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MANILA, PHILIPPINES — The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special just came out on Disney+ (watch it now for feel-good holiday cheer!). To celebrate the release we’ve rounded up lots of surprising comic book facts about everyone’s cosmic a-holes:
- The original Guardians of the Galaxy were a mix of alien and enhanced human freedom fighters in the future who were trying to overthrow an alien empire that had taken over the known galaxy.
- Before the Guardians, there was The Infinity Watch comprised of Gamora, Drax, Warlock, Pip the Troll, and Moondragon. They served as the keepers of the Infinity Gems (aka in the MCU as the Infinity Stones).
- It was the events in Annihilation and Annihilation: Conquest that would lead to the formation of the Guardians as we know them today.
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- The starting line-up of the modern-day Guardians was originally made up of the MCU line-up minus Groot. In his place were Warlock and Quasar. Groot, Mantis, Bug, Cosmo, and original Guardian Vance Astro would join the second iteration of the team.
- Star-Lord was co-created by Pinoy artist Steve Gans.
- Star Lord’s origin has been retconned several times. He used to be only human then there was a late reveal that he was half-alien and heir to the Spartax Empire. Before Chris Pratt assumed the role, he was a middle-aged cyborg veteran of many wars. After the first movie was released, Star-Lord was de-aged, his cybernetic implants replaced with cloned body parts with a more youthful laid-back personality.
- Peter Quill is pansexual. Thought dead for a time, he was transported to another dimension where he started a family with an alien husband, wife, and child.
- Groot is a very old character from the 60s. He was a giant alien conqueror.
- In early appearances Groot could talk in full sentences.
- Drax was originally Arthur Douglas, a jazz musician from Earth. After Thanos kills him, he’s resurrected as a superhuman powerhouse filled with rage. After dying several times, he comes back in his MCU design, a skilled and cunning weapons master.
- Nebula was originally the granddaughter of Thanos and only became a cyborg after Thanos horribly disfigured her.
- Mantis was also human, the half-Vietnamese and half-German daughter of a supervillain named Libra. She was groomed to be the Celestial Madonna, a woman who would give birth to the Celestial Messiah.
