-boys might. I also don’t know where her loyalties will lie. In the comics; Nebula commandeered the largest of Thanos’ Armada ships, Sanctuary II, after his apparent death. She claimed to be his grand-daughter and that gave her a pretty fearsome name in the Galaxy. When Thanos returned (having not died in the first place) he denied her legacy and basically turned her into a living picture of pain and agony for his love interest, Death. Later she gets restored (becoming a cyborg) and continues her ass-kicking ventures. In the movie I believe Nebula will be part of ‘Team Thanos’ so I guess some liberties have been taken.
Nebula Vs Gamora shall be a glorious sight indeed. I admit this may have something to do with the fact that the delightfully pretty (even when bald) Karen Gillan (Amy Pond in Doctor Who) has been cast as Nebula. Karen Vs Zoe…I can get on board with that. Karen has said she “guarantees” she is in the best fight scenes of the film so hopefully she can make good on her word.
Additional Characters:
There are plenty of other characters in the movie that are noteworthy.
Yondu:
The blue skinned, mohawked alien from Centauri IV is an expert hunter and a member of the original 1969 Guardians of the Galaxy comic line-up. He wields a bow and arrow which he can change the path of, mid-flight, using high octave whistles. He, along with his tribe, possesses mystic powers and has a sort of ‘sixth sense’. Micheal Rooker (Merle from The Walking Dead) was cast as the primitive tribesman.
The Collector:
Seen at the end credits of Thor: The Dark World, portrayed by Benicio Del Toro (Che, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas), The Collector is one of the oldest beings in the Universe. Billions of years ago when his wife decided enough was enough, and packed in the immortality she possessed, Taneleer Tivan decided he needed a hobby. He now collects everything rare and special (sometimes including superheroes and gems of infinite power).
Korath:
Another member of the Kree, Korath is a soldier and cybernetics maestro. We see him in the trailer stopping Peter Quill taking the orb and is portrayed by the great Djimon Hounsou (Gladiator, Blood Diamond). Korath will be additional muscle for Ronan and Nebula.
Nova Corp:
The Nova Corps are kind of the cops in Space and will act as the S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives did in the Avengers movie. Keeping aliens in check but when it comes down to it the Guardians are better as an ally than an enemy when you have Ronan and Nebula to deal with (as well as Badoons and Skrulls). We have seen John. C. Reilly (Step Brothers, Cyrus) and Peter Serafinowicz (Shaun of the Dead, TV’s Look Around You) in the roles of Nova Corps officers in the trailer already but still to come is Glenn Close (Fatal Attraction, TV’s Damages) who will play the leader of the Corps, Nova Prime Rael.
How it all comes together:
This won’t all come together until the third installment, of the Avengers movies, but a lot still has to happen to get to where we are going to end up. The connection between the Guardians of the Galaxy and the Avengers movies will probably be (if you haven’t guessed already) Thanos.
First seen in the mid-credits scene of the Avengers, Marvel fans were sure that he will be the main villain in Avengers 2 (now known to be Ultron). He is seen talking to a cloaked figure (some assuming this was Loki, others, including myself, believing it to be Ronan the Accuser), he lets it be known that the human race is “unruly, and therefore cannot be ruled. To challenge them is to court Death”. Thanos has a strange affection for death, both the idea thereof and the personification of Death itself – hence his creepy smirk.
Thanos is probably best known for his inclusion in the 1991 short comic series ‘The Infinity Gauntlet’. The series involves Thanos trying to gather the Infinity Gems and placing them on the Infinity Gauntlet (briefly seen in Odin’s treasure room in Thor) which gives the wielder the power to change time and space itself, thus becoming “God-like”. One of the Infinity Gems can be seen being handed over to The Collector at the mid-credit scene of Thor: The Dark World, before he utters “one down, five to go”. I think this will be the main plotline for Avengers 3.
Next month sees the release of Captain America: The Winter Soldier with Guardians of the Galaxy to follow on August 1st this year. Next year will see Avengers: The Age of Ultron, helmed again by Joss Whedon (Teaser Trailer Below), and Ant-Man, starring Paul Rudd (Anchorman, Prince Avalanche) and directed by Edgar Wright (Hot Fuzz, Scott Pilgrim vs the World) hit the screens. There is talk of a Mark Ruffalo Hulk solo movie, Iron Man 4 and I would personally love to see a Nova movie (now that the Nova Corps are to feature in GotG). It should be a fantastic few years for any Marvel fan or anyone who just likes to see big action comic book movies.
We are now a long way gone from the darker days of Ang Lee’s Hulk or Nicholas Cage as Ghost Rider, and the future looks bright.
