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.
You can catch up on Star-Lord and Groot here:
http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/TheNerdery/news/?a=84497
http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/TheNerdery/news/?a=84508
The heart and soul of the 2014 space adventure, at least according to its director, James Gunn, will be Rocket Racoon. If you spend as much time as I do on message boards or reading comments, you'll see that a majority of the people are dubious at best about a talking racoon being in an MCU movie and feel that his presence is a disaster or mockery waiting to happen. Simply put, these people do NOT know Rocket Racoon and how great of a character he is. If done well, Rocket will steal the show and people of all ages will be talking about him, his affinity for big guns and his motor mouth for years. This is going to be a whole lot more Yoda than it is Jar-Jar, moviegoers.
Rocket has an intense back story that we likely won't have time to see in the film, but one worth running through quickly. Rocket comes to us from a planet called Halfworld, which is, of course, in the Keystone Quadrant, which as you know is an area of deep space which is sectioned off from the rest of the universe by the Galacian Wall. The briefest way to describe Rocket's origin is that he was designed by robots to act as a caretaker of a group of societal cast-offs on Halfworld. Exactly what was done to a racoon to make it humanoid and bipedal is probably best left for a futuristic Island of Dr. Moreau follow-up, but it worked and we ended up with a smart-ass, talking racoon who loves murdering dudes with big guns. He also loves his buddy Groot, who we met earlier.
Rocket and Groot form a fast friendship early on during the events of Annihilation: Conquest...Star-Lord is a bit freaked out by Rocket and finds a bit of humor in the fact that a racoon and a tree are buds. In most cases it falls to Rocket to collect a bit of a blowed-up Groot and care for him while he regains his strength and size. Their comradery is central in the books and hopefully explored on screen as it can make for soe light moments and serious moments as well.
Rocket is fiercely loyal and and quite a military mind. He will be essential in hatching whatever tactics the Guardians use during the movie and while Star-Lord is the guy who forms the team, it is unquestionably Rocket who keeps it together when things look bleak.
We haven't been given a name of an actor who will voice Rocket, nor one for Groot for that matter, but I am sure Marvel will get it right. While he is a CGI character he is going to be the one in the center of the action. Speculation has centered around Vin Diesel for the role and I think that would be splendid but really, whomever they cast just needs to be able to say, "Boom!!! Murdered you!! Bam!! Murdered you too!!" and even if it was Mike Tyson's voice box shooting it out I would squee.
That puts a bow on Rocket. Next up: The Most Dangerous Woman in the Universe(and she ain't half bad neither)...Gamora.