The Guardians of the Galaxy presentation at SDCC caused quite a buzz surrounding the rag tag group of heroes who will make their entrance into the MCU almost exactly one year from now, August 1, 2014. The plot of the story is still being kept well under wraps and, to be honest, could really go any number of ways due to the large contingent of supporting characters that have been added into the fray, so instead of speculating on the potential plot, I've decided to go a little different route. I've been through the back issues of GotG and am subscribed to the current Marvel Now title, which, as an aside, is fantastic, so while I would not call myself an expert, I am very familiar with the team we will see on screen and I've handled a few queries about the team from people in my circles so I've decided to handle it this way and share it with everyone.
The team we know we will see on the screen will be a 5-member squad composed of a pan-galactic group of loners and one-offs who will come together, apparently under some very shady circumstances, and, eventually, become a unit that will save the galactic day. Those members, are left to right, Drax the Destroyer, Gamora, Peter Quill, aka Star-Lord, Groot and Rocket Racoon. Let's do a little exploring into each of these unique characters.
Drax the Destroyer provides us with another member of the Guardians with a direct link to Thanos. You see, if it were not for Thanos, there would be no Drax and Drax exists for one purpose: the destruction of The Mad Titan, Thanos. Drax’s life began as just a normal dude by the name of Arthur Douglas who two things: his family and playing the saxophone. Thanos murdered Art and his wife and abducted their daughter Heather who he took back to Titan and turned her into one of the foremost, if not THE foremost, psionic beings in the galaxy: Moondragon.
Kronos, a fellow Titan to Thanos, placed the vengeful spirit of Art Douglas and placed it into the powerful green body you will become familiar with. Drax has many space adventures, coming into conflict with many of the major Cosmic entities in the Marvel Universe along the way. He is, at one point, seemingly separated from his physical body by the psionic powers of his own daughter only to be restored to a more powerful Destroyer’s body by Kronos.
Drax plays a role, along with others, in trying to prevent Thanos from using the Infinity Gauntlet to rule over all of space-time (a story line I fully expect to see down the road in the MCU). Drax does, at one point, have his revenge of Thanos, channeling Mola Ram and ripping the Titan’s heart from his chest (Aum Namah Shivaya!! Aum Namah Shivaya!!)
Drax is, as most of our Guardians are, a key player in the events of Annihilation and Annihilation: Conquest, joining Gamora as a Phalanx “select” in the former. He joins the Guardians after being released from the control of the Phalanx but his motives are under scrutiny early on. No matter what version of Drax you see in the comics one thing is certain: death will be left in his wake.
Former WWE superstar and current MONSTER Dave Bautista has signed up to take on the role of Drax in the film. Physically massive, Bautista also greatly impressed director James Gunn and the Marvel creative heads during his auditions and landed the role of one of the most feared beings in the Cosmic universe.
Drax is an interesting character and will certainly be a key player in almost every MCU entry that involved Thanos. While he will not always be trusted by his fellow Guardians you can count on Drax to play the hero when necessary, even if it looks like he isn’t. We can see from the props at SDCC that Drax will, to great joy, be wielding his dual blades and using them to deal death to some Badoons and who knows who else. Hopefully, down the road, we will see the heart of Thanos in Drax’s paw!
There you go folks…your Guardians of the Galaxy. It was a fun time writing these…I know they aren’t perfect or all-inclusive but I hope they serve their purpose and introduce these lesser known heroes to some of you ahead of their big-screen debut on August 1, 2014.