Guardians of the Galaxy

Produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, it is the 10th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Directed by James Gunn, who wrote the screenplay with Nicole Perlman, it features an ensemble cast including Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldaña, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, and Bradley Cooper as the titular Guardians, along with Lee Pace, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, Djimon Hounsou, John C. Reilly, Glenn Close, and Benicio del Toro. In the film, Peter Quill (Pratt) and a group of extraterrestrial criminals go on the run after stealing a powerful artifact.

Perlman began working on the screenplay in 2009. Producer Kevin Feige first publicly mentioned Guardians of the Galaxy as a potential film in 2010 and Marvel Studios announced it was in active development at the July 2012 San Diego Comic-Con. Gunn was hired to write and direct the film that September.

In February 2013, Pratt was hired to play Peter Quill / Star-Lord, and the supporting cast members were subsequently confirmed. Principal photography began in July 2013 at Shepperton Studios in England, with filming continuing in London before wrapping in October 2013. In addition to an original score by Tyler Bates, the soundtrack includes several popular songs from the 1960s and 1970s chosen by Gunn. Post-production was completed on July 7, 2014.

Guardians of the Galaxy premiered at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, on July 21, 2014, and was theatrically released in the United States on August 1 as part of Phase Two of the MCU. It was a critical and commercial success, grossing $773.3 million worldwide and became the third-highest-grossing film of 2014.

It was praised for its screenplay, direction, acting, humor, soundtrack, visual effects and action sequences. It was nominated for two awards at the 87th Academy Awards, and received numerous other accolades. Two sequels have been released: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023).

In 2014, on the abandoned planet Morag, Quill steals a mysterious Orb, but is attacked by forces of the fanatical Kree renegade Ronan the Accuser led by Korath. Although Quill escapes with the Orb, Yondu discovers his theft and issues a bounty for his capture, while Ronan sends the assassin Gamora after the Orb.

When Quill attempts to sell the Orb on Xandar, capital of the Nova Empire, Gamora ambushes him and steals it. A fight ensues, drawing in a pair of bounty hunters: the genetically and cybernetically modified raccoon Rocket and the tree-like humanoid Groot. Nova Corps officers capture the four, detaining them in the Kyln prison.

An inmate, Drax the Destroyer, attempts to kill Gamora due to her association with Ronan, who killed his wife and daughter. Quill convinces Drax that Gamora can bring Ronan to him, though Gamora reveals that she has betrayed Ronan, unwilling to let him use the Orb’s power. Learning that Gamora intends to sell the Orb to the Collector Taneleer Tivan, Quill, Rocket, Groot, and Drax work with her to escape the Kyln in Quill’s ship, the Milano.

Ronan meets with Gamora’s adoptive father, Thanos, to discuss her betrayal. Quill’s group flees to Knowhere, a remote lawless outpost. A drunken Drax summons Ronan while the rest of the group meets Tivan. Tivan opens the Orb, revealing an Infinity Stone, an item of immeasurable power that destroys all but the most powerful beings who wield it.

Tivan’s slave Carina grabs the Stone, triggering an explosion that engulfs Tivan’s collection. Ronan arrives and easily defeats Drax, while the others flee by ship, pursued by Ronan’s followers, including Gamora’s adoptive sister Nebula. Nebula destroys Gamora’s ship, leaving her floating in space, and Ronan’s fighters capture the Orb.

Quill contacts Yondu before following Gamora into space, giving her his helmet to survive; Yondu arrives and retrieves the pair. Rocket, Drax, and Groot threaten to attack Yondu’s ship to rescue them, but Quill negotiates a truce, promising the Orb to Yondu. Quill’s group agrees that facing Ronan means certain death, but that they cannot let him use the Infinity Stone to destroy the galaxy.

On Ronan’s flagship, the Dark Aster, Ronan embeds the Stone in his warhammer, taking its power for himself. He contacts Thanos, threatening to kill him after first destroying Xandar. Hateful of her adoptive father, Nebula allies with Ronan.

The Ravagers and Quill’s group join with the Nova Corps to confront the Dark Aster at Xandar, with Quill’s group breaching the warship with the Milano. Ronan uses his empowered warhammer to destroy the Nova Corps fleet. Drax kills Korath and Gamora defeats Nebula, who escapes, but the group finds themselves outmatched by Ronan’s power. Rocket crashes a Ravager ship through the Dark Aster.

The damaged Dark Aster crash-lands on Xandar, with Groot sacrificing himself to shield the group. Ronan emerges from the wreck and prepares to destroy Xandar, but Quill distracts him, allowing Drax and Rocket to destroy Ronan’s warhammer. Quill grabs the freed Stone, and with Gamora, Drax, and Rocket sharing its burden, uses it to vaporize Ronan.

Quill gives Yondu a container supposedly containing the Stone, and gives the real one to the Nova Corps. As the Ravagers leave Xandar, Yondu remarks that it turned out well that they did not deliver Quill to his father per their contract. Quill’s group, now known as the Guardians of the Galaxy, has their criminal records expunged, and Quill learns that he is only half-human,

his father being part of an ancient, unknown species. Quill finally opens the last present he received from his mother, a cassette tape filled with her favorite songs. The Guardians leave in the rebuilt Milano along with a potted sapling cut from Groot, which grows into a baby version of him.

In a post-credits scene, Tivan sits in his destroyed archive with two of his living exhibits: a canine cosmonaut and an anthropomorphic duck.