We've known for some time that the Guardians of the Galaxy would be gaining a member when the sequel hits next year. While we don't know much about Mantis, we've been given our first peek via some concept art and a little discussion about her personality. If you thought that the combination of personalities was strange before, wait until Mantis joins the team, because she's never even had to deal with other people before.
This concept art, courtesy of Entertainment Weekly, gives us a look at all of the characters that we know and love from the first Guardians of the Galaxy film. However, in addition to all of them, we also see a new character in the background. While she has been conveniently placed in the back, so she's more difficult to make out, Mantis is definitely there along with the rest of the team. This gives us at least an idea of what the character, played by Pom Klementieff, will actually look like. In addition to the look, producer Jonathan Schwartz also gave us a brief idea of what the character will be like when we finally meet her.
She has never really experienced social interaction. Everything she learns about dealing with people, she learns from the Guardians of the Galaxy, which is a very weird group to learn your social intricacies from.
"Does not play well with others" should be a bumper sticker that Peter Quill puts on the Milano. The team was already made up of a band of misfits that was barely able to deal with each other. Now we discover that Mantis doesn't know how to interact with people, and she's going to learn how to do it from these crazy people? Drax barely understands the people he works with because they use hyperbole and metaphor in their language, which he is literally incapable if understanding. Nobody knows how to interact with Star-Lord because he's human and the only one any of them have ever known. Poor Mantis is going to be the most poorly socialized being in the galaxy.
Of course, the fact that Mantis is a little strange is going to be what makes her fit in so well with the rest of the oddballs. Most of the comedy from Guardians of the Galaxy came from these strange interactions between such different creatures, and while we're sure that we'll get more of this same humor in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, if that was all we got in the sequel it would feel like too much of a retread. Mantis will add a new and different sort of character interaction, giving the movie many new places to go with the comedy.
Does Mantis sound like a solid addition to the team? Let us know what you think in the comments.
