Good day, fellow CBMers and thanks for deciding to read my thoughts!
I'll start off by saying that I am a
HUGE fan of Marvel's cosmic stuff. I've read everything from Earth Shall Overcome to War of Kings and practically every major cosmic story in between. I'm a fan of both the original and modern Guardians of the Galaxy, but I'm one of the few people (to my knowledge) who prefer the original team. In this editorial, I'll be telling you just why I feel this way, and why I think it's unfair we may not see the original Guardians together as a team in the MCU.
I'll start off with why I prefer the good ol' Guardians to the trigger happy, new Guardians.
1: The team dynamic
Despite the original Guardians being based mostly off Avengers characters they are still incredibly unique and fascinatingly complex characters. They interact with each other in very odd ways. For example, they all find Yondu's spirituality annoying. Each team member has a flaw that all the other members complain about. Vance Astro's obsession with the past, Nikki's immaturity, Starhawk's constant enigmatic philosiphies. Not one member of the team can say they truly enjoy being around their teammates.
It's this quality that defines them as a team. They all have a gripe with eachother and yet they remained a team. Why? Because they knew their presence was vital for the galaxy to feel safe. They all knew that even though they may have a dislike towards each other, if they weren't there, the galaxy would have no hope. They realise that they have an obligation to defend their homeworlds and countless other worlds and they don't let their opinions of each other get in the way of their duties.
With the new team, I don't feel they have the same sort of dynamic. They aren't as flawed or uncomfortable with each other. They work like a well oiled machine, and for me, that's not as interesting as them being like a dysfunctional, yet down to earth, family. Don't get me wrong, the new lot are entertaining and they have some awesome stories but I can't relate to them in any way.
2: The story arcs
The original team were involved in some great stories, some of which are remembered and renowned in the comics industry (Mainly the Korvac Saga). The new team have alot of great arcs too like, Annihilation or War of Kings, but the original arcs are different.
With the originals, there's always this sense in every issue that the team are gonna lose. Take Earth Shall Overcome. Every single issue ends with the heroes either losing, failing or nearly dying. They get captured, beaten and a bunch of other stuff and still they strive towards victory. In the new stuff, there is still that sense of urgency and it grips 'til the last second, but I don't find it as thrilling. No idea why, it's just not the same.
In Earth Shall Overcome, the Badoon constantly manage to thwart the Guardians and it isn't until the last 2 issues that things start to look up. With the likes of Annihilation, the heroes always accomplish some great feat before the end of an issue and there tends to be a cliffhanger that creates a problem for the next part.
In the original stories, cliffhangers were seldom. The GotG would be trapped and may not be free until halfway into the next issue. This creates an urgency and a suspense of whether they might actually succeed and sometimes they don't.
Anyway I'm waffling on that, so I'll move on.
3: The characters
All in all I find the characters more interesting. Despite Vance and Star Lord being rather similar, I find the old GotG characters are just more... I can't think of the word. They're more varied, if that makes sense. Now I know you're probably thinking, "Varied? Let's do a tally here."
Originals: 1000 yr old astronaut, omnipotent alien psychic, Flame headed gun-toting Mercurian, super strong Jovian, crystalline Pluvian and a hippy with a giant red dorsal fin
Modern: A gun-toting half alien wisecracker, a bipedal talking raccoon, a talking tree, a human ressurected as an alien, the daughter of Captain Marvel, a green-skinned sexy assassin and an omnipotent genetic mutant.
Both are quite varied, but, I feel the original team's personalities are what counts. The majority of the modern team are weapon heads and are pretty one-dimensional at times. But with the originals, they all differ. Vance is nostalgic, Martinex is highly intelligent and mild mannered, Charlie is heavily conflicted over his duties, Nikki is immature, Yondu is incredibly spiritual and Starhawk is highly logical and mysterious. And that fuels the team dynamic is the differeing personalities they all have. It's just a bonus they all only have one thing in common. They're all the last of their kind. Excluding Vance and Starhawk as they're moreso displaced and misunderstood than the last of their kind.
Vance is from a dead civilisation, like his teammates, but that's because his society advanced and left him behind (remind you of someone?). Starhawk is the same. He is the last of a dead colony and he has a female occupying a portion of his brain. That female is his sister, Aleta, they were fused by a triple-nuclear explosion.
That wraps up my reasons for liking them more than the new guys, let's move onto the movie.
So, Yondu is going to be in 2014's GotG movie. This angers me because it may destroy hope of seeing the original Guardians on film. Furthermore angering, James Gunn told Michael Rooker not to read any of the comics. That means he doesn't want Yondu portrayed the way he was in the comics. From the looks of it, Yondy will be Quill's mentor and father figure. I'm okay with the change to an extent. If it fuels the plot, [frick]ing go for it, if it's pointless and doesn't effect anything, [frick] that.
I'd rather Yondu have some traits relative to his comic book persona. For example, Yondu's arrows are made of a sentient metal that respond to his whistle pitches. If Gunn put a spin on this so Yondu's gun fired bullets made of Yaka Metal, I'd freakin' love it.
Enough about Yondu, onto the more pressing matter of the rest of the team.
The original GotG were from 1000 years in the future. Immediately there's a problem. If Yondu is in the GotG film, supposedly set in 2075, there's no way he'd be in an original Guardians film. Which begs the question, will the original Guardians have already happened by the start of the film? Will we see Yondu having flashbacks of his days in the team. Perhaps Quill names his team in respect to his mentor's legacy. What if that Nova Corps officer called them "A-Holes" for disgracing the name of the "Guardians of the Galaxy"? That would be an interesting plot point, if you ask me.
Still, it's not enough. The original Guardians are an incredible bunch and they deserve proper big screen recognition. A 30 second flashback would not do a team like that justice. As you can see from the points I've listed above, they're an interesting group and could easily carry a franchise just as much as the Star Lord's crew.
It would be dishonorable not to include them in the MCU as a flagship team as opposed to a possible flashback sequence.
Well, that's all from me. I hope I presented a valid argument to you guys, as opposed to wasting your valuable time. I've been
NovaCorpsFan and I thank you very much for reading my thoughts.
Seeya next time, guys!