Guardians of the Galaxy (Earth-616)

Guardians of the Galaxy
Name	Guardians of the Galaxy
Editorial Name(s)	Guardians of Infinity; Guardians of Knowhere
Aliases	Guardians
Members
Current Member(s)	Angela, Drax the Destroyer, Gamora, Groot, Rocket Raccoon, Star-Lady, Star-Lord, Thing, Venom
Former Member(s)	Bug, Captain Marvel, Iron Man, Jack Flag, Major Victory, Mantis, Martyr, Moondragon, Warlock
Affiliation and Identity
Identity	Public
Allies	Starhawk, Nova, Quasar, Cosmo, Cammi, Avengers, Starjammers, Past X-Men, Aldrif Doomsdottir (Thor), Knowhere Corps
Enemies	Thanos, Universal Church of Truth, Badoon, Emperor Vulcan, Magus, Cancerverse, Mister Knife, Slaughter Lords, Brood, Korvac, Collector, Kree, Skrulls, Ronan, Galactus, Nebula, Titus, Annihilus, Grandmaster, Celestials, Builders, Supreme Intelligence, Terminus, Minions of Menace, Grandmaster, Ego, Iron Man 2020, Starhawk, Blastaar, Skeleton Ki, Condor, Imperial Guard, Maelstrom, Hala
Origin and Status
Origin	A pro-active force attempting to protect the universe from various cosmic and intergalactic threats before they get out of hand.
Status	Active
Reality	Earth-616
Base of Operations	C.I.T.T. Formerly Knowhere
Place of Formation	Hala
Creators and Appearances
Creators	Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning, Paul Pelletier
First	Annihilation: Conquest #6 (April, 2008)
First	Annihilation: Conquest #6 (April, 2008)

History

 You can call the Guardians whatever you want to. But to the rest of the galaxy, all the people we've helped crawl out from under you and crap like you...the Guardians are the good guys. Not to brag, but we actually go out of our way to help people. We help people who can't help themselves. 

—Star-Lord

Origins

The Guardians of the Galaxy is a group of heroes who opposed the Phalanx conquest of the Kree system (and many who had opposed Annihilus' incursion into their universe), and banded together in an attempt to prevent any further catastrophes from ever occurring.

On the recommendation of ally Nova, the group established a base of operations at the space station Knowhere, which conveniently possessed a teleportation system with near-universal range. An intelligent, super-powered dog called Cosmo acted as Knowhere's chief of security and worked closely with the new team during their first missions.

After an initial clash with the revitalized Universal Church of Truth, the team's investigation of a mass of "Limbo ice" revealed a semi-amnesiac man who identified himself as Vance Astrovik, a.k.a. Major Victory of the Guardians of the Galaxy of Earth-691. Astro's declaration inspired the as-yet-unnamed team to adopt the "Guardians of the Galaxy" name for their own.

The team then battled the Universal Church of Truth once again, while Astro was attacked aboard Knowhere by his former teammate Starhawk. Matters worsened when the shape-shifting alien Skrulls seemed to infiltrate Knowhere, and the subsequent revelation that Star-Lord directed Mantis to telepathically coerce the other team members into joining.

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War of Kings

Unable to trust each other, the team members split off onto their own missions. Adam Warlock and Gamora went to find out more about the Universal Church of Truth, Drax and Phyla went looking for Drax's missing companion, Star-Lord left to respond to a request for help from the Kree, and Rocket decided to continue the team's original mission.

While Rocket began recruiting new members like Bug, Groot (who was now returned to full size), Mantis, and Major Victory, Star-Lord found that Ronan The Accuser was reconstructing the Phalanx's Babel Spire in an effort to preserve the Kree. Ronan then threw Star-Lord into the Negative Zone before he could be stopped.

In the Negative Zone, Blastaar had taken over as King and planned to invade Earth through 42, the prison created by the Initiative to house anti-registration forces.

Blastaar intended to launch a full scale attack against 42 use Star-Lord as a way in. Defended by Jack Flag and his superhuman crew inside, the unpowered guards fled the prison, locking everyone else in the negative zone behind them.

Star-Lord pleaded with Jack Flag, to help him contact the Guardians for help. Flag directed him to a telepath, who was able to contact Mantis and get the new Guardians to teleport into the Negative Zone, to help fend off Blastaar's attack.

Elsewhere, Drax the Destroyer and Quasar began searching for Drax's missing friend. They found a seer who told them about the impending War of Kings before telling them he knew Heather was at Oblivion.

They traveled to Oblivion, where Drax noticed Phyla was missing her Quantum Bands and believed they may have died. In their confusion, they were quickly ambushed by Maelstrom and Phyla was fed to the Dragon of the Moon. As Drax continued to fight Maelstrom and prevent being the next meal, Wendell Vaughn came to his rescue just as Phyla burst out of the Dragon's belly with a newly resurrected Moondragon. Later it would be revealed that Phyla made a deal with Death while in the belly of the beast that she would become the new avatar of Death if Moondragon could return with her.

They went back to Knowhere, reuniting as one big team and preparing for the coming war between the Shi'ar Empire, with their new Emperor Vulcan, and the Kree, now led by the Inhumans and their King Black Bolt.

Their first order was to split up and attempt to end the War of Kings; but they failed.

Thanos

The Guardians are back

Months later, Thanos had managed to capture a Cosmic Cube from the U.S. Army on Earth, which he used to escape to Moord, the homeland of the Badoon. The Guardians traveled to Avengers Tower to warn and help the Avengers with the situation.

From Moord, Thanos became one with the Cosmic Cube and killed the Elders of the Universe, then killing the Avengers and Guardians. Instead, he was inadvertently sending them to the Cancerverse, where Tony Stark discovered that Thanos' weapon wasn't actually a Cosmic Cube and that it had defects.

In the Cancerverse, the heroes bargained with the Collector in exchange for a weapon capable of deactivating the "Cube" and returning them to Earth, where they would leave Thanos to the Elders. With the help of the Avengers and the Guardians, Thanos was defeated and punished by the Elders. Enjoying working together, Star-Lord personally offered Iron Man a spot on his team, which he gladly accepted.

Father Issues

J'son, King of Spartax alerted Star-Lord, his son, that a council of galactic empires had decided that Earth was too dangerous and should be left alone. Star-Lord knew that the decree would only aggravate the Earth's enemies and instantly ventured to Earth with the Guardians to make sure it was safe. As expected, they discovered a Badoon ship heading to attack Earth.

After defeating the Badoon and crash landing on Earth, Drax was left badly hurt and Groot was reduced down to a small twig. There, the team was arrested by the galactic police under orders from J'son of Spartax. They were taken to a prison ship and locked in containment cells. Since Groot was a twig, he wasn't arrested, giving him time to grow back to full size and free his companions. The team found their weapons, which had been confiscated and took the Spartax battleship for themselves.

Angela

Continuing to guard Earth, the Guardians managed to intercept someone who was heading to Earth, who was discovered to be Angela, one of the numerous beings who were pulled from Heven to this dimension after the space-time continuum was broken. Believing her a threat, the Guardians fought her on the Moon, barely able to finally knock her out. After finding out who she was and that she was not a threat, the Guardians let Angela go to Earth, escorting her there to keep an eye on her.

The Trial of Jean Grey

A group of rogue Shiar soldiers came and attacked the past X-Men, taking the young Jean Grey with them. They were sent by Kallark of the Shi'ar and J'son of Spartax to answer for the crimes that she had not committed yet. Picking up readings of a Shi'ar ship heading for Canada, the Guardians rushed to the scene, but after seeing the looks on the X-Men's faces when they arrived, realized they were too late. Together with the X-Men of the past and Kitty Pryde, the Guardians left earth in pursuit of the Shi'ar soldiers and young Jean. While on the trail, their ship was attacked, but they were saved by the Starjammers. The Guardians, the X-Men and the Starjammers managed to arrive to the Chandilar, where they confronted the Imperial Guard. Jean Grey had managed to escape captivity and confronted Gladiator. After defeating the Guard, the heroes left the Shi'ar homeworld. The Guardians of the Galaxy and the Starjammers accompanied the X-Men back to Earth where young Scott Summers decided to travel through space with the Starjammers, leaving his team of X-Men behind.

The Attack of the Spartoi

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Captain Marvel Saves Peter Quill

Shortly thereafter, Agent Venom joined the Guardians of the Galaxy as a liaison for the Avengers. All of the previous team members were separately dealt with by the Spartoi and its allies. However, they didn't count with the Guardians' ally Captain Marvel, who saved Peter Quill from J'son and the Spartoi Empire. Later, Quill revealed J'son as a heartless murderer to the whole empire and the citizens rebelled against the king. Star-Lord and Captain Marvel then went around gathering the rest of the Guardians who had all survived their separate situations, Rocket had been delivered to the Kree for experimentation; Gamora had been put in an arena by the Badoon; Drax had been put in trial by the Shi'ar; and Groot had been left to die in Rigel 8 by the Brood, except for Venom who went into hiding on Knowhere after escaping an abduction by the Skrulls.

While the Guardians retrieved Venom, the Spartoi Council decided how to proceed with electing a new leader for the Empire. None of the candidates seeming fitting, so one of the delegated suggested to nominate Peter Quill, arguing that he was the best candidate available since he was the one who exposed his own father's corruption and hads the support of the galaxy. Even though Star-Lord himself had no idea he had been nominated, Quill's candidacy was extremely popular in Spartax, and he was elected in absentia.

Black Vortex

Following the news of his unexpected political career, Peter decided to keep a low profile. He discovered a group of mercenaries calld the Slaughter Squad were ordered to hunt him down, under the orders of the crime lord Mister Knife, who had also been looking for the mysterious Black Vortex. Star-Lord was ultimately kidnappedby the Slaughter Squad and brought before their leader, Mister Knife, who revealed himself as none other than J'son. Star-Lord eventually escaped with the help of his long-distance girlfriend Kitty Pryde, who convinced him to steal the Black Vortex from J'son to annoy him. However, when they infiltrated Mister Knife's fortress, they discovered the Black Vortex was no ordinary object, it was a mirror with the ability of unleashing an individual's cosmic potential. Now fearing of such powerful item being in J'son's hand, Star-Lord and Kitty stole the artifact. They turned to both the Guardians of the Galaxy and the X-Men for help.

The cosmically-empowered Slaughter Squad, now calling themselves Slaughter Lords, pinned the heroes down in order to retrieve the Black Vortex. While not outnumbered, the heroes where outmatched. During the battle, Gamora submitted to the Black Vortex's power, giving the Guardians and the X-Men the necessary edge to escape to Spartax's moon. There, Peter tried to convince his allies to submit altogether to the Black Vortex, in order to defeat the Slaughter Lords. Kitty opposed him, claiming that such incredible powers could corrupt them. Both Beast and Angel submitted. The immense power corrupted them and Gamora, who betrayed their fellow allies when they tried to destroy the Black Vortex. Soon after they escaped with the Vortex, the Guardians and the X-Men were attacked by Mister Knife's flying fortress.

Peter Quill proposing to Kitty

They survived the attack, and fled the moon and fled on Star-Lord's Bad Boy, subsequently coming across the Starjammers, who offered their help. When Gamora, Beast and Angel assaulted Hala after their Accuser Corps stole the Black Vortex for help, Star-Lord and a group of heroes heeded the call for help. Ronan the Accuser empowered himself with the Black Vortex and fended off the attackers. However, Mister Knife's flying fortress arrived to recover the Vortex, and used its entire firepower to destroy Hala. The Guardians and X-Men there escaped.

When J'son recovered the Vortex, he used it on his ally Thane, who proceeded to encase the entirety of Spartax in an amber construct, trapping its inhabitants in a state of living death. Mister Knife had made a deal with the Brood, providing them of the host bodies necessary to reproduce, in exchange of taking part of their planetary conquest. When the heroes retrieved the Black Vortex once again, Kitty Pryde used it on herself to enhance her abilities and phase Spartax through the amber carcass, saving the planet and its inhabitants, at the same time she managed not to succumb to her new abilities.

Once the dust settled and the Black Vortex was dealt with, Star-Lord proposed to Kitty Pryde, and she said yes.

Guardians of Knowhere

After the Multiverse was destroyed by Incursions and recreated in the form of Battleworld, the Guardians of the Galaxy were recreated, but had no memories of the previous universe, except for Gamora. Gamora had traveled down to Latverion many times, incurring the ire of Battleworld's ruler, God-Emperor Doom. Gamora had heard of Doom, but she didn't believe him to be a deity. To halt Gamora's trips, Doom sent Aldrif Doomsdottir of the Thor Corps to deal with her.

When Aldrif confronted Gamora, Gamora was rescued by Drax the Destroyer. Gamora, Drax, and Rocket Raccoon then hid out in the apartment of their former teammate, Mantis, but were then attacked by the criminal Yotat the Destroyer, who sought revenge on Drax for rescuing Rocket who was confronting Yotat for killing the mob boss Giogo. After defeating the Guardians, Yotat declared Knowhere to be his.

The Guardians were later aided by Aldrif who stunned Yotat with a lightning bolt, allowing Drax to attack him. Together, Drax and Aldrif defeated Yotat. Yotat then was taken into custody by the Nova Corps. After Aldrif interrogated Gamora for her reasons for not considering Doom a supreme ruler, the two got into a fight before the arrival of a mysterious woman interrupted them.

Gamora and Aldrif tried talking with the woman, but the woman spoke only Kree, which neither one understood. Gamora advised Aldrif to act peaceful, but Aldrif didn't listen. So, the woman attacked the two and defeated them. The Nova Corps came in to subdue the women, but she defeated them as well, killing many of them in the process. When the woman saw the Kree symbol on Captain Marvel's uniform, she paused for a moment, allowing Aldrif and Gamora the opportunity to attack the woman by striking her in the back with their swords, which seemingly killed her.

After that, Gamora and Aldrif conversed about Gamora staying in Knowhere and obeying Doom's laws. Suddenly the woman sprang back to life and impaled Aldrif with her weapon, killing the Thor. Gamora angrily attacked the woman, but was almost killed herself. Fortunately, Drax and Rocket came to help, and together the Guardians defeated her. As Gamora mourned the loss of Aldrif, Star-Lord arrived on Knowhere and enlisted his teammates in the fight against Doom, which led to the restoration of the Multiverse.

All-New, All-Different Marvel

In the course of the following months after Earth-616 was brought back, Peter ultimately gave in to Spartax's desire to crown him, leaving the Guardians behind. Kitty Pryde would succeed him as "Star-Lord," while Rocket replaced Peter as the leader of the team. The Guardians also received a new member, the Earth hero The Thing.

Paraphernalia

Equipment

Bracelets that allow for cross-universe teleportation

Weapons

Various laser weapons, and melee weapons; each teammates' arsenal

Transportation

C.I.T.T.

Notes

• Many names have been proposed for the Guardians of the Galaxy, including:
  • By Rocket Raccoon: "Ass-Kickers of the Fantastic", "Rocket Raccoon and his Human Hangers-On", "The Annihilators", "Protectors of the Universe", "The Quantum Band", "The Pro-Actives", "The Defenders".
    • Presenting himself to a future version of the Guardians of the Galaxy, Star-Lord told them his team was named the "Butt Kickers of the Fantastic", close from Raccoon's first known proposition.
    • Cosmo later assembled an even more powerhouse-version of the Guardians of the Galaxy, using the name of Annihilators.
  • By Drax the Destroyer: "Drax and his 'coonskin hat" (as a way to make Rocket Raccoon shut up).
  • By Cosmo: "The Retrievers", "The K-Nine" (""K" stand[ing] for Knowhere").
  • By Groot: "Groot and Branches".
• The Guardians currently live in a nameless ship, which "[they] haven't gotten around to naming yet."

See Also

• 313 appearance(s) of Guardians of the Galaxy (Earth-616)
• 4 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Guardians of the Galaxy (Earth-616)
• 41 minor appearance(s) of Guardians of the Galaxy (Earth-616)
• 87 mention(s) of Guardians of the Galaxy (Earth-616)
• 10 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Guardians of the Galaxy (Earth-616)
• 476 image(s) of Guardians of the Galaxy (Earth-616)
• 1 victim(s) killed by Guardians of the Galaxy (Earth-616)
• 36 member(s) of Guardians of the Galaxy (Earth-616)
• 6 item(s) used/owned by Guardians of the Galaxy (Earth-616)

Links and References

• http://www.comicscontinuum.com/stories/0802/19/marvelmay.htm