The Guardians of The Galaxy

The highly anticipated Guardians of the Galaxy film came out last week to rave reviews and claims that it is the greatest Marvel film ever made. With a sequel already planned, the pandemonium caused by the film, if you haven’t seen it yet, you’d better hurry on down to a cinema.

If you're not a comic book buff then don't worry - here's a run down of the anti-heroes and what they can do.

First up is Peter Quill, otherwise known as Star-Lord, an interplanetary policeman. Played by Chris Pratt, he’s the half-human, half-alien leader of the Guardians. He is a brilliant strategist, a weapons and combat expert and is highly knowledgeable in various alien cultures and customs. Wearing his special suit he also possesses an element gun that is able to project s any one of the 4 elements (air, earth, fire and water) as well as super strength.

Next is Zoe Saldana as Gamora, the only superheroine of the Guardians. She is unique in that she is the last of her species the Zen Whoberi and was taken in by baddie Thanos and trained as a deadly assassin before eventually rebelling against him. Gamora is one of the most skilled combatants in martial arts in the universe, and is deadly with bladed weapons. She also possesses super speed and strength, making her one of the most fearsome members of the Guardians.

Drax the Destroyer played by Dave Bautista, has a troubled past like the other Guardians, having once been human before his soul was planted into a physically stronger form, his one mission is to destroy Thanos (hence his name). He is grren-grey in the film (green in the comic books, but made greyer in order to avoid similarities to Hulk), with scars/tattoos. His powers in the movie are super strength and he is also highly skilled with knives and blades.

Groot, voiced by gravel-toned Vin Diesel, is an alien tree form (a Flora Colussus to be exact) and with his friend Rocket (more about him next), is a bounty hunter. Like all Flora Colussus he can regenerate, has colossal strength, can grow in size and also has the power of florakinesis (the ability to control plants) His hard and durable wood hide also means that it is really hard to harm him with conventional weapons.

Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper), is a genetically engineered raccoon who, along with Groot, is a bounty hunter as well as a mercenary, skilled weapons master and battle strategist. He is also an accomplished star ship pilot and an expert marksman. Added to this he still possesses extra animal senses still such as heightened sight, smell, hearing and touch.

So there you have the 5 members of the Guardians of the Galaxy. They are a ragtag bunch, but this is part of their charm, that they are not some glossy superheroes parachuting in to save the day. So if you haven’t seen ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ yet, then make sure that you do! At cinemas nationwide.