Last week things got pretty strange with the introduction of sorcery and other dimensions, and this week we are continuing this wacky ride by revisiting our favorite group of misfits. It’s time to check back in with the Frickin Guardians of the Galaxy (Read: Not as Frickin).
Plot
Ever since stopping Ronan the Accuser, the Guardians of the Galaxy have been doing what they do best: a little bit of good and bad. Most recently though, the Guardians helped an alien race known as the Sovereign defeat the Abilisk; a monster that has been eating the power source of the Sovereign known as Anulax batteries. The Guardians save the Anulax batteries in exchange for the Sovereign’s prisoner: Gamora’s sister Nebula! However, Rocket Raccoon steals some of the batteries for himself and the Sovereign retaliate. The Guardians are nearly killed when they are saved by a mysterious ship. The pilot? None other than Peter Quill’s father Ego! Ego invites his son and the rest of the Guardians to his home planet, but it becomes clear to Gamora early upon arrival that something is off. Meanwhile on another planet Yondu is exiled from the Ravagers, but he and his crew are hired by the Sovereign to bring back the Guardians. Upon learning that Peter Quill is with his father, Yondu abandons his crew and attempts to rescue the Guardians from what could be their biggest threat yet.
Villains
Ego the Living Planet is a Celestial. Celestials are ancient beings that existed long before most life in the galaxy did and are known to be capable of manipulating matter and energy. When Ego was born he created an entire planet in his image. However, Ego quickly became lonely and began to wonder what his purpose was in the universe. That’s when he came up with The Expansion. Ego traveled the universe planting parts of himself on various worlds so that one day he would be able to merge and become those worlds as well. To do that though, he would need another Celestial so Ego impregnated organism’s from each planet he visited in the hope that one of them would bare a child with Celestial genes. The children that were born without Celestial powers were murdered by ego along with their mothers. That’s right, Ego murdered thousands of children and mothers in his attempt to merge with every planet in the universe. Among the casualties of Ego’s expansion was Peter’s mother. Ego is a genocidal maniac with a god complex that’s so powerful hardly anyone in the Universe could stand toe to toe with him so yeah, he’s a pretty great Marvel villain. One of my favorites in the MCU if we’re being honest.
Best Scene
I never thought this would happen, but Marvel manages to make you sad about the death of Yondu. A major plot point in Vol. 2 is that Yondu seems to go out of his way to make sure that Peter is safe. It becomes obvious that Yondu truly grew to love Peter like a son. It doesn’t become anymore clear than his final sacrifice at the end of the film. Peter is battling Ego with his new Celestial powers with the full intent of dying in the explosion that Rocket and Groot set. The bomb goes off, but Yondu swoops in last minute and saves him. However he only has the gear for one of them to survive in space. Yondu tells Peter, “He may have been your father boy, but he wasn’t your daddy. I’m sorry that I didn’t do none of it right, but I’m damn lucky you’re my boy.” Yondu flies into orbit, gives Peter the gear needed to survive then slowly dies in front of his son. It’s arguably the most emotional scene in the MCU since Cap said goodbye to Peggy in The First Avenger. Also in case you were wondering, that’s three parents that Peter has seen die now…
Stan Lee Cameo
Yondu, Kraglin, Rocket, and Groot are using warp speed to travel across the galaxy to get to Ego’s planet (which is a hilarious trippy moment). While travelling they zip past Stan Lee sitting on an asteroid telling the Watchers about his time as a FedEx employee aka his past cameos in the MCU. It’s a great fourth wall breaking cameo that also confirmed that the Watchers (some of the most powerful beings in the comics) were in the MCU. It also raised the theory that Stan Lee showing up in each film is more than just an Easter egg. Could Stan Lee actually be an informant for the Watchers? Guardians Vol. 2 certainly seems to believe so!
Post Credits Scenes
The gauntlet of post credits scenes! There are FIVE of them!
Kraglin is practicing using the trademark arrow weapon that Yondu used. He has little success at first but eventually the arrow fires off impaling Drax who lets out a hilarious yell of pain. Kraglin then runs off in fear.
Stakar (the one who banished Yondu from the Ravagers) meets with other Ravagers. Stakar says, “You know it’s a shame that it took the tragedy of losing Yondu to bring us all together again, but I think he’d be proud knowing we were back as a team.” The other Ravagers nod in agreement excited to be back together! Now if you’re like me, you had no idea who these people were at first, but to the super die hard fans, this group is known as the ORIGINAL Guardians of the Galaxy from the comic books! Super cool scene for true Guardians fans!
The Sovereign high priestess is deeply upset that the Guardians managed to escape. An underling arrives to tell the high priestess that the council is waiting for her. The high priestess says the council is perturbed by the waste of resources used in her attempt to capture the Guardians but she is not worried. They have this discussion:
High Priestess: “When they see what I have created here, their rocks will dissipate.”
The underling asks, “It’s a type of birthing pod ma’am?”
High Priestess: “That, my child, is the next step in our evolution. More powerful, more beautiful, capable of destroying the Guardians of the Galaxy. I think I shall call him… Adam.”
AKA ADAM WARLOCK!!! Adam Warlock was a huge component of the Infinity Gauntlet story line in the comics, and although he supposedly isn’t showing up in the Infinity War movie, it’s still awesome to know that he’ll be on the big screen soon enough!
The next scene shows Peter checking up on Groot who is no longer a baby but rather a teenager ripe with teen angst! Peter tells Groot he needs to stop playing video games and clean his room and Groot mocks him calling him boring. Peter then says to himself that this must be how Yondu felt raising him.
Next we go back to Stan Lee who is still telling the Watchers about his cameos in the MCU, the Watchers though get bored and begin to leave. Stan calls out to them saying “Hey you were supposed to be my lift home! Hey ah gee, I’ve got so many more stories to tell!” You certainly do have a lot more stories to tell Stan!
Final Thoughts
I’m in the minority when I say this but I think this is the superior of the two Guardian movies. The first one while truly amazing is missing one thing Vol. 2 has: an excellent bad guy. Ronan the Accuser serves his purpose as a bad guy but he’s a pretty straightforward villain. Ego is far more memorable of the two both due to Kurt Russell’s portrayal of him and Ego’s actions. Also this film managed to change the fanbase’s opinions on Yondu. People hated him in the first film, but James Gunn had us all bawling over him in Vol. 2. The comedy of Vol. 2 is also better, there are more bigger laughs and that’s primarily because of Baby Groot! Vol. 2 in my humble opinion took everything that was great about the first movie, and made it even bigger and that’s why it’s one of my absolute favorite films in the MCU.
Thanos Meme of the Week
The Magical World of Dids 