The Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 2 teaser just landed and there are a few things to unpack. Some things are hard to miss. The film is serious and at the same time doesn’t take itself too seriously. Groot is a baby. Starlord is trying to date Gamora. Yondu and Nebula are good guys. Some things are not as obvious. I doubt all of this will be groundbreaking but here are some of my observations as a fan of the first film but also GotG comics fan that you may have missed.
The Cancerverse
So at one fairly recent point in Marvel comic history, a Rift was opened (always a good thing) to another universe known as the “Cancerverse”. It gets the name from being a universe with no death. The Guardians end up there on several occasions and one important CV storyline involves a character called Adam Warlock who Guardians fans have been awaiting for a while.
Reason I bring this up is because the shot of Starlord from behind looks very Cancerversey. It’s super chaotic. There is a lot of darkness and purple. Now, I could be way off. This could be any number of locations, but if I had to guess (and that’s all this is) that’s where Starlord is about to go. And if I am right, maybe that means we will be getting Adam Warlock after all.
Welcome to Earth?
Early in the teaser, we get a shot of Gamora in what appears to be a forest. Later we see Gamora, Drax, and Starlord exiting a crashed ship in that same location. It looks very much like they are on Earth. There are plenty of trees in various shape as a result of the crash.
What does this mean for the film? There have been rumors swirling around that the Guardians would make it to Earth in Volume 2. One such rumor comes from a scene that was shot in a location made to look like the main street of a small-town. Whether the Guardians will be in those scenes or they will just be flashbacks is unclear. One of the fake posters in the small town is for a movie about Tony Stark that leads you to believe that scene would have to take place after Avengers. Either way, the forest shots help fuel the rumors that Peter Quill will be making it home at some point.
Small Possible Spoiler: The actor playing Tony Stark on the poster is none other than Nathan Fillion as Simon Williams aka Wonder Man, which is amazing.
No Items, Only Gamora, Final Destination
The second time you see Gamora, she is on some sort of floating space platform with a golden machine in the background that looks similar to the sun from the Game of Thrones intro. She is wearing Starlord’s jetpack, unless that is something everyone has, and she seems to be ready to kill someone. But that’s not the important part.
The location itself is just so strange. It looks more clean and geometric than anything we are used to in Guardians which leads me to believe it is very important. It could (maaaaaaybe) be the Nexus of Reality. In Marvel comics, the Nexuses (that’s right, there are more than one) are points that exist in multiple dimensions. One exists in the Florida everglades, but there are others scattered throughout the universe. They are sometimes depicted as floating platforms. One notable character to travel through a Nexus is Howard the Duck.
It would make sense that the Guardians would eventually encounter one. Their storylines have connected them with the Infinity Stones, The Collector (an immortal), and the Celestials. A Nexus isn’t that different. It also may be where a member of the team meets Thanos and if the Guardians did find him, Gamora would be pretty keen on killing him.
A Team Divided
This one is really easy to miss but it likely a big deal. Some Guardians don’t share any scenes in the teaser, and the teaser does cover a lot of ground. Starlord, Drax, and Gamora are in scenes together and Yondu, Rocket, and Groot are in scenes together but those groups don’t seem to meet.
I would imagine Volume 2 is doing something similar to Star Trek Beyond and after a shipwreck, the teams will be split up and getting back together will be a big part of the movie. This could also mean that the team splits up to go on different missions a la Empire Strikes Back. Either would work.
Notable Omissions
We didn’t get a look at these characters: Ego the Living Planet, Mantis, Ayesha, Taser face, Nova Prime, whoever Sylvester Stallone is playing, and whoever Sharon Stone is playing (if she is in the movie at all). This is a teaser, so that’s not an issue but it does leave a big question unanswered: How the heck does Ego work?
Is he actually a planet? Is that just a cheeky nickname? Is he a being of pure light a la Starhawk? Is he really Starlord’s father? This is the one that has been leaving fans scratching their heads since the announcement and this teaser is not going to help in that department.
“You’re Welcome”
Now this isn’t a plot detail. It’s just a fun observation. The first poster for Guardians 1 featured the tagline “You’re Welcome”.
See?
That was the last line spoken in this teaser. Drax says it after hugging Starlord. Is it a coincidence? Maybe. It just seems too on the nose to not be an intentional nod to the first film. It’s nice.
Let me know in the comments if there is anything I missed. May 2017 can’t some fast enough.
P.S. Someone find me this shirt.
Matthew Nando Kelly is an incredibly cool and handsome Senior Staff Writer for Pop-Break who was allowed to write his own bio. Besides weekly Flash recaps, he focuses on film, television, music, and video games. Matthew also has a podcast called Mad Bracket Status where he discusses pop culture related brackets with fellow Pop-Break writer DJ Chapman. He has an unshakable love for U2, cats, and the New Orleans Saints. His twitter handle is @NationofNando. Did we mention how handsome he was?
