Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Guardians of the Galaxy: The Next Step for Marvel

While Guardians of the Galaxy was not just an amazing film, it also represented an important step towards the future of Marvel’s Cinematic Universe. After The Avengers became an amazing success for Marvel, the announcement that they were making a Guardians of the Galaxy movie confused many fans, myself included. I mean, unless you’re a hardcore comic book fan you probably had no idea such a property as Guardians of the Galaxy existed prior to the movie. So it seems shocking that this would be the movie that would lead into the sequel to The Avengers. But having seen the film and followed the various Marvel developments, I completely understand the thinking behind the higher ups at Marvel.

While there is a plethora of super heroes in the Marvel stable, there is also a vast universe of Marvel characters that go beyond just the Earth. Alien races and Cosmic Beings also populate the Marvelverse. And just in this one film, along with the Guardians, there is mention of many different parts of the Marvel galaxy. We see members of the Kree, an alien race that is important to the origins of several characters. The Celestials, who are a race of godlike giant beings who silently interact with the universe. The Nova Corps, who has had several members living among the earth. Also the Collector, a cosmic being who is fond of collecting (duh) rare and unique items. And finally, though we did get a glimpse of him at the end of Avengers, we got to see Josh Brolin as the Mad Titan Thanos.

That last character is most important to the future of Marvel franchises. Thanos is one of the big villains of the Marvel universe. In his most famous storyline, The Infinity Saga, Thanos got his hands on the Infinity gems (one of which was heavily featured in Guardians) and fashions them to his gauntlet (the Infinity Gauntlet), which he used to kill basically half of all the sentient beings in the galaxy. So with the teases of various Infinity gems (the cube in Captain America, the Ether in Thor: The Dark World, The Staff in Avengers, and the gem in Gaurdians; with two gems still to be revealed) it implies that the possible Avengers 3 will involve the heroes of the Marvel Universe finally facing off against Thanos.

And the Infinity Gems themselves are a hint to what future stories may have in store for the Marvel Universe. As I said before, two gems have not been shown yet. The Soul Gem and the Time Gem have not yet been featured in any film. Recent announcement from Marvel that they were doing a Dr. Strange film suggests that the Soul Gem would be featured in that film. It certainly would fit in with the mysticism of the series and help tie him in with the rest of the Marvel characters. As for the Time Gem, there are certainly a number of different ways such a device could factor into the lives of each of the many heroes in the cinematic universe. Certainly Captain America has a strange relationship with time, being a man from the forties living in modern times.

Also since the alien Kree were heavily featured in Guardians (the villain Ronan is a Kree) rumors have already surfaced that fan favorite Captain Marvel will be showing up in Avengers 2. And not just Captain Marvel, but the fan favorite Carol Danvers version of Captain Marvel, which fans have been clamoring for to appear on the big screen since the entire Marvel cinematic universe first launched. Announcements from Marvel Studios Head Kevin Feige that he is eager to get a female super hero film on the screen would help fuel this assumption as well. While there are certainly many candidates for a female Marvel hero to join the Avengers cinematic universe, Captain Marvel is definitely the front runner.


Since Samuel L. Jackson made his first appearance as Nick Fury at the end of Iron Man, certain Marvel films have marked milestones in the Marvel Universe. Iron Man 2 featured additional Avengers (Black Widow) alongside Tony Stark. Captain America lead right into the events of The Avengers. And of course there is The Avengers uniting all the heroes together for the first time. Now Guardians opens up the Cosmic universe for the future of the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe.

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