After months and months of waiting, Marvel Studios unleashed the first theatrical trailer for James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy this evening, and I can tell you with absolute honesty that jaws are on the floor all around the Cinema Blend offices. The movie looks like an absolutely wild, funny, action-filled space adventure, and its August release date couldn’t feel further away.
While the trailer probably looks familiar to those of you who attended San Diego Comic-Con last year, as the preview is about 90% the same as the footage that was shown there, there is still a lot to take in. This trailer introduces audiences to a whole new gang of characters most know nothing about, but perhaps the coolest things about it are the smaller details that are packed within. We’ve been closely scanning the entire thing frame-by-frame and have made some really awesome discovers, and we’ve shared them with you below! (and click on all the images to see them in high-def!)
Ronan The Accuser does make an appearance… and he’s strangling Drax
The trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy is very hero heavy, individually introducing every member of the titular team, but you may have noticed that the central villain of the movie, Lee Pace’s Ronan The Accuser, never got any time in the spotlight. That said, he does appear for one brief moment. While you don’t actually see his face, this still from the montage features Ronan not only choking Drax, but actually lifting him off his feet. "How do you know it’s Ronan if you can’t see his face?" you ask? Just look in the space between the characters and you’ll notice Ronan’s signature hammer!
Rocket has the longest rap sheet of everyone
As you probably figured out by now, the "heroes" of Guardians of the Galaxy are a bit left of center from that term. After all, these are all characters who meet each other while incarcerated in space prison. As we are introduced to the protagonists, we actually get to see all of their past crimes shown digitally on the left side of the screen. These characters all mean serious business, as Gamora has 12 counts of murder on her record and Drax has 22 (plus 5 counts of GBH a.k.a. grievous bodily harm), but of the group Rocket has actually accumulated the longest record: 13 counts of theft, 14 counts of escape from incarceration, 7 counts of mercenary activity, 15 counts of arson (also, he has "a tendency to bite")
Nebula is in the prison at some point, too
We’ve talked at length about the Guardians’ accumulative time in prison, but the very scary thing is that it looks like they are not alone. While we obviously can’t say when this shot takes place – either before, during or after the Guardians have been incarcerated – the image above suggests that Nebula, played by Doctor Who’s Karen Gillan, also spends some time in lock-up, which isn’t good news for our heroes, as she is one of the villains hunting them. She doesn’t appear to be having too hard a time inside, though, as it looks like she has given that Nova Corps officer quite the beating.
Is this the third Infinity Stone?
Fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe were first introduced to the "Infinity Stones" during the end credits of Thor: The Dark World. In the special tag scene, it is revealed that the Tesseract from The Avengers and the magical Aether from the Thor sequel are two of six artifacts known as the Infinity Stones that possess incredible galactic powers. Ever since we first read the Guardians of the Galaxy official plot description we’ve known about a special mysterious orb’s role in the movie’s story, but is it possible that it’s yet another member of the notorious artifact group?
Some of the characters have really weird enhancements
We’ve already talked about how the digital displays during the Guardians introductions show off the characters’ long rap sheets, but what they also show is various stats and information Star-Lord has a translator implant in his neck; Drax has enhanced musculature, impact-resistant skin and augmented cellular generation; Gamora has cybernetic appendages, ocular and reperatory implants and an enhanced neurological system; and Rocket features a cybernetic skeletal structure, enhance phalange and metacarpal bones, and a genetically augmented cerebral cortex. The only one left without enhancements is Groot, where it just says "None Known."
