The interstellar A-holes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe are back in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, coming May 5. From director James Gunn, the superpowered sequel reunites us with Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax, Baby Groot, Rocket, Yondu and some other important characters both familiar and new. Want to know more? Here’s our Quick Guide to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2.:
- Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is the 15th movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
- But filmmaker James Gunn says not to expect too many connections to the Earthbound MCU.
- “It’s something that’s made to move toward future cosmic movies,” he says.
- Guardians 2 is set just a few months after the events of the first film.
- Baby Groot is back! Gunn created a “Groot Version” of the script for Vin Diesel, which has Groot’s lines in English.
- Whereas Groot protected Rocket in the first movie, now it’s Rocket who protects Groot.
- Old enemies become allies: Yondu, the blue-skinned Ravager, is now a member of the Guardians.
- Karen Gillian’s Nebula is a member of the team now, too. The movie further explores her relationship with her sister Gamora.
- Mantis, played by Pom Klementieff, is a new member of the team who has empathic powers and a special connection to Peter.
- Gunn removed other new characters from the script because he wanted to go deeper with the existing characters.
- Awesome Mix Vol. 2 will have more variety than the first soundtrack, Gunn says.
- Star-Lord finally meets his dad. And it’s Kurt Russell. He plays Ego, the human form of a character who’s actually a living planet.
- Gunn wrote the Ego character into the movie, but later learned Marvel didn’t actually own the rights.
- Marvel traded Fox for the rights to Ego in exchange for changes the studio wanted to make to Negasonic Teenage Warhead in Deadpool.
- Guardians 2 has earned a rare 100 score from audiences in recent test screenings. We’ll know just how good when it opens on May 5.
