Guardians of the Galaxy will feature Star-Lord, Rocket Raccoon, Groot, Gamora and Drax

[Cary Preston]

http://www.hitfix.com/news/guardians-of-the-galaxy-will-feature-star-lord-rocket-raccoon-groot-gamora-and-drax

[Luke Jaconetti]

The worst kept secret in Hollywood is now official.

 

Should be a lot of fun seeing how the hype for this is handled.  I forsee a lot of "Is Marvel crazy?" and "Green Lantern PROVED cosmic heroes DON'T WORK!!!!!" type of chatter balanced against the True Believers who will be shouting "I AM GROOT!" and "Rocket Racoon for the win!!"

On Sunday, July 15, 2012 10:23:29 AM UTC-4, cwpreston wrote:

http://www.hitfix.com/news/guardians-of-the-galaxy-will-feature-star-lord-rocket-raccoon-groot-gamora-and-drax

[Jason Service]

I used to be a reader of Marvel. I quit in the 90's. Most of these names mean NOTHING to me. Drax the Destroyer and Rocket Racoon are names i have heard of. Never read a single comic they were even in as a cameo that i can recall.

 

This makes me really have serious concerns about this one...I read Marvel for more than a decade and don't know who these characters are. I hope that Marvel makes this work, but i am not in any way excited about this group. I am sure with proper marketing and trailers, they could get my interest, but this may be a HUGE test for Marvel...getting fans of their more traditional properties interested in this group, but a more difficult proposition, getting folks with no comic history/interest to come see this. It'll be interesting.

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[Cary Preston]

The bulk of the crowds that made Avengers such a financial success probably aren't comics readers. Guardians is a good calculated move; while it's a lesser known Marvel title it lies a bit outside of the typical superhero story that's saturated the market. It could be marketed as a scifi/space opera story instead of superhero.

[Jason Service]

Cary,

 

To a degree i can agree with your sentiments about the Avengers and the folks who saw that film as not being comic readers. That being said, almost every kid in the United States knows who Captain America is. Almost every kid born in the US since 1941 knows who Cap is. That helps sell some tickets. A baby-boomer GrandPa born in 1949 is a lot more likely to take his grandson to see Avengers when even he knows who one of the characters is. Ask Joe on the street if he knows who Rocket Raccoon is and you will likely get a reply referencing a Beatles song...if anything at all.

[Ronald Methvin]

I would have preferrf the original Guardians of the Galaxy.  With it being set in the future, it easily ties into the Avergers, such as the search for Cap's sheild, the alien race, The Stark, Asgardians are immortal, and they could introduce Vance Astro in another movie before he gets stuck in hypersleep (which I only now realized the man-out-of-time simularities to Cap).

 

They had the new GotG in a recent episode of the Avengers animated series a few weeks ago, and I couldn't tell you who/what half those characters are.  I don't mean just that I didn't recognize them then, but I don't remember them now.  Not very memerable.  Let's see, there was Rocket Racoon and Drax, some Quasar-like lady,an Ent-like guy, and a human in a space suit.

 

I don't see this a great idea.

 

~Ron 

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[Shag]

Here is my take on this... Marvel/Disney is looking for the next big film franchise.  They want to stay close to the superhero genre, but don't want to overdue Avengers too soon.  So the very popular Guardians of the Galaxy seems logical.  For those of you who haven't followed Marvel Comics in a while, Guardians of the Galaxy exploded in popularity a few years ago thanks to a big event called "Annihilation".  Also, I'm sure Marvel/Disney executives are already having daydreams of Rocket Raccoon being the most merchandised CGI character in history.  Move over Shrek and Garfield, here comes the world's funniest and cutest Raccoon! 

My opinion is that Guardians of the Galaxy is a comic that worked in that situation.  Meaning it was the right time, the right writers, the right artists, etc.  It worked at that moment, but probably wouldn't have if any of those element were different.  I think the same of James Robinson's Starman, and Neil Gaiman's Sandman.  It struck at the perfect time, was wildly successful, but trying to recapture that magic probably isn't feasible.  (And yes, I'm aware DC just announced a Neil Gaiman Sandman prequel.  It'll sell well, but when it's over will it really be remembered often and fondly?)

Now Marvel Studios hasn't produced a dud yet, and they are smart guys.  So I'm sure they'll make the Guardians of the Galaxy a fun and exciting movie.  They'll probably even tie it loosely into their other superhero movies to generate some buzz.  Using a Disney analogy... when it's all over, I think Guardians of the Galaxy will be like Disney's Pocahontas.  Lots of people saw it, everyone seemed to think it was fine, but a few years later and no one talks about it anymore.  And hey, Pocahontas had a raccoon too.

Just my two cents.

The Irredeemable Shag

[Ronald Methvin]

How popular is it, really?  I don't even think it is an active book, at least I couldn't find sales numbers for it.

 

Wikipedia says its first printing in 2008 did sellout, but its run was less than 40K. It was the 61st highest selling title that month.  Not sure what its peak number were.

 

Ron

[Luke Jaconetti]

GotG was the kind of book which would be  described as having a "rabid fanbase" moreso than being a big seller for Marvel.  That book, along with Nova and the Annihilation story threads, garnered huge response from a relatively small segment of the fandom. 

 

Personally I think that GotG could be a really fun, high energy space opera type of movie.  I am thinking something old school like the OT of Star Wars, not weighed down by lots of drama and such. 

 

Just a thought.

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[rave...@aol.com]

Will DC counter with Omega Men or Atari Force, do you think?

Caw!

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[Cary Preston]

I'm holding out for the Micronauts movie!

[rave...@aol.com]

That might actually have more of a shot. In fact... I'll be surprised if there ISN'T a Micronauts movie announced in the next five years.

I think you're on to something.

Caw!

[Shag]

Good clarification on the Guardians of the Galaxy comic fanbase, Luke.  Thanks.

I demand a Micronauts and Atari Force crossover!  I've been buying up old Micronauts back issues over the past few years.  Those are some glorious Bronze Age space opera adventures!  I plan to dive into Atari Force within the next year or so.

Shag

[Jason Service]

Shag's retirement plan:  Old issues of Micronauts

[Van]

If they don't do a GOTG movie, I'm curious what Marvel super-team they could choose that would be more popular with today's fans. They don't have rights to the FF or X-Men.

Inhumans? At best they've been 2nd fiddle to the GOTG the last decade-plus, appearing in the G's comic rather than vice versa.

Defenders? Gotta get a Dr Strange movie out first, and you can't use Surfer, and Hulk is problematic, and Nighthawk is, too, in a different way.

Champions? Some of the same problems as Defenders, plus--you can't tell me they're more popular than the Guardians.

Thunderbolts? That's an interesting possibility, but it's more of a one trick pony. But I have a couple of friends named Kurt and Fabian who would be thrilled. :-)

And, honestly, if you've read Marvel comics at all over the last 40 years, you should've at least heard of or encountered most of those characters. Drax the Destroyer has been all over. Gamora always appears with Thanos and with Warlock. Star-Lord has been in various books since before I even started reading--he starred in Marvel Preview magazine and has been consistently used since then. And the two others--Rocket and Groot--have been around and are popular with my kids and my wife, for sure.

My question is how you do this with no Warlock. He is, to me, sort of the point. Lacking him, you at least IMO need a Mar-Vell or Carol or Quasar.

But there's no way the old version is more popular today, or better-known by the public, than the current lineup. If you read Marvel and don't know about them, that's fine, but it's like if I complained about the specific choices in the X-Men movies based on my not having read their corner of the MU in thirty years.

--Van

[Cary Preston]

There are some lesser teams they could possibly try: Alpha Flight, New Warriors, Runaways, maybe Excalibur (although Nightcrawler would be an issue) come to mind. Then there's the retro stuff they could try, like the Invaders.
While the last XMen movie was surprisingly fun, I'd still much rather see Marvel regain the rights to all their characters. I'd do a happy dance to see everything build to an XMen VS Avengers flick.

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[Luke Jaconetti]

I am sure Marvel would love to get their rights back as well, but Sony and Fox are not going to let them go lightly.  The new Fantastic Four is evidently going to be about 180 degrees from the two previous films.

 

Of the ones you mentioned, I don't think Excalibur could work.  And I am saying this as the biggest Excalibur fan I know.  The reason for this goes beyond just Nightcrawler -- the entire setup of the team depends a LOT on both the X-Men (Nightcrawler, Shadowcat, and Phoenix ended up with Excalibur because the X-Men were believed to be dead) and the history of Captain Britain (itself very complex and involved in its own right).  Beyond that, the series was always a strange mix of mutants and magic, and I just don't think it would translate well. 

 

The problem with Alpha Flight would be how do you sell it?  Wouldn't most Joe Bloggs moviegoers turn up there nose and laugh at a Canadian superteam?

 

I think that you could definitely do a New Warriors or Runaways type of movie, so long as you were very careful with whom you selected as your characters.  Like, with New Warriors, you could use Night Thrasher, Firestorm, Speedball, and... someone else and I think you could make that work very well.  Maybe Darkhawk (just don't bother trying to explain the origins of the android body).

 

Captain America showed us that the Invaders can definitely work.  Only problem would be that I imagine Marvel would want to have an Invaders movie anchored by Cap, and he's already in the modern day.  Do you do an "untold tale" from World War II? 

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[Jason Service]

How about New Mutants?  Does Marvel have the rights to NM i wonder...i mean you can't use any X-Men but that isn't to say you can't have it take place at the X-Mansion, in the Danger room and against the Hellions.

 

I suppose you get into some issues with who runs the team, you can't use Professor X since he seems to be owned by Fox...

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[Van]

 

If nothing else, this conversation has convinced me that doing a Guardians of the Galaxy movie was definitely the right way to go!  :-)

 

--Van