The MCU has seen several groups of heroes over the course of the years. The Avengers, the lesser known Warriors Three, the short-lived Revengers, and of course, the Guardians of the Galaxy. This ragtag group of misfits came together to escape jail and ended up saving the galaxy as a team. After that, they stayed together, taking on all kinds of odd jobs to earn money. Their time in the MCU has earned them two solo movies, as well as the chance to team up with the rest of the heroes in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.
Since the end of the Infinity Saga and after several heroes have left the MCU, many fans wonder if more heroes will be leaving the MCU as new ones enter into it. It’s unclear for many, especially Hawkeye or Hulk, who seem to be getting their own replacements in Kate Bishop and She-Hulk, but Marvel hasn’t announced that anyone is leaving yet. It is clear, however, that the Guardians will be around for a while more, as they’ve appeared in the recent Thor: Love and Thunder trailers, and Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume Three is in the works. If you’re still not entirely sure who they are or why they’re together, don’t worry! Check out this character guide to give yourself a refresher while we wait for the next movie.
Peter Quill/Starlord
Though the movies feature the Guardians as a whole, Peter Quill, also known as Starlord, is definitely considered the main character. Played by Chris Pratt, we first meet him in Guardians of the Galaxy, learning of his origins. He had to witness the death of his mother at a young age, when she died of cancer. Not long after, he runs into a field alone, and is abducted by Yondu, a ravager from outer space. The ravagers are a gang of thieves, and they raise Quill to be a common space criminal like them. When he grows up and goes off on his own, he ends up with a bounty on his head for taking the next job the ravagers were going to do. This, combined with the fact that the artifact he was trying to sell was a powerful infinity stone, is what landed him in jail.
The Guardians team up to escape jail and go through several trials together across the course of the movies they are in. Of course, Quill is at the center of almost all of their problems. Ronan would have never been after them in the first movie if it wasn’t for the infinity stone in their possession. His father comes to find them in the second movie, but turns out to have been the villain all along, and they have to stop him to save the galaxy again. And, when they meet up with the Avengers, Quill takes the lead as the un-appointed head of the group to help stop Thanos.
Quill is half human, half celestial. His father, Ego, is the celestial, also known as the living planet. Before destroying Ego to save the galaxy, Quill did discover he had god-like creation powers and used them in Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume Two to help fight Ego. Otherwise, he doesn’t have any powers. He frequently utilizes rocket boots, two hand guns, and his signature mask, and fights his way through his problems with them. He’s also a skilled criminal and pilot.
Gamora
Gamora, played by Zoe Saldana, is introduced in the first movie, though in-depth details on her origins don’t come until Avengers: Infinity War. She is a daughter of Thanos, adopted by him after he raided her planet and killed half of the population. Ever since, she’s been his favorite, even though she didn’t like it. In fact, the whole reason she’s in the first movie is that she was supposed to retrieve the stone for Thanos but was already planning on betraying him and selling it for herself. She doesn’t really like the idea of working with a group at first, but knows there’s no other choice and quickly comes around to it.
Quill and Gamora are romantically interested in each other, and at one point could be considered dating, but after Avengers: Infinity War, their relationship status is unclear. Gamora was killed by Thanos in order to get one of the infinity stones, but a different version of her was brought back from the past and, as far as we know, is still alive somewhere, just not with the Guardians. It will be interesting to see what the next movies have in store for her.
Gamora is from an alien species known as Zen-Whoberis, and as such, her skin is completely green.She doesn’t have any powers either, but is an expert fighter and assassin. It was all she was raised to do, really, as we do learn that she and her sister fought regularly as training. While Thanos did adopt many children, it was mostly so that he could have someone he could trust to help him fight and do his dirty work. She now uses these skills to help the Guardians fight against the problems they always end up in.
Rocket Raccoon
Disney
Rocket Raccoon, also just called Rocket, is voiced by Bradley Cooper. He is a raccoon that was captured from Earth and experimented on and has metal implants in his back from the experiments. It’s unclear what exactly the experiments did, but he is anthropomorphic and can speak, so those are generally attributed to the previous experiments. Other than being a walking, talking animal, Rocket doesn’t have any other defining features. He is, however, ridiculously smart, often creating devices out of scraps he pulled together to help them get out of tough situations.
We meet Rocket in the first movie, a bounty hunter after Quill for the money on his head. He seems the most reluctant of all to work together, even though he already has a partner in Groot, but doesn’t want to give up on the money that’s on Quill’s head, so he joins them. Despite being introduced as a bounty hunter, he’s also a criminal, having stolen some of the valuable goods they were hired to protect in the beginning of the second movie and causing them to be chased away from the planet by the entire defensive fleet. He’s also one of the few Guardians to survive Thanos’ snap, meaning he had to team up with the Avengers for a while to try and get the others back. During this time he does find a tentative friendship with Thor.
Groot
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Groot, voiced by Vin Diesel, is Rocket’s partner in crime, though he doesn’t often seem like a criminal. He’s an anthropomorphic tree of very few words — all he says is "I am Groot." However, Rocket is the only person who can actually understand what that means in the first two movies, meaning it is actually a language. He acts more like a pet than anything, but when needed, he can grow roots at will that help fight off people or protect his friends.
Despite not saying or doing much, Groot is still one of the most beloved characters by audiences (he even has a TV series of shorts). He sacrificed his life to protect the Guardians in the first movie, though the twigs that remained were replanted and now a new, younger anthropomorphic tree has joined the group. Baby Groot is featured in Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume Two and helps the group in a couple of situations where they need someone his size, and then moves up to a teenager in the Avengers movies.
Drax
Drax, played by Dave Bautista, is the last of the original Guardians group. He’s a Kylosian with a tragic backstory — Ronan killed his wife and daughter, and now he’s searching the galaxy for his revenge. He has greenish-gray skin along with lots of swirling red markings, though it’s unclear if the marks are tattoos or also his skin. He is often seen as the comedic muscle of the group due to his inability to understand metaphors, and definitely gets the group into multiple problems because he doesn’t take any time to think about what he’s doing.
He only joins the group because he knows Ronan is after the stone and thinks it will give him the chance for revenge, but after discovering Ronan doesn’t even remember killing his family and almost dying himself, he quickly gives up on it but continues to stick with the group as the extra muscle for all the fights they get into. He may not do much else, but he’s shown to have a big heart and definitely warms up to the group quickly.
Mantis
We don’t meet Mantis until Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume Two, and even then we don’t know much about her backstory; she is played by Pom Klementieff. It’s unclear what species she is, but it is definitely insectopd, because despite her human appearance, she has antennas on her forehead and large eyes. As far as we know, Mantis was adopted by Ego and raised alone on his planet, so she developed a naive and awkward personality. Despite everything Ego has done for her, she eventually betrays Ego and helps the Guardians defeat him, leaving with them and joining the team as they start the fight against Thanos.
Mantis is one of the few Guardians to actually have powers (though she's arguably the weakest superhero). She’s an empath, meaning she can read people’s feelings easily, and she does this by touching them. Reading feelings is how she came to find out about Ego’s plan to take over the galaxy. Her powers can also change people’s emotions, and she used this a few times. Perhaps one of the most used aspects however is that she can put people to sleep. She helps Ego sleep throughout the years but then also holds him back by putting him to sleep in the middle of the final battle, and also paralyzes Thanos for a few minutes while trying to put him to sleep. She has no fighting experience however, so this is really the only way she can help.
Nebula
Nebula, played by Karen Gillan, is an interesting member, as she was originally introduced as an antagonist. She’s a cybernetic Luphomoid with blue skin, a master assassin, and Gamora’s sister. It’s revealed that the cybernetics came because of her training with Gamora — any time she lost, Thanos took her and replaced a different part of her to try and make her better. The only problem was, she never could defeat Gamora. Because of this she was always trying to please Thanos to prove herself worthy.
In her quest to please Thanos, she fights against Gamora a lot in the first movie, trying to keep her from saving the galaxy and also trying to bring the stone back to Thanos herself. As the Guardians keep her prisoner in the second movie, however, she slowly comes around to the idea of leaving Thanos behind and joining the crew. She is the only other surviving Guardian from Thanos’ snap, and returns to Earth with Tony Stark to help bring everyone back.