Marvel’s surprise hit brought a new team into the public lexicon: The Guardians of the Galaxy. If you don’t remember how they got together, this is the article for you.
On Earth in the late 80’s a young Peter Quill witnesses the unfortunate death of his mother due to cancer. With only a backpack containing his prized walkman, her favorite music mix tape, and her last unopened gift to him a distraught Peter flees the hospital, only to be abducted by an alien spacecraft.
Years later we rejoin Quill, now the outlaw Star Lord, retrieving a mysterious orb from a dead planet. His retrieval mission is interrupted by Korath, a lieutenant of Ronan the Accuser. Peter is able to fight his way free with the orb and barely escapes the planet. Yondu, the leader of the Ravagers that kidnapped Quill as a child and raised him, has a deal with the Broker on planet Xandar for the orb, and is enraged that Quill is attempting to cut him out of the deal by going alone, so he puts a bounty on Star Lord’s head. Meanwhile Ronan, filled with a hatred of Xandar after a centuries long war, and ignoring a peace treaty signed between his people, the Kree, has been systematically causing chaos, killing Xandarians. He’s made a deal of his own, with the warlord Thanos, who has promised to destroy Xandar for Ronan if Ronan brings him the orb, so he is furious at Korath for losing it and sends Thanos’ daughter Gamora to retrieve it.
On Xandar, Quill hits a snag when the Broker finds out that Ronan is after the orb and refuses to buy it. On his way out Quill encounters Gamora and is attacked. Then she is attacked by a raccoon and a walking tree, Rocket and Groot, who are after the bounty Yondu put on Quill. The four continue to trade the upper hand until the fight is brought to a close by the Nova Corps, Xandar’s police force, and are sent to the Kiln space prison.
Gamora’s life is threatened by another prisoner, Drax the Destroyer, who is on a quest to kill Ronan and all of his followers for the death of his wife and child. Star Lord convinces him that Gamora is more valuable alive and as bait. Gamora tells them that she planned on betraying Ronan, and that she has a buyer for the orb that can make them all rich if they escape, and Rocket comes up with a plan to do so for a portion of the profits. Drax insists on joining them to stay near Gamora and his chance at revenge. Rocket’s plan is successful and the five fight their way off of the prison and back to Star Lord’s ship, after retrieving their things.
Gamora leads the group to the distant mining outpost of Knowhere and they bond over drinks while waiting to meet her contact, the Collector. He informs them that the orb is actually one of the infinity stones, and that it has the power to destroy worlds, but that it is too powerful for any one person to hold for a more than a moment without being destroyed themselves, a fact that his assistant defiantly demonstrates by blowing herself and his collection up trying to escape her servitude. Seeing the orbs destructive power Gamora realizes they can’t leave it in the hands of the Collector or risk Ronan getting his hands on it, and convinces Star Lord that it needs to be delivered into the hands of the Nova Corps. Before the group can reach a consensus, Ronan arrives with an army, called by an impatient and drunken Drax, and the Ravagers arrive looking for Star Lord after having squeezed the Broker to find out where he might be going.
Gamora steals a mining pod and takes off with the orb, with her sister Nebula in hot pursuit, while Star Lord and Rocket take a couple more and begin ramming Ronan’s ships. Drax takes on Ronan himself, but is easily beaten down and left for dead, though Groot is able to save him from drowning. After a tough chase Gamora’s ship is destroyed in space, Nebula takes the orb back for Ronan, and they leave. Star Lord risks his life to save Gamora from the vacuum of space, giving Yondu his coordinates for a last second pickup before the two die, leaving Rocket to return to the colony to rejoin Groot and Drax. The three decide to rescue Star Lord and Gamora from the Ravagers, despite Rocket’s objections and desire to flee to the other end of the galaxy as fast as possible to escape Ronan’s destruction.
On board the Ravager ship, Star Lord convinces Yondu to let them live and tells him that they have a plan to retrieve the very valuable orb from Ronan, a move that will make Yondu rich. Rocket and the others are brought on board after threatening to destroy the Ravager ship and the group comes up with the plan that Star Lord was lying about having.
Ronan, now knowing the power of the orb, contacts Thanos to let him know that he is no longer needed, and pledges to destroy Thanos after he is done wiping out Xandar while he places the orb into his hammer. Nebula, excited at the prospect of her father’s demise agrees to help him in his conquest and they make their way to the planet.
While the Nova Corps form a shield to prevent Ronan’s ship from landing, and Rocket and the Ravagers fight off Ronan’s fighter pilots, Gamora, Star Lord, Drax, and Groot infiltrate the ship and attempt to destroy Ronan. Gamora faces off with Nebula, sending her fleeing from the battle before rejoining the others, but when they reach Ronan they find that with the orb he is too strong and nothing they throw at him can hurt him. Drax is about to be strangled to death when Rocket crashes through the ship’s window, sending it crashing toward the ground. Groot stretches himself into a ball and wraps around the others to protect them from the crash, sacrificing himself while saving them.
On the planets surface the battered Guardians find that the crash was not enough to stop Ronan, and he has reached his goal and can now destroy the entire planet. As a last ditch effort, Star Lord initiates a dance off with the villain to distract him as Rocket sends a powerful energy shot directly at Ronan’s hammer, destroying it and releasing the infinity stone. Star Lord is able to grab it before Ronan and begins to struggle to contain its power. To help him Gamora reaches out her hand to him and the power flows through her as well. Drax and Rocket each join hands with them as well, providing a shared front that lets Star Lord take control of the gem and use its power to destroy Ronan before quickly storing the stone away in a new storage orb.
Yondu approaches them, demanding the orb, and Quill hands it over, only to quickly reassure Gamora that he switched it out for a fake. They deliver the real infinity stone to the Nova Corps, who happily rebuild Star Lord’s ship and expunge their criminal records as thanks for saving their planet, while also informing Peter that he is not entirely human, setting up the mystery of who his father was.
The Guardians take their new found freedom and head off for their next adventure.