Meet the “Guardians of the Galaxy”

Much to the excitement of many comic book fans, Marvel will be releasing a movie for the franchise, Guardians of the Galaxy, starring characters which are not as well known as the likes of Iron Man and Spider-Man. If you worry that you too do not know the characters or what to expect, never fear, for Marvel has a solution to your problem!

Hit the jump to learn more!

If you were following the Guardians of the Galaxy Twitter account, you may have seen this tweet:

Which @Guardians hero do you want to see more of: #Gamora #Groot #Rocket #StarLord or #Drax? Tell us w/ the hashtags! http://t.co/tKFfxUSKFn

— GuardiansOfTheGalaxy (@Guardians) February 19, 2014

Once people got to tweeting, Marvel started releasing bio’s of all five members of this interstellar “team.”  This past week’s Viral Video Roundup included some explanations from comic book fans, but to understand each character’s role in the movie, watch the following videos.

First, is Rocket Racoon (who’s not actually a racoon). Voiced by Bradley Cooper, this feisty machine gun-toting rodent is a handful. The character was originally created by writer Bill Mantlo and was introduced in Marvel Preview #7 in 1976.

Peter Quill, known by himself as Starlord, is played by Parks and Recreations’ Chris Pratt. He was an interplanetary policeman in the comics, introduced in Marvel Preview #4, in 1976, and created by Steve Englehart and Steve Gan.

Drax the Destroyer, known simply here as Drax, is a human who was enhanced physically to do battle with Thanos. This once again ties the Avengers story line towards Thanos, who is expected to appear in The Avengers 3. Drax is played by Dave Bautista, and was introduced in Iron Man #55 in 1973, created by Mike Friedrich and Jim Starlin.

Once again tying the Thanos storyline to the Marvel Universe, we have Gamora, adopted daughter of Thanos, who is a green female alien played by Zoe Saldana. Created by Jim Starlin in Strange Tales #180, she had superhuman strength, speed, and was the last of her kind.

Our last member is Groot, the tree-like hero voiced by Vin Diesel. He is also known as Monarch of Planet X, and was created by Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, and Dick Ayers in Tales to Astonish #13 in 1960. Originally an invader who wanted to experiment on humans, he was eventually rewritten to be a good guy.

Guardians of the Galaxy will be released on August 1st, 2014. It is directed by James Gunn and stars Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, and Doctor Who’s Karen Gillan. It is the final film in Marvel: Phase Two before the release of Avengers: Age of Ultron in 2015.