Alright, we know near enough all the characters and races that'll be appearing in Guardians, so I decided to take the time to give all you guys a crash course in the origin stories of the team, as well as characters that may turn up in the future. I know there have already been articles like this but they only centred on specific members f the team, whereas I will be branching out to many other aspects of the cosmic Marvel spectrum. As well as that, I'll be doing it all in one instalment, so if you haven't got a great attention span, this ain't the article for you. Those of you who decide to stay, let's get straight into it. First up is
Star Lord: AKA Peter Jason Quill
A lot of people don't actually know Star Lord's origin, not until recently at least. So, with him being team leader, I figured I'd go through him first.
Essentially Quill is the product of an interspecies liaison between a Spartak and a human. His father, the Spartak king, J'Son, abandoned Meredith, Quill's mother, before Peter was born. Peter was raised not knowing anything of his father, only that he went away for some reason and hasn't come back. Turns out the Spartaks were engaged in a war with another alien race (currently that race is the Badoon, but at the time of Star Lord's creation it was these little midget lizards). So, Quill was raised in care homes and had various foster parents. He dreamt only of revenge on the alien race that murdered his mother. He wanted to go into space and take that revenge so he dedicated his time to becoming an astronaut.
He got into the space programme and quickly rose through the ranks until he was finally sent on his first mission. To occupy the first permanently habited satellite. Upon arrival at the satellite, the crew received a message from some outside entity that requested one of their number come to join him. The crew selected someone, but Quill, seeing his opportunity to gain revenge, shoved the other guy aside and went himself. He found himself inside the sun with "God" sitting in front of him. "God" granted Quill a pair of rocket boots and an element gun (fires fire, earth, air and water). Then set him on his ways. Quill immediately took his revenge and then decided to use his new found tech and abilities to rid the galaxy of evil.
So began the tale of Star Lord. Up next...
Drax The Destroyer: AKA: Arthur Douglas
Drax's story begins in the desert of all places. Arthur Douglas and his family are driving through the desert when a ship, piloted by Thanos, decides to attack the car. All because Thanos doesn't like to think he may have been spotted. Douglas dies but his daughter Heather is rescued by Thanos' father, Mentor and she later becomes Moondragon (more on her later). Mentor captures Arthur's spirit and puts it into an android body capable of flight and energy blasting from his hands. This isn't the modern version of Drax we know, so let's skip ahead. (That Drax assisted Captain Marvel in the hunt for Thanos and was equally obsessed with killing him as the modern Drax).
The modern Drax emerged from the husk of the old Drax after he was destroyed by Paibok, Lunatik and the Blood Brothers. This Drax was smarter and more versatile and had a more human form to him. This is the Drax we'll be seeing in the movie. This incarnation has succeeded in killing Thanos during the Annihilation event (he tore his heart out). I think that'll suffice. Moving onto...
Gamora
Gamora is the last of her species, the Zen Whoberi. The Zen Whoberi, in the current timeline, were exterminated by the Badoon (originally it was the Universal Church of Truth). She was found by none other than Thanos who trained her up from an early age and turned her into the killing machine she is today, the deadliest woman in the universe. Thanos trained her specifically to kill the Magus, Adam Warlock's evil side (more on him later). She's had a pretty difficult and dark past. When on an excursion with Thanos, she wandered off on her own and was confronted by a large group of thugs. Despite her incredible skill in the martial arts, she was defeated and raped by them. Thanos turns up and like Mufasa from the Lion King, puts the thugs in their places, the grave.
Thanos then altered Gamora as she was so badly wounded she required some cybernetic alteration. This brought her from mere martial arts expert, to superhuman levels of strength, speed and agility. Thus she becamer ever more deadly. Next character...
Groot
Groot is the king of Planet X. His first appearance in a Marvel comic saw him absorbing all the wood from people's houses and stuff and then he was eaten and killed by termites (it's as shit as it sounds, I've read the comic). Groot can regenerate his entire body from a single piece of wood from himself no matter how small it is. As long as it's in soil and gets plenty of nourishment, then Groot can re-emerge from it. Onto the main attraction of the team...
Rocket Raccoon
Rocket comes from Halfworld. This planet was basically used as a giant lunatic asylum by an unnamed race of humanoids known as the Strangers. The "loonies" were given pets but overtime, they lost interest in them. So, to make the pets more engaging, they were made more intelligent by the strangers. They were now capable of walking on two legs as well as speech and independent thought. Rocket Raccoon was the product of one such event. Only Rocket was created on the Strangers' homeworld, as opposed to Halfworld like the rest of the animals.
Rocket spent his early days fighting Black Jack O'Hare, Killer Clowns, Judson Jakes and Lord Dyvyne. He was the chief law enforcement officer of Halfworld and the entire Keystone Quadrant in which Halfworld was located. Before he left Halfworld to embark on his own adventures, Rocket and his buddies cured the loonies of Halfworld of their insanity with helmets that probed the mind. He and Groot have an incredibly strong friendship that is definitive to both of the characters.
Okay, now we move onto the section of characters that are not on the team and may end up with movies based on what we know about the movie. So, without further ado...
Nova: AKA: Richard Rider
Richard Rider gained his Nova abilities from a Nova Centurion named Rhomann Dey. Dey sent his Nova Force to earth in the hope it would select a new Nova Centurion. The Nova Force entered Richard Rider, a lowly teenager with a C average at school. Rider found he was now capable of astonishing things. Among them, flight and energy projection. Unbeknownst to him, Rider is the last of the Nova Corps as a space pirate named Zorr had laided waste to the remainder of the Corps on planet Xandar. (Zorr is pretty powerful so don't go calling the Corps weak, or there'll be hell to pay).
Rider's main enemy to this day is the Sphinx (more on him later). Rider teamed up with Spider-Man in an early issue of his ongoing series. The two have remained relative friends throughout the years.
Next up is...
Captain Mar-Vell
Mar-Vell is a Kree warrior. He was sent to earth to examine humans and ensure whether or not they were a threat to the Kree Empire. He takes on a human identity as Walter Lawson. As all alien heroes do, he gained an affection for humanity and refused to give a report to the Kree Empire that would encourage them to attack earth. So, he became one of earth's foremost protectors against many cosmic entities and had a great hero/villain relationship with Thanos, before his Death at the hands of cancer. To this day, Mar-Vell is the only super hero to have suffered from cancer. To follow up...
Adam Warlock
Him, was a bio-engineered life form created by the Beehive.
He was designed to be the perfect human, to be the pinnacle of what human evolution could possibly reach. Naturally, his creators didn't intend on using him for good, but evil. One thing they overlooked was his sentience, and once he discovered his creator's plans and revolted, freeing himself from their maniacal plans.
Him attempted to get it on with Lady Sif and Thor, needless to say, beat the living snot out of him. Him retreated and encapsulated himself in a regenerative cocoon and didn't come out for a while. Him was discovered in this state by the High Evolutionary, who took Warlock in and installed the Soul Gem into his forehead. I'll not go into too much detail on Magus right now, so I'll give a summary. Magus is Warlock's twisted, evil self from the future.
Next in the hot-seat...
Quasar: AKA: Wendell Vaughn
Wendell Vaughn was a S.H.I.E.L.D. recruit with an unloving and uncaring father. When the nega-bands of the original marvel boy from the '50's were found, S.H.I.E.L.D. ran some tests. The original test guy blew up after using the nega-bands for too long. Wendell put 'em on in the hopes of impressing his father, who was the leading technician of the project. After dealing with a group of thugs who were attempting to steal the bands, Wendell discovered the only way to ensure you don't blow up when you use the bands is to use them more. He had to to fly into space for fear of the explosion he'd cause, and upon arrival discovered that the energy it took to make the journey had worn the bands down a fair amount. So, that's Quasar, but another has held the title...
Phyla Vell: AKA: Martyr
Phyla is essentially a random occurrence created by Genis-Vell. See, Genis recreated the universe and Phyla was one of the things he decided to throw in there for good measure. The backstory is basically that Elysius, Genis' mommy, created Phyla because Genis was such a success. Phyla would later try to claim the title of Captain Marvel from her "brother", but Genis wasn't about to give that up easily. Phyla is also a lesbian, and was romantically involved with Moondragon. Pretty sure I haven't talked about Genis yet, so...
Genis-Vell
I pretty much went over this, but there's a little more to it. Genis was created when Mar-Vell's love, Elysius, used Mar-Vell's genetic structure to create an offspring of Captain Marvel. Genis was artificially aged and, when he discovered who his father was, he stuck on the nega-bands and took up the title in the hopes of honouring his father's memory. Moving on now, to...
Moondragon: AKA: Heather Douglas
Heather Douglas is the daughter of Arthur Douglas, better known as Drax the Destroyer. After Kronos took Arthur's soul and turned him into Drax, Heather was taken to Thanos' father, Mentor's home world of Titan (coincidentally, Thanos' homeworld). There, she learned many martial arts and gained the abilities of telekinesis and telepathy. In a way, she is Thanos' adopted sister. Her psychic powers were enhanced when she was possessed by The Dragon of the Moon. I dunno where she gets her name from, but it sounds cool nonetheless. Who to do next...?
Darkhwak: AKA: Christopher Powell
As a teenager, Chris discovered his cop father taking a bribe from a mob boss. As he fled the scene to escape the goons, he just so happened to find this lovely little amulet, that turned him into the Darkhawk armour. The armour is actually it's own entity, as it is an autonomous android, powered by the amulet in the armour's chest. (Yes, armour is spelt correctly, let's not repeat that time Josh spelt something the Brit way). It was later revealed that the Darkhawk was a product of a space-faring group known as the Fraternity of Raptors, and the armour itself is a "raptor".
Would you believe me if I told you there was sill like, seven characters left? Well believe it...
Wraith: AKA: Zak-Del
Think, The Crow, in space.Wraith's father, Sim, developed the perfect energy source, but the merchant class of the Kree refused to allow him to capitalise on it. Sim took his family off to a barren planet in the Bennazar Rift. A Kree death squad showed up and murdered Wraith's family. He was launched off into space in a protective capsule by the service droids (Scutters, if you're a fan of Red Dwarf). Zak was sucked inot a wormhole which led him to the Realm of the Nameless, a race of Kree who had all found themselves sucked into the same hole. All of these Kree were dead and their wounds had all been infected by an odd virus called the Exolon. The Nameless shoved a knife into Zak's chest, and naturally, the Exolon made good use of it. He was bonded to the Exolon, granting him enhanced strength (from a virus?), as well as invulnerability, immortality and that black stuff covering him like a poncho, is composed entirely of Exolon. This all came at a price, however. The Exolon viruses had absorbed his soul. I love Wraith, he's a freakin' badass. Anyway, I think we'll have a vilain next, let's go for...
The Sphinx AKA: Anath-Na-Mut
Originally the Chief wizard f Pharoah Ramases II, the Sphinx lost the job for not being as powerful as Moses. He went walkabout and after many years he happened across a temple and discovered the Ka stone. The stone seemed to be telling him to apply it to his forehead, so he did. As a result, he gained a whole bunch o' neat powers like, immortality and enhanced magical ability (take that Moses, with your water splitting!) Although the Sphinx has since grown bored of immortality and spends his time trying to get people to kill him. Up next, we have...
Beta Ray Bill
Bill is the product of a bad contest winner. As the champion of his race, the Korbinites, Bill was subjected to android implants and cybernetic enhancements. The result; a space-horse with zero tolerance for piss takers. In order to truly prove himself, Bill took on Thor in battle. The winner, gained all the power e desired and the loser... well, died. Bill beat Thor to within an inch of his life, but just before Thor's body went over a lavafall, Bill scooped him up and brought him back to Asgard. Bill wanted a hammer, so Odin gave him Stormbreaker. Similar to Mjolnir, Stormbreaker has an axe on one side and a hammer head on the other. Bill and Thor teamed up to free Bill's race from a srange force from another dimension. Bill has since been a member of the Annihilators and Alpha Flight. Next into the spotlight, we've got...
The Inhumans
The Inhumans were created by the Kree during the Kree-Skrull war, millions of years ago. They were to be used as weapons against the Skrulls, but the project was abandoned. The test subjects, the Inhumans, developed their own society and lived in seclusion. They used Terrigen Mists to grant themselves powers, which had mutagenic effects which weren't necassarilly good things as some caused deformities (like becoming a giant dog). Their home, Attilan, currently resides on the moon. The team-members include, Black Bolt, Medusa, Karnak, Triton, Gorgon, Crystal and Lockjaw. Well, I said more on him later...
High Evolutionary: AKA: Herbert Wyndham
Wyndham admired the work of Nathaniel Essex (Mr. Sinister) while studying at Oxford University in the '20s. He was given the formula for unlocking genetic codes by an Inhuman. His experiments were considered unethical and he was expelled from Oxford. Wyndham joined with Jonathan Drew (father of Spider-Woman) and the pair made a base at Wundagore Mountain, provided by Wyndham's Inhuman contact. After being wounded by a werewolf, Wyndham constructed a suit of armour in order to defend himslef from attack. Wyndham went on to create an army of humanoid animals called the New Men, whom he frequently uses as his henchmen. He is closely tied to Adam Warlock. Nearly done...
Major Victory: AKA: Vance Astrovik
Vance was obsessed with space travel as a boy. All he wanted to be was an astronaut. He even changed his name to Vance Atro. Little did he know he'd be the first atronaut to travel from earth to another planet. Shockingly, upon his arrival at the planet, 1,000 years after his voyage begin, the planet had already been colonised by humans. However the native race was all but wiped out and the humans were under the control of the viscious Badoon. Astro teamed up with the last of the natives, Yondu Udonta, in an effort to stop the Badoon. Though they failed miserably, these events led to the formation of the Guardians of the Galaxy. And finally. After over a week of writing bits here an there, gathering the images and just outright not doing it out of laziness, we have reached the end, ladies and gents. And who better, to top it all off than...
Star Hawk: AKA: Stakar Ogord
Okay, so, Quasar brings this woman called Kismet to Earth 616 from Earth 619 and delivrs her to the monastery planet Vespa. She was pregnant and whilst at the monastery, she gave birth to a boy. Her son was kidnapped b Era and taken to Arcturus IV, where he was raised by Ogord, who raised the boy as his own and named him Stakar. Somehow, Stakar's mind is in a constant cycle of going back to his childhood and repeating his adolescent years over and over (while growing up to a certain point in time). Arcturus IV was a war-monger planet, but Stakar was pacifistic and took a great interest in archaeology. He and his adopted sister Aleta were caught in a nuclear explosion which merged the two together and created Starhawk. They left Ogord, got married and joined the original Guardians of the Galaxy.
Okay, I'm done. Leave your comments in the usual place, I'm off to bed.