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Speaker 1: for the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise in the MCU,
Speaker 1: including volumes one, two, add three. Hello, my name is
Speaker 1: Jasonconcepcion and I'm Meersday Night, and welcome to x ray
Speaker 1: Vision in the Crooked Media podcast where we dive deep.
Speaker 1: It's your favorite shows, movies, comics, and pop culture.
Speaker 2: On this week's episode, we're going into space. It's Guardians
Speaker 2: of the Galaxy, Baby im previously on, we're gonna be
Speaker 2: recapping and reflecting on the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise
Speaker 2: thus far and getting you up to speed on where
Speaker 2: all your favorite characters are in the airlock. We're gonna
Speaker 2: be talking Guardians of the Galaxy volume three, So if
Speaker 2: you haven't seen it spoiler alah, go and see it
Speaker 2: and then listen to this episode and in nerd out
Speaker 2: there's gonna be a relevantly spacey theory about Star Wars
Speaker 2: from listener Tony I love.
Speaker 1: It coming up previously on. First up in the previously on,
Speaker 1: we will be looking back at the first two installments
Speaker 1: in the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise and the MCU
Speaker 1: to get you up to speed for Guardians of the
Speaker 1: Galaxy three, and also check in on where the characters
Speaker 1: from the Guardians team ended up after the very tie
Speaker 1: ins at They appear in mostly two Yeah, mostly end Game,
Speaker 1: Some thor Love and Thunder, and also of course the
Speaker 1: Christmas special.
Speaker 2: Special Let's Do It. Let's Do It. God Is the
Speaker 2: Galaxy Volume one introduced US two that at the time
Speaker 2: extremely deep cut titular team. It was a bombastic space adventure.
Speaker 2: There was as music listened to by the hero star Lord,
Speaker 2: who was kidnapped as a child by space pirates known
Speaker 2: as the Ravengers and was raised by their leader Yondu.
Speaker 2: You may remember him as an adult. He's a quick
Speaker 2: talking thief with quips for days, and on a routine
Speaker 2: mission to steal a valuable artifact known as the Orb,
Speaker 2: he becomes entangled with Gomora, the daughter of the tyrant Thanos.
Speaker 2: Remember him remember him important in the MCU when she
Speaker 2: is sent after him by a violent Cree alien known
Speaker 2: as Ronan the Accuser. Lee Pace in the MCU.
Speaker 1: Still great, doing fantastic things.
Speaker 2: Sleep espioning, He's Thespianing. Gamura and Quilla soon waylaid by
Speaker 2: bounty hunters Groot a talking tree and Rocket Raccoon, a
Speaker 2: gun toting raccoon. But then in the end they have
Speaker 2: to come together to save Gomora from another strange alien
Speaker 2: known as Drags the Destroyer, who wants to kill her
Speaker 2: because his family was killed by Ronan the Accuser.
Speaker 1: There's some interesting, some interesting interesting context for our for
Speaker 1: uh Our Ronan the Accuser. On the es SO. Ronan
Speaker 1: is a member of the Cree race. As an accuser
Speaker 1: and important figure in the judicial process, but has broken
Speaker 1: off from the Cree because they signed a pea Street
Speaker 1: he isn't like, and so he's decided he's taken this
Speaker 1: job to get a certain orb that contains a certain
Speaker 1: gem for one Thanos, because Thanos has been colleckeding those
Speaker 1: things big time collector. He wants all the gems. As
Speaker 1: we all remember, the Infinity Stones's tasked, Ronan was doing it,
Speaker 1: but Ronan has taken the gig. But also he wants
Speaker 1: to keep the stone so that he can blow up
Speaker 1: the treaty and decimate Zandar, the planet with which the
Speaker 1: Cree have signed a treaty with.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and he wants to put the stone on his
Speaker 2: super cool hammer and make a super powered hammer. Jason,
Speaker 2: do you remember the first time watching this movie? Because
Speaker 2: I feel like I feel like, as MCU fans, the
Speaker 2: first time watching God into the Galaxy was just kind
Speaker 2: of a mind blowing experience. It was it was.
Speaker 1: That that stage in the evolution of the MCU where
Speaker 1: I'm like, I can't believe they're doing this, you know,
Speaker 1: there was the real Obviously, putting all the Avengers together
Speaker 1: in a team was a pretty big swing, creating a
Speaker 1: shared universe as a big swing. But this is the
Speaker 1: real heat check movie, where you know, the big criticism
Speaker 1: of the MCU at launch was like, nobody cares about
Speaker 1: Captain America, nobody cares about Iron Man, nobody cares about
Speaker 1: the Hulk, and that was true. And let me tell you,
Speaker 1: nobody really, really, really nobody gave a shit about the
Speaker 1: Guardians of the Galaxy and this is I mean, they're
Speaker 1: fun if you are a true like Marvel Comics, Marvel
Speaker 1: Cosmic Comics, NERD digging in the back issue, and that
Speaker 1: is not even the original team. This is like the
Speaker 1: team that emerges after Annihilation, Yeah, after a bunch of
Speaker 1: Cosmic Marvel crossovers. And it really felt like, God, I
Speaker 1: don't know if people will like this. It'll be crazy
Speaker 1: if people like this, and they and it was fun,
Speaker 1: really super fun movie. Obviously, I think the music has
Speaker 1: become a hallmark of the series and continues with Guardians
Speaker 1: of the Galaxy three, and really they've expanded past the
Speaker 1: eighties they were there into the nineties and the two
Speaker 1: thousands now in Guardians three. That's a little bit of
Speaker 1: a spoiler, but just super fun.
Speaker 2: I really enjoyed it.
Speaker 1: What was do you what your thoughts were.
Speaker 2: I saw it at like a midnight screening I think,
Speaker 2: or very late night screening at the Imax in London,
Speaker 2: which at the time I think was one of the
Speaker 2: biggest screens in the world. And I remember that opening
Speaker 2: so well with you know, Pias, He's going through space
Speaker 2: and he's listening to his headphones and he's kind of
Speaker 2: like kicking little lizards. I really came out of it like, Wow,
Speaker 2: they star Wars the MCU, and like what I felt,
Speaker 2: it was a very enjoyable way. And this was pre
Speaker 2: sequel trilogy, right, so it felt very different. I mean,
Speaker 2: it's wild to think this was only the fourth film
Speaker 2: in phase two of the MCU.
Speaker 1: So you say it was just.
Speaker 2: A total tone shift. I think obviously like exploded James
Speaker 2: Gunn into the stratosphere and yet made the music and
Speaker 2: needle drops such a huge part of the MCU, which
Speaker 2: hadn't really been a thing before because it was such
Speaker 2: a score based, cinematic, operatic, serious take on the franchise,
Speaker 2: whereas this was much more pop culture reference heavy. You
Speaker 2: had Peter who grew up in the eighties, so he
Speaker 2: had these memories of an Earth that had never been updated,
Speaker 2: which allowed for a lot of fun nostalgia. It was
Speaker 2: just a totally different vibe for the MCU.
Speaker 1: Let me ask you this. So watching rewatching this, it
Speaker 1: struck me that we don't know how a lot of
Speaker 1: the Gems ended up where they are, Like, you know,
Speaker 1: we just Peter is tasked by the broker, who was
Speaker 1: just just a guy with a storefront shop, literally just
Speaker 1: a guy with a jewelry store.
Speaker 2: He's like, it would be called to have an ORB.
Speaker 1: Will you go get the ORB for me? And we
Speaker 1: never really find out how it got there. It would
Speaker 1: be so cool to find out at at some point
Speaker 1: in the future how all the Infinity Gems got to
Speaker 1: the places where they eventually got picked up at.
Speaker 2: I would love that. I think that could actually be
Speaker 2: something really cool to do in the animated stuff because
Speaker 2: they do it. There is a great bit of exposition
Speaker 2: we get in this movie that kind of is the
Speaker 2: next part the team. They team up together sort of unexpectedly,
Speaker 2: this ragtag alliance of convenience, and then another one of
Speaker 2: my favorite big swing weird moments from this movie. We
Speaker 2: head to Nowhere, which is a floating outpost of kind
Speaker 2: of like ravagers and bad guys and anti heroes and
Speaker 2: space pirates.
Speaker 1: Just kind of an open city in space inside the
Speaker 1: head of a celestial.
Speaker 2: Casually, just a floating celestial head. So note that eternals
Speaker 2: lovers because you're hearing the word celestial for the first
Speaker 2: time here. And Celestials actually end up playing a large
Speaker 2: part in the ongoing Guardians of the Galaxy franchise, and
Speaker 2: they end up going to the Collector played by Benicio
Speaker 2: del Toro, who's so great in this movie. It's so
Speaker 2: weird and he's so weird, and he's so over the
Speaker 2: top and he is even more of a fan of
Speaker 2: collecting things than Thanos, and he does that great one
Speaker 2: of my favorite MCU exposition dumps where he explains the
Speaker 2: histories of the Infinity Gems and how they were created.
Speaker 2: But that's it. You get the millenniare year old history
Speaker 2: and then they're just here. I feel like, let's explore that.
Speaker 2: I would absolutely love to know what if they've been
Speaker 2: up to. Who had him before? We know it wasn't
Speaker 2: Adam Warlock like in the comics. Yeah, how did it
Speaker 2: end up on moregg mm hm? Who had it? What
Speaker 2: were they doing with it? Who put it in this
Speaker 2: nice little orb? So Yeah, they go and see the
Speaker 2: Collector and we get a very good info dump. We
Speaker 2: learn about the Power Gem. It's very powerful, give you
Speaker 2: almost infinite powers, and if you have them all then
Speaker 2: of course we know you can snap out half of
Speaker 2: the universe. Spoiler alert. That happened. They got a battle Ronan.
Speaker 2: Ronan wants the Power Gem for himself, but he's also
Speaker 2: consistently snitching to Thanos about the Guardians, so Thanos kind
Speaker 2: of has a good idea of what's going going on.
Speaker 2: They ultimately head back to Zander, as you mentioned, where
Speaker 2: a lot of people thought they were gonna see Nathan
Speaker 2: Fillion as Nova. It didn't happen, but we did get
Speaker 2: to see the Nova Corps in one of the epic
Speaker 2: things falling out of the sky third act battles in
Speaker 2: Marvel History. It's still one of the most impressive ones. Uh.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I have a I have a note for all
Speaker 1: super villains, obviously pointedly Ronan the Accuser in Guardian the
Speaker 1: Galaxy Guardians of the Galaxy Volume one, but also General
Speaker 1: Zod in Man of Steel. If you're gonna destroy a planet,
Speaker 1: go anywhere and destroy it. You don't don't go to
Speaker 1: like the Capital City where all the military forces are.
Speaker 2: Like make it, do it?
Speaker 1: I understand like this was an act of humorist by Ronan.
Speaker 1: He wanted to like make a big speech before he
Speaker 1: did all the shit. But like, go to some go
Speaker 1: to the middle of the sucking ocean and.
Speaker 2: Destroy take some notes from the Death Star, destroy it
Speaker 2: from far away.
Speaker 1: You can do something you don't need to get on the.
Speaker 2: On the planet and then ultimately anywhere, you know, get
Speaker 2: beaten in a dance battle with Peter Quill a very
Speaker 2: famous EMCU moment.
Speaker 1: And this is honestly a mistake that a lot of
Speaker 1: super villains make. Mephisto has done this, you know, name
Speaker 1: War has done it. They always invade like New York City.
Speaker 1: It's like the Avengers, the x Men. Everybody lives here,
Speaker 1: live there, like please, it's somewhere's the middle of nowhere destroyed.
Speaker 2: Physical it's definitely the physical version of monologuing. It's like,
Speaker 2: don't tell somebody your plan before you've enacted it, and
Speaker 2: don't go to the central city, especially here where as
Speaker 2: we see there are like thousands of Nova court ships.
Speaker 2: Like this is like a heavily defended place. Yes, and
Speaker 2: of course you know spoiler alert, but it is an
Speaker 2: empty movie and it's not Infinity War. The Guardians come
Speaker 2: out on top and as little dance battle. We got
Speaker 2: a little dance dance battle, which is one of Again
Speaker 2: these are those hallmarks. It's interesting because it's so sincerely
Speaker 2: its stylized that I don't know if it's full camp,
Speaker 2: but there are definitely campier elements to this movie than
Speaker 2: a lot of the MCU movies. Having a dance battle,
Speaker 2: this kind of ongoing joke about the headphones, the tapes,
Speaker 2: the music, Peter's nostalgia. His ship is called the Milano,
Speaker 2: though I will say on merchandise, including the recent Lego release,
Speaker 2: they call it the Guardian Ship. So I wonder if
Speaker 2: Alyssa Milano sent them a little letter.
Speaker 1: Well, I will say that Ronan, I mean Lee paces
Speaker 1: straight out camp in this movie. Oh yeah, he knows
Speaker 1: every every line reading is just so insan.
Speaker 2: What are you doing when he's chewing every piece of scenery?
Speaker 2: God with his full six and a half foot stature
Speaker 2: and his thespian training. Lovely pace still blows my mind
Speaker 2: every day when I think that he was in the
Speaker 2: MCU and this is.
Speaker 1: Just such a you stead accused your rich in peace
Speaker 1: treaty will not save you.
Speaker 2: It would be the tinder on which you burn. And
Speaker 2: he's wearing like a dramatic glamorous hood and he's got
Speaker 2: a giant hammer. He's really doing the most in a
Speaker 2: delightful fashion. And as the movie comes to an end,
Speaker 2: we learn an important plot point for Guardians of the
Speaker 2: Galaxy volume two that Yondu didn't just kidnap Peter for
Speaker 2: no reason. It was not random, It was not a
Speaker 2: mistaken identity, which I think was kind of the vibe
Speaker 2: that Peter had been told. In fact, the night Peter's
Speaker 2: mother died of a brain tumor and Peter ran out
Speaker 2: and was so upset he was kidnapped by Yondu because
Speaker 2: to have been hired by Pizza's mysterious father who happened
Speaker 2: to be a powerful deity. And Pizza now learns this
Speaker 2: shocking fact and we head into the wilds of Gudians
Speaker 2: of the Galaxy volume two. I mean, this movie made
Speaker 2: so much money for the movie, an incredible seven hundred
Speaker 2: and seventy three million dollars worldwide.
Speaker 1: And you know the moment when Groot creates the group
Speaker 1: ball to save everybody, It still gets me it's and
Speaker 1: it's so beautiful in there with the little flowers and
Speaker 1: his I think they've made him like meaner ever since
Speaker 1: he got reduced to a twig. Like he had this
Speaker 1: very placid and gentle look in his eyes in the
Speaker 1: first movie. And it's you know, when they're sitting there
Speaker 1: inside the group, Ball and Rocket his leg but you'll die,
Speaker 1: you know, and don't do this, and it's like and
Speaker 1: you just look at Grout's face and he's so at
Speaker 1: peace with it.
Speaker 2: It really is just like a wonderful moment, you know what.
Speaker 2: I think. I'm so glad you brought that up, because
Speaker 2: that actually is such a vital part of why I
Speaker 2: think these films have become so popular. It is this bombastic, silly,
Speaker 2: camp colorful adventure much like the old space adventure serial
Speaker 2: kind of stuff. But it has a very effective emotional heart,
Speaker 2: and that is a lot of that comes from Group,
Speaker 2: from Rocket, from the relationships of this found family, from Drax,
Speaker 2: who lost his family and then comes in and tries
Speaker 2: to rebuild even though all he really wants to do
Speaker 2: is kill the man who killed his family. And I
Speaker 2: love that, yeah, because that's the line I think when
Speaker 2: when Group says we are group.
Speaker 1: And by the way, setting the stage for something that
Speaker 1: happens in Guardians and twist letting you know that, yes,
Speaker 1: if he wants to. Groot does have a somewhat larger vocabulary,
Speaker 1: which is sort of cannon in the comics. I mean
Speaker 1: when he appears in I believe it's Annihilation conquest, right?
Speaker 1: Or is an annihilation? Yeah, it's Annihilation conquest right, right?
Speaker 1: He is like saying full sentences and stuff before the
Speaker 1: movie came out, and then all of a sudden it's
Speaker 1: just iron grout.
Speaker 2: Yes, it's a very interesting evolution of the character. And
Speaker 2: the version that we know as the Gardens of the
Speaker 2: Guardians of the Galaxy is the Annihilation Conquest version. Though.
Speaker 2: It's very interesting because that's two thousand and eight and
Speaker 2: their original team was nineteen sixty nine, you know, created
Speaker 2: by some legends in comics like Gene Colan and you
Speaker 2: know Roy Thomas was in there. Arnold Drake was the
Speaker 2: one who wrote the first issue, and then obviously I
Speaker 2: just we always have to shout him out. It was
Speaker 2: Bill Mantlow, who who was a co creator of Rocket Raccoon,
Speaker 2: who sadly was in a hit and run accident many
Speaker 2: years ago and is still in care at the moment
Speaker 2: of his brother, and you can go to the Hero
Speaker 2: Initiative and find out ways to support him and other
Speaker 2: comic book creators, because these movies do not exist without them,
Speaker 2: and ol Mantlow is like a huge part of the
Speaker 2: Guardian's legacy, especially when it comes to Volume three because
Speaker 2: of the importance of Rocket Raccoon. But before then, it
Speaker 2: was twenty seventeen. It was three years after Guardians of
Speaker 2: the Galaxy Volume one, which was originally just called The
Speaker 2: Guardians of the Galaxy but is now retroactively called Volume one,
Speaker 2: as we are now with Guardians of the Galaxy Volume
Speaker 2: two mixtape relevant now right Rewatching this movie, yeah, and
Speaker 2: writing a recap for it is like one of the
Speaker 2: funniest things I've ever done.
Speaker 1: And you're gonna understand nuts movie.
Speaker 2: It is absolutely bonkers.
Speaker 1: It's fucking insane.
Speaker 2: I love Kurt Russell so much, so I'm just so
Speaker 2: happy to always watch a Cut Russell movie. But I
Speaker 2: will begin with this sentence that sums up the energy
Speaker 2: of this movie specifically, and also quite a lot of
Speaker 2: the energy of Volume three. While protecting some magical batteries
Speaker 2: for the Golden Aliens known as the Sovereign, in order
Speaker 2: to free Nebula from the aliens crutches. The Guardians are
Speaker 2: saved from a battle with their supposed Sovereign allies by
Speaker 2: an unknown Batton. It is led by the celestial Ego
Speaker 2: known in the comics as Ego the Living Planet, who
Speaker 2: is literally a planet in the comics, who soon reveals
Speaker 2: himself to be Peter's biological father. As they head to
Speaker 2: Ego's homeworld, Aisha, the Golden Skinned Lady played by Elizabeth
Speaker 2: de Becky, who is the leader of the Sovereign the
Speaker 2: High Priestess and is very relevant for Gardians of the
Speaker 2: Galaxy volume three, she hires Yon Dou and his Ravagers
Speaker 2: turned down the Guardians. Important to note here something Jason
Speaker 2: has pointed out to me that I had forgotten. The
Speaker 2: reason she can hire Yon Do is because Yonder and
Speaker 2: his Ravagers have been thrown out of the Ravager community.
Speaker 2: Why for trafficking children. For trafficking children, and not only
Speaker 2: trafficking them, but trafficking them to their deaths. You ain't
Speaker 2: dressed like us, but you'll never hear the Lords of Freedom.
Speaker 2: Would you die?
Speaker 3: Yon?
Speaker 2: The cord will never flesh over your greed. I guess
Speaker 2: you didn't.
Speaker 4: And that and that is the car a Gourd played
Speaker 4: by Sylvester Stallone who summarily ejects Yandu from the Ravager
Speaker 4: community for being a serial trafficker of.
Speaker 1: Children to any chilanet who end up dead?
Speaker 2: How many children?
Speaker 1: I mean at the end of this movie and this
Speaker 1: in the final third of this movie, you will see
Speaker 1: a pile of bones. Who are the children who, unlike Peter,
Speaker 1: did not survive being trafficked. Well, he never delivered Peter
Speaker 1: to Ego, but you know you delivered the rest of them.
Speaker 1: And this pile of bones, folks, you've heard me talk
Speaker 1: about this before.
Speaker 2: The pile of bones. It's immens It's like forty.
Speaker 1: Feet high, maybe maybe ninety one hundred feet wide. It's
Speaker 1: like a pile like it's got to contain certainly thousands
Speaker 1: now you might say thousands.
Speaker 2: Now Ego said it at least thousands, right.
Speaker 1: And now now many have said to me, well, you know,
Speaker 1: in an attempt to you know, to absolve Yandu quite
Speaker 1: long theologists. I get it, and I get it because
Speaker 1: like listen, they make Yandu is the father figure this
Speaker 1: movie and he's he's he's actually a good guy. Throughout
Speaker 1: the rest of this series, they point out that surely
Speaker 1: Ego had other traffickers, which is probably true, right, Like,
Speaker 1: if you just do the math, it seems like unless he,
Speaker 1: unless YANDU was rounding up like one hundred at a time,
Speaker 1: it probably would have taken too long. So maybe Yandu
Speaker 1: is only responsible for like twenty twenty percent of the pile,
Speaker 1: but that is still so many.
Speaker 2: And by the.
Speaker 1: Way, I would then counter with what is the minimum
Speaker 1: number of child children that you could deliver exactly death?
Speaker 2: Oh you are enough, You're fine. I will also say,
Speaker 2: as proven by the existence continued existence of Peter Quill,
Speaker 2: it was very easy for Yondu to actually save one
Speaker 2: of those children and not deliver them to Ego. It
Speaker 2: took you like thirty years to find this guy. Yonder
Speaker 2: really could have been not delivering.
Speaker 1: The to say apparently he was getting them too old,
Speaker 1: because you know, the implication is, but he kept Peter
Speaker 1: alive because Peter was small enough to like wriggle through
Speaker 1: like ducts and different things.
Speaker 2: He was used as a thief.
Speaker 1: So I guess what they're implying there is that the
Speaker 1: other kids that Yondu delivered the ego were maybe a
Speaker 1: little bit older, like, oh yeah, young adults side not
Speaker 1: quite so.
Speaker 2: Acceptable trafficking age, you.
Speaker 1: Know, legally, Yeah, yeah, if you're killed by your father,
Speaker 1: who is an omnipotent celestial being, when you're an adult,
Speaker 1: it's not as bad.
Speaker 2: I'll just say as if.
Speaker 1: It was a kid, Yandu might be redeemed in the
Speaker 1: course of Guardian's Galaxy two and three. That may have happened,
Speaker 1: but he'll never hear the horns of freedom when he dies,
Speaker 1: and the colors of a gourd, the colors of a
Speaker 1: gourd will never flash over his grave.
Speaker 2: They will never flash over his grave. And that's all
Speaker 2: I have to say about that. But that's what we
Speaker 2: have to say about that. This is a movie that's
Speaker 2: all about daddy issues. You've got Themura Nebula who are
Speaker 2: kind of battling each other. Nebula wants to kill Thanos
Speaker 2: and they end up in this fight that ends luckily
Speaker 2: for everyone in a sisterly reunion of some kind. You
Speaker 2: also have the fact that Yondu, who is sent by Aisha,
Speaker 2: doesn't actually want to give over Quill because that is
Speaker 2: his you know, he he has love for him. He's
Speaker 2: a good guy. Human trafficker, but a good guy. And
Speaker 2: of course the biggest daddy issues belong to Peter, who
Speaker 2: learns that not only is his father Ego omnipotent super being,
Speaker 2: but also a giant dick, just a super dick.
Speaker 1: Multiple time child murderer, and also the reason that his
Speaker 1: mom is his dad, but the reason his mom died.
Speaker 2: Yes, we learn that not only has Ego spent millennia
Speaker 2: traveling the universe trying to sire children so he can
Speaker 2: terraform planets with the celestial.
Speaker 1: Powers, very very rucio.
Speaker 2: Very titan ish, and he is going to find the
Speaker 2: child who can harness the celestial powers and the two
Speaker 2: of them can terraform the universe in Ego's nightmarish, delightful
Speaker 2: Kurt Russell form, And as Jason pointed out, heartbreakingly, it
Speaker 2: is also revealed that Ego, for some reason, gave Peter's
Speaker 2: mama brain humor evil. I mean, already very pful behavior,
Speaker 2: but seems extra evil like unnecessary, unnecessary, unnecessary bad times,
Speaker 2: so all bad. And if that wasn't bad enough, short car,
Speaker 2: I guess what we already talked about it Jong Du Piasa.
Speaker 2: The dad was helping his real dad kill all these children.
Speaker 2: So no bad times. You know what I realized?
Speaker 1: So much evil happens in the MCU, and who must
Speaker 1: make MCU because of the gig economy, just like just
Speaker 1: the sovereign. You have this massive fleet. Just go get
Speaker 1: Peter Quill?
Speaker 2: Why are you? I get it?
Speaker 1: Yon Due knows him, But yeah, why don't you just
Speaker 1: like be like, hey, where would we where would he go?
Speaker 1: And then act on that information to do it yourself? Ego,
Speaker 1: you are immensely powerful. We've seen you move around in
Speaker 1: human form, go to Earth and meet up with Peter's
Speaker 1: mom and go, and clearly you went to other planets
Speaker 1: did the same thing. Why why do you need all
Speaker 1: these like Postmates deliveries of kids?
Speaker 2: Just go do it. You could use your powers to
Speaker 2: summon them to you or something. I'm sure there is,
Speaker 2: and you're just gonna trust some random guy and like
Speaker 2: a flying kind of junk trap I don't know. And look,
Speaker 2: look what happened.
Speaker 1: The one kid who you were looking for is the
Speaker 1: one kid that YANDU is like, I'm gonna keep this one.
Speaker 2: And not only that, but you're so bad at planning
Speaker 2: that that like stopped you in your tracks. You were just.
Speaker 1: Spinning your wheels for years and years after waiting to
Speaker 1: find Peter Quill and his little Zoon and.
Speaker 2: The big I would say, the big introduction here is
Speaker 2: not Ego. As much as I would have loved to
Speaker 2: see Cut Russell become a super big bad in the MCU,
Speaker 2: I love cut Russell. I love Ego The Living Planets,
Speaker 2: such a weird character. The real heavy hit hair is Mantis.
Speaker 4: Oh.
Speaker 1: I love Mantis. Mantis for the comics. Was delighted to
Speaker 1: see her come to life in the MCU.
Speaker 2: Yeah, just such a delightful performance by Palm clem teeth
Speaker 2: and just a wonderful kind character whose powers does an
Speaker 2: EmPATH allow her to control people? We will see her
Speaker 2: play an absolutely immense part in Infinity War, only to
Speaker 2: be thwarted by the idiocy of Peter Quill.
Speaker 4: Oh we were, we were right there, Peter Rat.
Speaker 2: We ain't gonna wrap no issue, stop it, no blip, no, no,
Speaker 2: five years. It was about head. Embarrassing, embarrassing. It makes
Speaker 2: me so angry. So the good thing is because Mantis
Speaker 2: is such an EmPATH, she connects with drags, creating one
Speaker 2: of the best buddy duos in the MCU. It was
Speaker 2: delightful to see them in the Holiday special together, and
Speaker 2: she reveals Ego's full plan the guard This gives the
Speaker 2: Guardians kind of upper hand, and while Ego is helping
Speaker 2: Peter harness celestial powers which are so immense that they
Speaker 2: would immediately make Peter the most powerful person in the MCU,
Speaker 2: they end up battling. He uses the powers to distract Ego.
Speaker 2: Ego is destroyed, the planet is destroyed, and because Ego
Speaker 2: has destroyed, Peter's powers are gone, his celestial powers, because
Speaker 2: he'd be too overpowered. It would be two powerful.
Speaker 1: So let me ask you this, because clearly the powers
Speaker 1: are gone, but his celestial hybrid physiology is clearly quite durable.
Speaker 2: Yes, and it was. His physiology was noted by the
Speaker 2: Nova Corps. That's where it kind of first came from.
Speaker 2: So it is there, and I do think in God,
Speaker 2: it's some of the better and best. Actually, we kind
Speaker 2: of talked about this and we'll talk about it more
Speaker 2: stuff in volume three. We do get to see him
Speaker 2: kind of have a super hero movements and almost like
Speaker 2: my favorite one of my favorite books and TV series,
Speaker 2: Shadow and Bone. There's a great way that magic works
Speaker 2: in that and you will see people who are good
Speaker 2: at shooting guns, and the gun shooting goodness comes from
Speaker 2: their skills in magic. Kind of like wanted having, you know,
Speaker 2: bullet power curving as a superpower. So I kind of
Speaker 2: think that that inherent superheroic nature and celestial physiology. I
Speaker 2: like that that's a good catch. It's still that he's
Speaker 2: not celestial fully now, and he can't be like blasting planets,
Speaker 2: but he's definitely got a little bit more than.
Speaker 1: Your average He does average guy. He does at the
Speaker 1: end of Guardians survive excuse me. In the middle of
Speaker 1: Guardians Survive the vacuum of space, and he does survive
Speaker 1: many spoiler, he is a He continues to be able
Speaker 1: to be in the vacuum of space for a extended
Speaker 1: period of time.
Speaker 2: Yes, and sadly, Peter does not only have to say
Speaker 2: goodbye to his biological father, who was a super dick
Speaker 2: so no one misses him, sorry, but he has to
Speaker 2: say goodbye to Yondu, who sacrifices himself to save Peter
Speaker 2: in an ultimate moment of what the MCU sees is redemption,
Speaker 2: what we see as good for you but doesn't mean
Speaker 2: you didn't traffic thousands of children.
Speaker 1: You did travel in his final moments. One can only
Speaker 1: hope that in addition to Peter, the many many other
Speaker 1: nameless children run through his mind run through his mind
Speaker 1: in the final seconds of his life, and we thank
Speaker 1: him for his sacrifice.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and this is really where we get our core
Speaker 2: Guardians team. Even we have Mantis joins and we end up.
Speaker 2: Even though Nebula heads off to kill Thanos, which leads
Speaker 2: us to the kind of events of the big Infinity
Speaker 2: one endgame, she is already now part of the team,
Speaker 2: and you kind of have that core crew going forward
Speaker 2: into the rest of the MCU and the wider Marvel galaxy.
Speaker 1: That takes us to the Non Guardians movie. Now, uh,
Speaker 1: where these various characters ended up. The first one where
Speaker 1: we see some Guardians characters is Infinity War first Non
Speaker 1: Guardians movie. We see them in a mission to take
Speaker 1: down Thanos. They are the away team. Basically they go
Speaker 1: to Titan with Tony, with Peter Parker, with doctor Strange.
Speaker 1: You have Mantis, you have Drax, you have Goamura, you
Speaker 1: have Peter Quill and they again almost pull it off. Yes,
Speaker 1: they come very very close.
Speaker 2: They come very very close. But it's Peter Quill. He
Speaker 2: has a lot problem because prior to this, Gomore has
Speaker 2: gone missing. Viewers know that heartbreakingly, she has been taken
Speaker 2: by her father Thanos, to be thrown off the cliffs
Speaker 2: of Vormer in a sacrifice for the soul Stone. As
Speaker 2: Thanos told us, what did it cost him? Me everything?
Speaker 2: You know, he's feeling sad about it. He wishes he
Speaker 2: didn't have to kill his daughter, but he does, and
Speaker 2: in that shocking one of the most annoying moments in
Speaker 2: the MCU. I was very happy to hear that James
Speaker 2: Gunn did not believe that this was the route the
Speaker 2: character would have taken. In the press tour in the
Speaker 2: lead up to Guardians the Galaxy volume three, Peter Quil
Speaker 2: finds out from an EmPATH possessed Thanos that Gomora is dead,
Speaker 2: so he punches him in the head. We are we
Speaker 2: are so close that the glove is coming off, the
Speaker 2: gauntlet is coming off. There will be no click, there
Speaker 2: will be no blip.
Speaker 1: I just want to shout out Mantis in this scene
Speaker 1: because it is her. You really get a feeling for
Speaker 1: the depths of her power. She's able to keep Thanos,
Speaker 1: who is unjust like you know, he beat up the Hulk,
Speaker 1: he beat up Thor's. He's a match for he has
Speaker 1: many stones. Yeah, without you, without the stones, he's a
Speaker 1: match for almost any of our heroes. And Mantis has
Speaker 1: him on the ropes for a while, just like keep.
Speaker 2: Baren drags Ultimate Team up. It's working, it's.
Speaker 1: Really, really, really great, so shouts to Mantis. It didn't
Speaker 1: work because Peter lost his shit and I get it.
Speaker 1: It's heartbreaking to find out that you're the woman you
Speaker 1: love was thrown off a cliff on a mirror in
Speaker 1: order to relate to book and in Finney's stone. But
Speaker 1: but just let us beat him right now.
Speaker 2: Be angry afterwards, take the take, take the gold let,
Speaker 2: and then do it. But no, he blows up. All
Speaker 2: goes horribly wrong. The only other member that wasn't on
Speaker 2: the team at that point, in that very moment, Nebula,
Speaker 2: had been being tortured by Fanos, but she manages to
Speaker 2: escape because he kind of puts the Chittarian charge and
Speaker 2: as we know, Tari can't really get shit done, so
Speaker 2: she escapes, teams up and she is one of the
Speaker 2: few members of the Guardians who does not end up
Speaker 2: getting dusted as we head into endgame.
Speaker 1: Do let me ask you this, Do robots, do androids
Speaker 1: get dusted? M just just just synthetic life. I'm not
Speaker 1: saying it's not life, but I'm saying, would Ultron get dusted?
Speaker 1: Would you Acosta get dusted? Would Danger the uh, the
Speaker 1: sentient human formed embodiment of the Danger Room get dusted?
Speaker 2: I don't think so. In MCU canon, I cannot.
Speaker 1: Really would Cyborg get dusted just the human part?
Speaker 2: Everything I believe, would.
Speaker 1: Death Luck get dusted? Just the human part them.
Speaker 2: Is too it adds many more rules. I feel like
Speaker 2: in the comics when the blit happens, it's just you
Speaker 2: just eradicate life, right, and it's just Iologically he wants
Speaker 2: to he wants to impressed death, he wants to sleep
Speaker 2: with his girlfriend who say and note him, and he
Speaker 2: does it to impress her. I feel like in the
Speaker 2: movie's sentient life is a grey area because we don't
Speaker 2: like vision seems to still exist, and that could be
Speaker 2: that he didn't never like a loophole. Really, Nebula is
Speaker 2: a loophole, I think because she actually that is such
Speaker 2: a great point. She is essentially her father's own downfall
Speaker 2: because he has tortured her so much, replaced her eyes
Speaker 2: as a form of torture. We see him pulling her
Speaker 2: apart and kind of going through her memories, and Karen
Speaker 2: Gillen is so brilliant in that role. I really love
Speaker 2: Nebula and that is such a great catch because you're
Speaker 2: absolutely right. She essentially becomes a loophole, and then she
Speaker 2: goes on to join the Avengers in endgame and become
Speaker 2: a primary part of taking down her father.
Speaker 1: Yeah, is a huge and obviously her connection with her
Speaker 1: alternate self basically sparks the final big fight on Yeah. Second,
Speaker 1: the Avengers compound post.
Speaker 2: Sister Gomora, you know she is the one who's able
Speaker 2: to make that connection with her and put her on side.
Speaker 1: Next, there's Drax, who we last saw. Of course he
Speaker 1: got uh, he got dusted very back. He uh put
Speaker 1: put in a great showing during the big fight at
Speaker 1: the Avengers compound against Santos and his forces, and uh
Speaker 1: we see him stab one of those big Chatari beasts
Speaker 1: in the back, among other things. He's a very very
Speaker 1: tough guy and later we see him in the Guardians
Speaker 1: of Galaxy Christmas schedule as part of the hair Brain
Speaker 1: scheme to kidnap Kevin Bacon in order to cheer up
Speaker 1: Peter Quill, who is very very very depressed because one
Speaker 1: his girlfriend Gemora died and two she came back but
Speaker 1: the all version from where they were together and doesn't
Speaker 1: know him and has no interest in ever getting to
Speaker 1: know him. Yeah, which is and honestly fair, because it's
Speaker 1: such a weird what a weird imagine coming to an
Speaker 1: alternate world and being like, hey, by the way, we
Speaker 1: get together later and you're just like, I can't know.
Speaker 2: And also like he is annoying. Let's be real, he
Speaker 2: doesn't have He's not He's not coming at it with
Speaker 2: like a romantic or interesting sensibility.
Speaker 1: I mean, were you know, having just watched the Guardians
Speaker 1: movies back to back, man, Peter, Peter makes a lot
Speaker 1: of his galactic body count in that first movie. He
Speaker 1: is just talking about it, talking about the furious scars
Speaker 1: that he has all over his body as a result
Speaker 1: of these galactic dalliances with various alien women.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we get that really famous scene where he's you know,
Speaker 2: he goes up in the ship and kind of flies
Speaker 2: around crazy and then the girl comes out of his
Speaker 2: bedroom and he'd forgotten she was there, you know, So Pete,
Speaker 2: come on, man, what are you doing. Oh? Also, speaking
Speaker 2: of the Holiday Special, very important thing to note it that,
Speaker 2: honestly I still think is actually my favorite Guardian's thing.
Speaker 2: I loved it. The vibe was just so good and
Speaker 2: that was a massive moment for Mantis, who, again, like
Speaker 2: you said, absolutely smashed it. Almost defeated Dan as Peter
Speaker 2: fucked it up. Comes back after the blip and we
Speaker 2: see her really coming into her own with Dras during
Speaker 2: the Christmas Special or the Holiday Special, they go on
Speaker 2: this funny kidnapping adventure, but really the big moment is
Speaker 2: that she reveals that she's actually Peter's half sister. She
Speaker 2: is also the daughter of Ego, so that was a
Speaker 2: big beat for her and it explains why her powers
Speaker 2: are so intense. Makes a lot of sense.
Speaker 1: Next up, our good friend Rocket Raccoon played a very
Speaker 1: very important role in Infinity War, goes off with Thor
Speaker 1: in order to create a new Uru metal weapon, this
Speaker 1: time an X.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah.
Speaker 1: They go off to Nider and they create this X.
Speaker 1: Rocket then plays again in a really important role during
Speaker 1: the final battle.
Speaker 2: He does not.
Speaker 1: Get snapped notably, and then in the time between Endgame
Speaker 1: and Love and Thunder is running around in space with Thor,
Speaker 1: who is kind of like an adopted member of the
Speaker 1: team for a period.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we really thought we were going to get the
Speaker 2: as Guardians of the Galaxy and it didn't really happen,
Speaker 2: but we got to kind of tease it, and then
Speaker 2: we got to see it a little bit with that
Speaker 2: one great opening fight scene in Love and Thunder, And obviously,
Speaker 2: again going back to Holiday Special, it's Rocket who really
Speaker 2: befriends Cosmo. Cosmo first appeared in the post credit scene
Speaker 2: for Guardians Galaxy Volume one with Howard the Dark as
Speaker 2: part of the Collector's collection, but we really get to
Speaker 2: see Cosmo kind of be borret into the fold in
Speaker 2: the Holiday Special, which becomes a major part of volume three.
Speaker 1: We should Yeah, so I guess should we talk about
Speaker 1: Cosmo briefly?
Speaker 2: Then?
Speaker 1: First, let's so Cosmo, of course the space dog sent
Speaker 1: up by the Russians during the early days of the
Speaker 1: Space Race. It just kind of was floating around up there,
Speaker 1: was picked up by the collector who loves weird one
Speaker 1: off kitchy things, and here is a dog in a
Speaker 1: Russian dog and Space Collector loved it, picked him up,
Speaker 1: picked her up, experimented on her, and basically gave her
Speaker 1: full human level intelligence, sentience, and an ability to communicate
Speaker 1: both with her mind and to and to use telekinetic powers.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and a freak a cool like up Doug style,
Speaker 2: you know, speaking calla which really really gets used well
Speaker 2: in in volume volume three. I love to see Cosmo.
Speaker 1: I think that's one of the coolest asmu's fintasts.
Speaker 2: That's such a cool bit of real history kind of reimagined,
Speaker 2: like what if she wasn't just sacrificed for the space
Speaker 2: race and instead became this super cool hero. And I
Speaker 2: guess that's what Guardians does so well, because I mean
Speaker 2: the member that we have yet to talk about what
Speaker 2: he got up to after, you know volume two is Grout,
Speaker 2: who is literally a tree but has become one of
Speaker 2: I mean sorry, I shouldn't say that he is an
Speaker 2: alien species that looks like a tree. Super yeah, yeah, Superflora.
Speaker 2: But two fans and people out there, this is a
Speaker 2: really one of the weirdest, big strange MCU characters and
Speaker 2: comic book characters. And the thing I love about it
Speaker 2: is like you see kids now who are going around
Speaker 2: and they are wearing like a little groot on their shoulder. Yeah, Like,
Speaker 2: this is a character that speaks so much to who
Speaker 2: and what the Guardians are and why they've become so popular.
Speaker 2: It's kind of mind blowing. Especially like this is you know,
Speaker 2: you're talking about a Stanley, Stanley's brother Larry Lee but
Speaker 2: and Jack Kirby creation. This is like old school weird,
Speaker 2: super iconic creator stuff. And he has become one of
Speaker 2: the most beloved characters in the whole of the MCU.
Speaker 1: And among our h our qure MCU characters. Is notable
Speaker 1: for basically being unkillable.
Speaker 2: That's what I'm saying. He's I think it's fair to
Speaker 2: say he's immortal.
Speaker 1: If there is even a splinter of groot that remains
Speaker 1: Groot lives on, like you have to chop up his
Speaker 1: entire body and like incinerate it.
Speaker 2: At the highest possible temperature, because I don't I don't
Speaker 2: believe a little bit of even I think a little
Speaker 2: bit of ash. If there was just a tiny bit
Speaker 2: of liquid still in there, you could probably plant it
Speaker 2: and get annualized. I think certainly if he creates pollen
Speaker 2: and the pollen flies off I think he comes back
Speaker 2: like just you know, we've seen him reduced to essentially
Speaker 2: a twig, we see him grow up from a baby.
Speaker 2: In Guardians three, he is even more able to like
Speaker 2: morph his body than ever before and.
Speaker 1: Essentially unkilled. You can't kill Groot cannot die.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's he's a key character, fun character. He's what's
Speaker 2: he been up to. He was in thor Love and Thunder.
Speaker 2: You got to see him there. We're seeing in the
Speaker 2: Guardians of Galaxy Holiday Special, freaking people out with his
Speaker 2: buff kind of early twenties body, and obviously as well,
Speaker 2: he's so popular that he even got his own Baby
Speaker 2: Grew animated series, which is very delightful and not necessarily
Speaker 2: like important canon, but just very cute. So that's what
Speaker 2: they've all been up to, and now they're headed to
Speaker 2: old Guardians the Galaxy Volume three.
Speaker 1: Let's get into it up next, Guardians the Galaxy Volume three,
Speaker 1: Guardians of the Galaxy Volume three. Depending on when you're
Speaker 1: hearing this, it might come out the very day that
Speaker 1: you are hearing this release eight May fifth. It is
Speaker 1: the second film in Phase five of the MCU, after
Speaker 1: ant Man in the Wasp Quantumnia, and we're going to
Speaker 1: recap it now off the top of our heads, wow
Speaker 1: vere fo because obviously we saw it in a screening.
Speaker 1: We're not able to take notes, have devices out and
Speaker 1: it's been a few days. But here we go as
Speaker 1: we attempt to do this. So we open on nowhere,
Speaker 1: which is now the headquarters of the Guardians of the Galaxy.
Speaker 1: The Guardians have opened a kind of bar slash headquarter base, like.
Speaker 2: Like p I office. You can come and hire a guardian.
Speaker 1: What you all you the Guardians to do stuff as
Speaker 1: we saw, you know, just like we saw the opening
Speaker 1: of Guardians too, where you know, they're hired by the
Speaker 1: sovereign to uh to basically kill the battery eating monsters.
Speaker 1: I guess you could hire them out depending on.
Speaker 2: Parents and what the rates are.
Speaker 1: Now here's the thing. Peter Quill has fallen into substance
Speaker 1: of abuse. He is depressed because again Gomura was killed
Speaker 1: by her father Thanos, and then Gamura came back. But
Speaker 1: it's not but it's alternate version. Gomora, who from the past,
Speaker 1: who never had a relationship with him, doesn't remember him
Speaker 1: and is not interested in having a relationship with him,
Speaker 1: and basically Peter treats her as if she died, which
Speaker 1: she did. She did die, so he's basically acting like
Speaker 1: she's she's she's dead and he's mourning her. But the
Speaker 1: alternate version Gomora remained in this timeline and is now
Speaker 1: running around with the Ravagers.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Pias having a rough time of it. He is
Speaker 2: so wasted in that little bar that we begin the
Speaker 2: movie with Rocket listening to Creep by radio Head as
Speaker 2: all of this is going on. He has taken Pete's
Speaker 2: beloved zoon. That's how out of it Pieter is. He's
Speaker 2: not even looking off to the zoon.
Speaker 1: So once again, it's a gig economy in space. And
Speaker 1: the High Evolutionary, who is the big bad of this
Speaker 1: movie and is a mad scientist, genius level genetic madman
Speaker 1: who also has like various corporations that are made up
Speaker 1: of his creations and has even created entire worlds, has
Speaker 1: tasked the Sovereign and our good friend Aisha, who we
Speaker 1: learn here are actually a creation of the High Evolutionary.
Speaker 1: The High Evolutionary created the entire people and world of
Speaker 1: the Sovereign has tasked Ayisha with getting back his most
Speaker 1: prized creation, and that is Rocket Raccoon, who we see
Speaker 1: in flashbacks the things that Rocket endured throughout this movie
Speaker 1: at the hands of the high evolutionary and let's stop
Speaker 1: here to talk about that, because it is bracing.
Speaker 2: Folks.
Speaker 1: We know a lot of parents listen to this, listen
Speaker 1: to this podcast, and certainly you're thinking, oh, man, my
Speaker 1: kid loves Guardians one and loved Guardians two. I would say,
Speaker 1: if your kid is like, let's say, younger than thirteen,
Speaker 1: maybe younger than eleven, what would you say.
Speaker 2: I'd say it all depends on the capacity that your
Speaker 2: kid has for watching animals in trauma. I feel like
Speaker 2: it's very specific. I watched a lot of horror films
Speaker 2: as a kid, Yeah, but I was devastated by, you know,
Speaker 2: Warship Down.
Speaker 1: This is very much like watershiped Down, Ship Down, the
Speaker 1: huge animals getting put through terrible, terrible things at the
Speaker 1: hands of one of the most evil characters that we've
Speaker 1: seen at the FC.
Speaker 2: If you are somebody who uses the website does a.
Speaker 1: Dog Die, you will likely.
Speaker 2: Have issues watching this movie. It has a very vigorous
Speaker 2: and visceral representation of animals being tested on, of animals
Speaker 2: being harmed, and some animals rip to those animals sadly
Speaker 2: being killed.
Speaker 1: Animals do die.
Speaker 2: In animals do die and fictionally, fictionally CGI animals made
Speaker 2: by the hard working VFX people at the prop store.
Speaker 1: I believe yes. And I will tell you as a kid,
Speaker 1: as a as a person who has a child, rented
Speaker 1: Watership Down because I saw cute bunnies on the cover
Speaker 1: of the VHS and thought this will be great cute
Speaker 1: bunnies and was really really messed up for a little
Speaker 1: while after watching that film. I could imagine, if you're
Speaker 1: a young kid and you love cute animals, that this
Speaker 1: is a rocky raccoon or rocket raccoon. This is going
Speaker 1: to be this is going to be a hard watch. Also,
Speaker 1: I would say as a person, I had to I
Speaker 1: had to delay my screening because my dog got spade
Speaker 1: on the first night of the screening, so I defined
Speaker 1: it one this second night, and so going to that
Speaker 1: movie while my.
Speaker 2: Dog was recovering from surgery was really rough. It was rough,
Speaker 2: It really rough. It's it's definitely very much in that
Speaker 2: horror movie Vein. And I would also say, you know,
Speaker 2: far less importantly, but just have to put out there.
Speaker 2: If you're a fan of the comic book version of
Speaker 2: the High Evolutionary. You will likely be shocked because this
Speaker 2: version is very, very, very evil. The High Evolutionary has
Speaker 2: a lot of problems, but this is a very This
Speaker 2: is a villain who, by the time you inevitably watch
Speaker 2: him defeated, you are happy. It's extremely cathotic. You love
Speaker 2: to see it.
Speaker 1: We'll get to that, yeah, And like it's a good point, Rosie,
Speaker 1: because the comics version of the High Evolutionary is a
Speaker 1: very frosty, remote, like emotionally unavailable, cerebral, kind of prefessorial,
Speaker 1: kind of semi villain. I wouldn't kill him, an out
Speaker 1: and out villain. But the movie version of the High
Speaker 1: Evolutionary is period but a bit a basic, like a
Speaker 1: raving madman, like a stark, raving madman who's even his
Speaker 1: like top lieutenants and assistants are like destrified, like on
Speaker 1: the edge of losing it. Okay, So the High Evolutionary
Speaker 1: hires the Sovereign and our good friend Nisha and her
Speaker 1: newly hatched Adam Warlock.
Speaker 2: You may remember from the post credit scene of Guardian's
Speaker 2: Galaxy volume.
Speaker 1: Two, who's been hatched. He is fully presenting as an adult,
Speaker 1: but has the intellectual abilities well of basically like a
Speaker 1: maybe like a twelve year old.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's a baby. He is a baby, but he
Speaker 2: is a baby. He's really stupid. Yes, it's a very
Speaker 2: he's a he's a himbo, and it's gonna be a
Speaker 2: very controversial read on one of the most powerful characters
Speaker 2: in Marvel Comics history. Your gig, your gig economy question
Speaker 2: is right, Your point is right. Do not hire the
Speaker 2: baby alien even though he's very powerful, he doesn't know
Speaker 2: what he's doing.
Speaker 1: He doesn't know what he's doing, folks. So they hire
Speaker 1: Aisha and she sends h Adam Warlock to go pick
Speaker 1: up Rocket in order to return him to the High Evolutionary,
Speaker 1: who is threatened to wipe out the sovereign if they
Speaker 1: are not successful. So Adam Warlock got flies to nowhere
Speaker 1: is just a wrecking shop all in the streets, destroys
Speaker 1: the Guardian's bar slash Base, is fighting with Nebula, is
Speaker 1: fighting with Drax, is fighting with everybody, and long story short,
Speaker 1: they fight him off, but Rocket is very, very seriously
Speaker 1: injured in the scrap and unfortunately they can't fix They
Speaker 1: can't fix them, They can't do any medical care on
Speaker 1: him because there is a kill switch inside of his
Speaker 1: chest that is copyright registered, copyright protected to ORG Corp,
Speaker 1: the main corporate entity, the CEO of which is the
Speaker 1: High evolutionaiy.
Speaker 2: So basically they have.
Speaker 1: To find the you know, the unlock key at corporate
Speaker 1: headquarters of Org Corp in order to save Rocket's life.
Speaker 1: Now we're on this mission, the Guardians enlist Gomora, who
Speaker 1: has been running around with her with her ravagers. They
Speaker 1: actually invade the Guardian ship at one point and they
Speaker 1: convince her, hey, let's team up. You want to break
Speaker 1: into org Corp because you and the Ravagers want to
Speaker 1: steal a bunch of like really really expensive and rare
Speaker 1: corporate ip that the High Evolutionary has created, and we
Speaker 1: want to save Rocket. So will you help us? And
Speaker 1: the answer is yes, So the Guardians for money. So
Speaker 1: the Guardians plus Gomora break into org Corp. And it's
Speaker 1: it is a feast for the odds.
Speaker 2: Yes, this is one of my favorite parts of the movie.
Speaker 2: We get a classic powerful James gun needle drop, we
Speaker 2: get space Hog and it's playing as they wear these
Speaker 2: rainbow colored face suits and kind of a little bit
Speaker 2: ether and Or Corp is very fun because it's a
Speaker 2: organic space, not a sentient being, but an organic space
Speaker 2: structure or very little metal. It's a space of skin,
Speaker 2: essentially pretty gross in the best way. And so they
Speaker 2: get there and they decide that the only thing they
Speaker 2: can do is cut their way in, seeing as it's skin,
Speaker 2: which is great. They get in there, they sort of
Speaker 2: seem like they're going to do a great heist. I
Speaker 2: have to say, I feel like it's going quite well
Speaker 2: at the beginning until they come up against Nathan Fillion
Speaker 2: in a very hilarious role.
Speaker 1: Right he's secure security head. Yeah, security guy. So a
Speaker 1: big fight, uh breaks off there in various little groups.
Speaker 1: You have mantis and drags Nathan Fillion, you have Gomora
Speaker 1: and Peter Quill kind of Peter trying to rekindle the romance,
Speaker 1: actually just kindle because again this is a different person,
Speaker 1: just kindle it in the first place. And they're off
Speaker 1: like trying to steal the flesh ball, that is the
Speaker 1: hard drive that contains all the information about the creation
Speaker 1: of Rocket Raccoon. They managed to get the flesh ball,
Speaker 1: but it doesn't contain the key. The key, they discover
Speaker 1: has been downloaded into the neural implant of one of
Speaker 1: the two top assistants to the High Evolutionary, who they
Speaker 1: learn is not in ORG core headquarters. He is on
Speaker 1: counter Earth in his pyramid other pyramid shaped corporate building there.
Speaker 1: And counter Earth is a kind of continuation of the
Speaker 1: experiments that create a Rocker raccoon the You know, all
Speaker 1: of this time the High Evolutionaries were trying to create
Speaker 1: very very smart animal hybrids that are peaceful.
Speaker 2: Yes, he wants to create a utopian world, and for
Speaker 2: some reason for him, that includes making animal human hybrids.
Speaker 2: And this is very interesting because it's a Counter Earth
Speaker 2: is a big comic book thing from High Evolutionary's past,
Speaker 2: created by Royd Thomas and Gilkane, and it's this idea
Speaker 2: of a purer Earth. Yes, it's a better version of Earth,
Speaker 2: and that is what he is going for here. But
Speaker 2: as we see, there are not There are many problems
Speaker 2: on counter Earth that are just the same as real Earth,
Speaker 2: even if you do fill it with very very very
Speaker 2: brilliantly to life animal human hybrids.
Speaker 1: And now it seems like, you know, they land in
Speaker 1: a suburb and for the most part, everybody seems very
Speaker 1: generous and very nice. There is an animal human hybrid
Speaker 1: family that takes. They look like they are maybe, yes,
Speaker 1: some kind of bat or bat hybrid. They take Peter
Speaker 1: and the team in and give him delicious drinks and
Speaker 1: point him in the right direction where to find the
Speaker 1: high evolutionary, but also on the outskirts of the suburbs
Speaker 1: and kind of like closer into the city of counter Earth.
Speaker 1: There's like, you know, there's drugs, there is crime, as timelessness,
Speaker 1: there's homelessness. And this is a very this is a
Speaker 1: sticking point for the high evolutionary who has views counter
Speaker 1: Earth essentially as a failure and is currently on onto
Speaker 1: another experiment in this line of experiments to create a utopia.
Speaker 1: He's created these other creatures who, again, who are very smart.
Speaker 1: They can solve all these kind of mathematical problems, they
Speaker 1: can repair starships. But he's not he's still tinkering with it.
Speaker 1: He's not quite happy with it. But they all exist
Speaker 1: as children.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And he believes that the key to fixing his
Speaker 2: problem and creating a true animal human hybrid super being
Speaker 2: is Rocket Raccoon, because Rocket is the only one of
Speaker 2: his creations that's ever been able to innovate every other
Speaker 2: one of his creations. He feels like can just repeat
Speaker 2: things that he's taught them. But Rocket was incredibly smart.
Speaker 2: Rocket was actually, as we learn in a flashback, it
Speaker 2: was Rocket who worked out how to make the animal
Speaker 2: human hybrids peaceful. It was to do with a filtration system.
Speaker 2: It Rocket. The reason Rocket is still alive is due
Speaker 2: to his own innovation and creation with building things and
Speaker 2: invent things. In fact, Nebula has a very cool new
Speaker 2: arm in this movie, and we learn that it's Rocket
Speaker 2: who created it. So we're really getting to see how
Speaker 2: his horrific past encouraged his intelligence and inventiveness, as well
Speaker 2: as this kind of trauma and anger that it obviously
Speaker 2: gave me.
Speaker 1: Now, during these flashbacks, we meet Rocket's friends who are
Speaker 1: part of the same batch of this animal experimentation that
Speaker 1: the High Evolutionary is doing. Now, these are evolved up
Speaker 1: animals that have been given various kinds of cybernetic implants,
Speaker 1: very rough and very hard to look at ones. But
Speaker 1: so these friends of Rockets are Lela, who is a
Speaker 1: seattter with metal arms, Thiefs, who is a walrus with
Speaker 1: big wheels for hind legs, and Floor who's just like
Speaker 1: a very delightful, very sunny, very very optimistic little bunny
Speaker 1: rabbit with kind of a racknid metal racknid.
Speaker 2: Legs and a scary mouth.
Speaker 1: And a scary mouth, and they all get to they
Speaker 1: all create names, these names for each other, and they
Speaker 1: all bond over the idea that one day Master the
Speaker 1: High Evolutionary is going to create this utopia which ends
Speaker 1: up being counter Earth and they are going to get
Speaker 1: to live there in freedom and stare at the sky.
Speaker 1: And it is fucking heartbreaking. Ship Yeah, real talk like
Speaker 1: it is really, it is hard. And again this is
Speaker 1: where if you have it, if you have to want
Speaker 1: to take a young kid to this, it's gonna be
Speaker 1: it's gonna be rough, because like me and as adults,
Speaker 1: I was like, this is this is rough.
Speaker 2: It's truly and it makes you hate.
Speaker 1: You fucking hate the High them. You will hate the
Speaker 1: High Evolutionary.
Speaker 2: And if you have read the Grant Morrison Frank Quietly
Speaker 2: comic from Virtego, we three.
Speaker 1: We suggested it on one of.
Speaker 2: Our Yeah, we've suggested it in the past. Is it's
Speaker 2: such a brilliant comic. It's heartbreaking, but it's hopeful, and
Speaker 2: it essentially works as a story about three animals who
Speaker 2: are created as prototype weapons and their kind of journey
Speaker 2: to freedom. And it is very I think fair and
Speaker 2: likely to say that that was a huge influence on
Speaker 2: Floor and Rockets journey. And I'm Grant James Gunn is
Speaker 2: a huge fan of Grant Morrison. We know Grant's work
Speaker 2: will be a large part of their next steps at DC.
Speaker 2: So it's kind of wild to see a little version
Speaker 2: of We three come to life, especially in Flaw, who
Speaker 2: I feel like is very similar to the rabbit in
Speaker 2: that pirate who is just heartbreakingly sweet and optimistic in
Speaker 2: the way they talk. It's really brutal stuff. I'm very
Speaker 2: it's very brutal. X Ray Vision will be.
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Speaker 1: favorite podcast platform. And we're back. So the High Evolutionary
Speaker 1: is in his pyramid shaped corporate headquarters on counter ears
Speaker 1: and the Guardians figure out that he's there, and the
Speaker 1: High Evoution she knows that they know he's there, and
Speaker 1: in fact, he has set this trap because he wants
Speaker 1: to write a Raccoon. The Guardians have Rocket Raccoon, and
Speaker 1: he knows that they need the key in order to
Speaker 1: unlock the corporate trademark lock on Time lock on Rocket's
Speaker 1: Heart in order to save his life, and this will
Speaker 1: allow the High Evolutionary to have Rocket basically delivered right
Speaker 1: into his clutches, and it kind of works. So the
Speaker 1: Guardians go to the corporate headquarters and there's a big
Speaker 1: fight there and one of many shootouts in the movie.
Speaker 2: One of many shootouts many evolutionary.
Speaker 1: Oh, we should add that Adam Warlock, who is saddened
Speaker 1: at the death of Aisha in one of the one
Speaker 1: of the previous scenes, goes to counter Earth, basically gets
Speaker 1: his clock cleaned and then kind of soft joins the
Speaker 1: Guardians of the Galaxy, or at least like adds some.
Speaker 2: Yeah, because what we learn about the High Evolutionary, and
Speaker 2: we can assume that the Sovereign is one of the
Speaker 2: lucky communities. This didn't happen to He has gone through
Speaker 2: history creating these new worlds and then destroying them if
Speaker 2: they don't live up to his right, you know. So
Speaker 2: when they got to counter Earth and counter Earth is
Speaker 2: going to be destroyed because there's these drug problems as homelessness,
Speaker 2: he wants to do it again. I thought the Guardians
Speaker 2: might try and save counter Earth, but it's too late.
Speaker 2: They're already destroying it. They're always happening.
Speaker 1: So Peter and Peter and group get the code, get
Speaker 1: the past code from the head of the Assistant to
Speaker 1: the High Evolutionary.
Speaker 2: His and not just like his memory, his literal head.
Speaker 1: They killed him and take the head and take the
Speaker 1: peace out of the head. And while this is going on,
Speaker 1: the High Evolutionary has triggered the destruct of counter Earth,
Speaker 1: all of counter Earth and the Untold millions, if maybe
Speaker 1: not billions of animal hybrids that live there are all
Speaker 1: in the process of being destroyed. Peter gets the code back,
Speaker 1: they save Rocket's life, and as they are saving his
Speaker 1: life in the present, we get the flashback of basically
Speaker 1: how Rocket escape from the clutches of the Higher. He
Speaker 1: discovers that the High Evolutionary plans to kill all of them,
Speaker 1: kill his friends, kill them all, so he played. He
Speaker 1: puts into motion an escape plan which he had apparently
Speaker 1: been been working on all of this time.
Speaker 2: He had hidden little.
Speaker 1: Pieces of machinery all around his cage, and he puts
Speaker 1: them together and it's a key in order to escape.
Speaker 1: He escapes from the crate, opens the other cage to
Speaker 1: get the other animals out, but the High of Issue
Speaker 1: shows up with his guards. They open fire, and very
Speaker 1: very very sadly Rocket's friends are killed. Rocket flies into
Speaker 1: a rage. He jumps onto the High lutionary and just kicks,
Speaker 1: just tears, literally tears his face off, and then jumps
Speaker 1: in a spaceship and escapes, and then you know, we
Speaker 1: don't know what happens until we catch up with him
Speaker 1: at the beginning of Guardians of the Galaxy Volume one.
Speaker 1: Now we learn about that. And then as they're working
Speaker 1: on Rocket, it seems like it seems like it's not
Speaker 1: going to work. They've unlocked his heart, but it's the
Speaker 1: heart isn't beating and Rocket is near death in his
Speaker 1: in some kind of limbo state, his consciousness is walking
Speaker 1: into a light. He sees his friends, he sees Lilah
Speaker 1: comes to him, and this is again, I'm like actually
Speaker 1: getting choked up. Talkdah.
Speaker 2: Everyone's going to be crying at this.
Speaker 1: Lilah comes to him, tiefs and floor there in the background,
Speaker 1: and and he's so happy to see her. And he's like, oh,
Speaker 1: finally I can just be with my friends and like, yeah,
Speaker 1: we can be together.
Speaker 2: We're going to do that.
Speaker 1: Lila tells him We're going to be together one day
Speaker 1: and just stare at the sky, all of us together
Speaker 1: and be friends. He's like, this is so great. I
Speaker 1: finally I can rest. And then she puts her metal
Speaker 1: hand on his chest and she says, but not now,
Speaker 1: because you still have something to do. He needs to
Speaker 1: go back and he needs to fight with the Guardians
Speaker 1: and free all the children that are the current experiment
Speaker 1: of the high evolutionary.
Speaker 2: So he comes back to life.
Speaker 1: They go to the High Evolutionaries now space borne Pyramid,
Speaker 1: they invade it, they free all the kids.
Speaker 2: There is a.
Speaker 1: Wonderful So the High evolution has put out the alert like, okay,
Speaker 1: all forces be on alert for the Guardians, get me
Speaker 1: Rocket Raccoon by any means necessary, kill the rest, and
Speaker 1: do what you have to do to get them. That
Speaker 1: sets up and this is a wonderful subversion. We've talked
Speaker 1: a lot on this podcas about about the third act
Speaker 1: big fight problems that Marvel often encounters. Right, I think
Speaker 1: this is one of the smartest, if not the smartest
Speaker 1: subversion of that trope that Marvel has done yet. So
Speaker 1: rather than have this big showdown with the High Evolutionary,
Speaker 1: right the big Boss, the big fight is with his henchees,
Speaker 1: including these half animal, half android cyborg creatures and a
Speaker 1: bunch of human guardsmen. And it is awesome.
Speaker 2: They do such a good job. But it has this
Speaker 2: great these large one shots, this really interesting use of
Speaker 2: slow motion. It really speaks. I think it's a great
Speaker 2: callback to some of the earlier fights that really made
Speaker 2: Guardian stand out. But it's been streamlined to the point
Speaker 2: where when you see it on that big screen it's
Speaker 2: incredibly impressive.
Speaker 1: It it recalls the fight on running the User Ship
Speaker 1: from the first one, but with the kind of scope
Speaker 1: and ambition and general coolness of the Big Infinity War. Yeah,
Speaker 1: totals fight like it's that kind of thing.
Speaker 2: But moral question you mentioned this, You mentioned the cyborg
Speaker 2: animal hybrid kind of characters who are used as part
Speaker 2: of the body count for the high evolutionary what are
Speaker 2: the morals here? Like, we're saving the ones who look
Speaker 2: like humans. Rocket was one of the ones who was
Speaker 2: unfinished and was kind of androidy. I feel like that's
Speaker 2: one of the things for me where I was left
Speaker 2: thinking about it afterwards, where I was like, who gets saved?
Speaker 2: And how do we try and save them? And I
Speaker 2: understand they didn't have a lot of time to answer those.
Speaker 1: Yeah, this was a moment where I did want I
Speaker 1: did find myself wishing for some kind of just even
Speaker 1: a line about how sad they were, you know, like
Speaker 1: something in the Matrix. I remember that moment in the
Speaker 1: Matrix where where Nea, where Neo is having explained to
Speaker 1: him that everybody they see in the Matrix is a
Speaker 1: person and that occasionally that means they're going to have
Speaker 1: to kill people who are plugged into the matrix. But
Speaker 1: that's just the way it is because they're trying to
Speaker 1: free everyone. In order to free everyone, they're going to
Speaker 1: have to fight these pieces of the system that are
Speaker 1: trying to imprison them. I found myself wishing that there's
Speaker 1: something some kind of justification like that, where it's like, listen,
Speaker 1: we wish we could free these very very aggressive and
Speaker 1: hyper violent and hyper loyal creations of the High Evolutionary.
Speaker 1: We can't because they're trying to kill us. I did
Speaker 1: find myself wishing that had happened, but that does not
Speaker 1: happen until they just kill them all. But there's a
Speaker 1: lot of killing, and it's the fight seat is freaking incredible.
Speaker 1: And then the final showdown with the High Evolutionary is
Speaker 1: a really cathartic, like one minute fucking beat down the
Speaker 1: High Evolutionary with his gravity powers that he upgraded his suit.
Speaker 1: Ever since Rocket tore his face off, he's like never
Speaker 1: again and gave himself gravity powers. Well, Rocket had created
Speaker 1: a kind of like anti gravity power device that he
Speaker 1: then triggers after a little while of getting thrown around
Speaker 1: by the High Evolutionary, and he just proceeds along with
Speaker 1: the rest of the Guardians to beat the living tar
Speaker 1: out of the high evolutionary who then lies, you know,
Speaker 1: before them, And everybody's like, okay, well, Rocket, if you
Speaker 1: want to fish them off, you go ahead and do it.
Speaker 1: And then Rocket says, no, I won't because I'm a
Speaker 1: guardian of the galaxy. I won't and which is again
Speaker 1: a very very noble statement, which comes after they kill.
Speaker 2: Are creatures.
Speaker 3: I mean, there's literally a moment where we get within
Speaker 3: the now Staalo is saying to Drags, we can't kill
Speaker 3: anyone with Gudians, that's what we do. And then Staloard
Speaker 3: and Groot go into a room where group pulls out
Speaker 3: many guns, which I will say, I do not believe
Speaker 3: he needs to kill people. But and then christ Stalald says,
Speaker 3: kill them all.
Speaker 2: But now you don't kill if you're a guardian. I
Speaker 2: feel like there is a morally complex conversation to be
Speaker 2: had there. But I understood where Groot was. I understoodhere
Speaker 2: Rocket was coming from because he has been tortured and
Speaker 2: he doesn't want to enact that violence on the man
Speaker 2: who did it to him.
Speaker 1: I'll say this when Peter Quill says kill them all.
Speaker 1: At that point, I was absolutely on the side because
Speaker 1: all of the people in that room were human enable
Speaker 1: c sweet followers of the High Evolutionary, not the hybrid
Speaker 1: Ania guards. It was just like the most evil top
Speaker 1: level cadre of the High Evolutionary, and I was absolutely like, yeah,
Speaker 1: get to get rid of I don't want to see
Speaker 1: any of them.
Speaker 2: I don't want to deal with it.
Speaker 1: So they take the other High Evolutionary and as the
Speaker 1: High Evolutionary's ship is crashing, they then go on a
Speaker 1: mission much like Noah's Ark, to save as many of
Speaker 1: the creatures that are on this crashing corporate headquarters as
Speaker 1: they can. They start with the sentient creatures, so it's
Speaker 1: like the very very smart animal hybrids who aren't still
Speaker 1: trying to kill them, and this race of white haired
Speaker 1: children who was again the latest experiment that the High
Speaker 1: Eblution is working on.
Speaker 2: They get all the kids.
Speaker 1: Off the ship, but then Rocket you know, visits the
Speaker 1: area where he was kept in the cages and decides, no, no,
Speaker 1: we're saving all the animals too, and the monsters and
Speaker 1: the battery eating monsters three of them. From the beginning
Speaker 1: of Guarnian's The Galaxy Too, there's three of them kept
Speaker 1: on this corporate headquarters, and they Mantis basically turns them
Speaker 1: into friends, which then made be retroactively sad that they
Speaker 1: slice that one open.
Speaker 2: Yiz. She actually realizes that they are not inherently aggressive creatures,
Speaker 2: just themselves. They just want to eat a battery. This
Speaker 2: is all they want. I love to see Mantison her
Speaker 2: new monster buddies. So yeah, they save everyone, and everyone
Speaker 2: ends up on Nowhere, which I'm very glad that Celestial's
Speaker 2: head was so big, because you're talking about a population
Speaker 2: bump of like at least five thousand.
Speaker 1: So there's all these are tearing animals now on Nowhere,
Speaker 1: and one would imagine all these children creations of the
Speaker 1: High evolutionary and some hybrid creations. And they join a
Speaker 1: ragtag cast that was already living on Nowhere, including Kraglin,
Speaker 1: who helps out in the big fight and successfully learns
Speaker 1: to use Yondu's whistle needle in a wonderful moment where
Speaker 1: he kind of sees the visage like a vision of
Speaker 1: Yondu like basically urging him on, saying, like you could
Speaker 1: do it, you can use this weapon. As they're defending
Speaker 1: Nowhere from the creations of the Highlustrey it's a nice moment,
Speaker 1: you know, from a now deceased child multiple time child traffic.
Speaker 1: The broker is hanging out with them on Nowhere.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Cosmo, she's doing some cool telekinesis. She's a good dog.
Speaker 2: She's very very powerful.
Speaker 1: Now we see she's able to keep Nowhere and the
Speaker 1: corporate headquarters, the high lushite corporate headquarters like in parallel
Speaker 1: orbit for a period of time just using her teleconnect powers,
Speaker 1: which is wow.
Speaker 2: Like Gene VP, Cosmo MVP.
Speaker 1: There's a wonderful subplot with Kraglin and Cosmo where he
Speaker 1: calls her a bad dog and it really just bothers
Speaker 1: her for basically the entire movie.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's really great. And then he finally she gets
Speaker 2: a good dog moment when she smashes some people with
Speaker 2: some giant rocks. So all good stuff.
Speaker 1: Love con Peter once again survives the vacuum of space.
Speaker 2: I thought he was gonna die.
Speaker 1: I thought he was done. No Guardian perishes, shocking twist,
Speaker 1: shocking twist, but the original team does break up. Peter decides,
Speaker 1: you know what, I've got some unfinished business on Earth.
Speaker 1: My grandfather's still alive. I'd like to go visit him.
Speaker 1: Jack says, I don't even know who I am. I've
Speaker 1: been fighting all this time. I've now met He really
Speaker 1: had an immediate connection and affinity with these children created
Speaker 1: by the Evolutionary, and it makes him think of what
Speaker 1: he missed with his daughter who was killed by Thanos,
Speaker 1: and now he's basically gone off to raise these kids.
Speaker 1: Mantis also leaves because honestly, being an EmPATH is wearying,
Speaker 1: and she's just been carrying the emotional baggage of all
Speaker 1: of this team for all of this time. She's fucking burnt.
Speaker 2: Out and she needs to know who she is. So
Speaker 2: she takes some battery eating monsters and off they go.
Speaker 1: A beautiful you love it, you love to see it.
Speaker 1: And the new team who we see at the first
Speaker 1: stinger is Rocket Raccoon, Leader now retconned as basically a
Speaker 1: super genius.
Speaker 2: Who is accepted that he is a raccoon. He's accepted.
Speaker 1: He would always say it, said.
Speaker 2: It on his cage, So he finally he says, I
Speaker 2: am I guess so, Leader Rocket Raccoon Cosmo, Yes, which
Speaker 2: I think wonderful edition perfect.
Speaker 1: One of the children rescued from the High Volutionary, who
Speaker 1: we discover is fi leavel I.
Speaker 2: Would say almost certainly, with the purple flaming hands that
Speaker 2: seemed to be able to create weapons. Very cool deep cut.
Speaker 1: Addition, there Adam Warlock, the baby, the baby, He's that
Speaker 1: he's being charm and he's being bumbling, he's bringing a
Speaker 1: Hugron energy to the entire thing, and and swollen Groot
Speaker 1: and it's a wonderful and wonderful team. They're out out
Speaker 1: in the galaxy just basically still for hire. And then
Speaker 1: were where do we leave Peter? We leave Peter on Earth.
Speaker 1: He goes back, he visits his grandfather, who recognizes him instantly,
Speaker 1: despite the fact that he's now an adult and less
Speaker 1: like eleven. Something in the eyes, I would imagine, and
Speaker 1: we leave them around the breakfast table just talking about
Speaker 1: mowing lawns. And the words that come across the screen
Speaker 1: as the movie ends are.
Speaker 2: The legendary Staalowed will.
Speaker 1: Ritton in what you might be asking, no one knows,
Speaker 1: no one knows, all in all and emotionally powerful MSU film. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, it's it depends your minds may
Speaker 1: vary depending on how big a Guardians fan you are.
Speaker 1: I like the Guardians. I love Rocket Raccoon. I Love Groot,
Speaker 1: I Love Goamora.
Speaker 2: The Goamor ending is actually my favorite part of the
Speaker 2: while my first past this movie. We end up in
Speaker 2: a situation where so Nebula and Drags stay on Nowhere,
Speaker 2: They're gonna raise these kids, They're gonna run. Nowhere is
Speaker 2: like a safe space for people, safe safe home. And
Speaker 2: rather than make Gamora and Peter fall back in love,
Speaker 2: which didn't seem at all natural to the character are,
Speaker 2: we get to see Gamura return to the Ravagers as
Speaker 2: a hero, and there's this great kind of there's this
Speaker 2: really wonderful five minute montage at the end that kind
Speaker 2: of shows where everyone is set to the Florence and
Speaker 2: the Machine song Dog Days are Over, which was definitely
Speaker 2: emotionally manipulating me in a positive way. But Anna and
Speaker 2: we see Gamura and when she returns to the Ravagers,
Speaker 2: we get this great, like thirty second thing of this
Speaker 2: is her found family and this version of the world
Speaker 2: she fits in here. It's not the Guardians, it's with
Speaker 2: the Ravagers, and they're hugging her and they're like do
Speaker 2: it giving her, you know, they're rubbing their fists on
Speaker 2: their head and it's just it feels really great, and
Speaker 2: I love to not see them try and pull some
Speaker 2: kind of fake romanced It would have felt really weird,
Speaker 2: and it was.
Speaker 1: It was nice to have, to your point, this kind
Speaker 1: of parting where it's like Peter really wants it to happen,
Speaker 1: but it doesn't and he makes his peace with it,
Speaker 1: and it just feels very earned and natural and honestly
Speaker 1: with more returning to the Ravagers I have, I feel
Speaker 1: like she will hear the horns of freedom when she dies.
Speaker 1: She the colors of the colors of a gourd, the
Speaker 1: colors of a gourd absolutely will flash over her grave
Speaker 1: shouts to Goma. I found this again. I found this.
Speaker 1: I thought visually it looks great for any of the
Speaker 1: people who were disappointed by the kind of CGI tone
Speaker 1: palette and esthetic texture of in the West Quantum Mania.
Speaker 1: This is much cleaner, and.
Speaker 2: It has a diary. It has a very clear vision,
Speaker 2: and it's a very colorful, engaging, immersive vision. It fits
Speaker 2: very well into that world of Guardians of the Galaxy.
Speaker 2: It's a guardian's movie.
Speaker 1: The creature work is unbelieved.
Speaker 2: Yes, the creature work's unparalleled.
Speaker 1: In high evolutionary is certainly one of the most evil
Speaker 1: characters and the most effective villains that we've seen.
Speaker 2: I'll say this about.
Speaker 1: The animal experimentation stuff, which again, it's gonna be hard
Speaker 1: for some people to peal it. I I think one
Speaker 1: of the things that Marvel has struggled with in the
Speaker 1: post endgame phases is stakes, and they've kind of fallen
Speaker 1: back on stuff like, oh my daughter, Oh my family,
Speaker 1: Oh this flashback of this thing that happened this uh,
Speaker 1: you know, Doctor SHARE's The Multiverse of Madness was like
Speaker 1: this romance that like with Christine that like never really
Speaker 1: got off the ground anyway when they were together. And
Speaker 1: so I do respect that they went to a place
Speaker 1: that we hadn't seen before to create the steaks m
Speaker 1: h to make you hate the villain, but it is
Speaker 1: something that will be I think hard for people who
Speaker 1: love animals and kids to watch.
Speaker 2: Yeah, my biggest I have very complex feelings about the
Speaker 2: whole movie, But my biggest kind of takeaway is that
Speaker 2: I love that we live in a world where a
Speaker 2: movie this weird can be seen as a commercial movie.
Speaker 2: It is extremely weird. It swings for the fences for me.
Speaker 2: Some of that stuff lands for me, some of it doesn't.
Speaker 2: But this is a movie about a talking tree, a
Speaker 2: talking raccoon, aliens and they're fighting their way through organic
Speaker 2: space stations to save human animal hybrids, and it's probably
Speaker 2: going to be one of the biggest movies of the year.
Speaker 2: And that is the power of comic books to me,
Speaker 2: and comic book storytelling, and that's the thing that still
Speaker 2: makes me excited about these movies and the potential that
Speaker 2: they have.
Speaker 1: I mean, you mentioned the space hog drop where they're
Speaker 1: kind of footing towards Org Corp. There are lots of
Speaker 1: moments like this where, for no reason at all other
Speaker 1: than James gunn is in his bag tying up a movie,
Speaker 1: he'll give you a slow mo shot or a three
Speaker 1: six year camera angle, or this this shot that lingers
Speaker 1: on the character's faces, or the weird way they float
Speaker 1: through space, and there are there are many of these
Speaker 1: that don't necessarily need to be there, and if they
Speaker 1: do kind of need to be there, they certainly don't
Speaker 1: need to be that long.
Speaker 2: But the weight of all.
Speaker 1: Those things makes it such a unique visual experience.
Speaker 2: And those were some of my favorite things. Those were
Speaker 2: some of my favorite things. Those moments where you lingo
Speaker 2: way you give the time, to the atmosphere, to the vibe,
Speaker 2: to the character, to the story. That's the stuff that
Speaker 2: makes this really hit.
Speaker 1: So what do you think star Lord TV show?
Speaker 2: Is that what they're gonna do? It legendary s what
Speaker 2: they're gonna do.
Speaker 1: He's gonna he's Is he gonna be Captain America?
Speaker 2: Is he not Captain America?
Speaker 4: No?
Speaker 1: But I'm dead serious. Is I would cry of the
Speaker 1: Avengers team.
Speaker 2: You know what they're doing, They're gonna need a cosmic Avengers.
Speaker 1: I will say, he will be on the Avengers team.
Speaker 2: He will. You can take that. Look, the truth is
Speaker 2: we're gonna need a cosmic Avengers because.
Speaker 1: He knows about celestials. You've lived in a celestial head.
Speaker 2: Whatever happens next, there's gonna be a lot of cosmic
Speaker 2: multiversal Shenanigan. So having somebody who has connections to the celestials,
Speaker 2: the eternals know that stuff in a creepily oversight type fashion.
Speaker 2: So I'm sure that they were probably aware that somebody
Speaker 2: on Earth is part celestial you know, So I think
Speaker 2: you're right. I think a legendary star Lord type appearance
Speaker 2: in the Avengers team as a leader or co leader
Speaker 2: of I think there will be many Avengers teams as
Speaker 2: we lead into this next phase.
Speaker 1: Space Team, Earth Team.
Speaker 2: I think that's very likely. I also do think the
Speaker 2: legendary staraloed I think that sounds like a Disney Plus
Speaker 2: show and you do it where he's going around the
Speaker 2: galaxy kind of having very Guardians esque fun. But we'll
Speaker 2: have to wait and see, because I don't know. I
Speaker 2: think that people who really love these movies, they love
Speaker 2: James guns Guardians of the Galaxy, So what does that
Speaker 2: look like without him?
Speaker 1: Well, I can't wait to see. That has been our
Speaker 1: coverage of Guardians of the Galaxy Volume three, the end
Speaker 1: of this iteration of the team and certainly the end
Speaker 1: of James Gun's relationship with the MCU, although it certainly
Speaker 1: seems like James Gunn's brother will continue for a while
Speaker 1: seeing as how Kraglin is on the team.
Speaker 2: Yeah right, I think so that's as right. Yeah, like
Speaker 2: these the truth is that actors exist in both these
Speaker 2: worlds Marvel DC otherwise as well, and I think that
Speaker 2: will continue with James at d C and James having
Speaker 2: such a deep history at Marvel, and these movies in
Speaker 2: general not necessarily becoming the billion dollar blockbusters that the
Speaker 2: corporations want them to be. We're not far away from
Speaker 2: a Marvel d C crossover, and James is somebody who
Speaker 2: I think would be very interested in that. Up next,
Speaker 2: Verte out in Today's that outweayh you tell us what
Speaker 2: you love, am why or a theory that you're excited
Speaker 2: to share. Tony shares a Star Wars theory.
Speaker 1: Tony writes us, I can learn out about a great
Speaker 1: many things, but Star Wars and the Marvel Universe comics
Speaker 1: and movies are near the top of my list. Long
Speaker 1: story short, my Star Wars fan theory is that the
Speaker 1: down Star Destroyer we see at the beginning of The
Speaker 1: Force Awakens is Thran's Chimera or Chimera two.
Speaker 2: If the Parnel completely.
Speaker 1: The shortage of Da Da, I think that the climax
Speaker 1: of Dave Filoni's movie This is Good, that is the itself.
Speaker 1: The culmination of the Star Wars streaming shows to this
Speaker 1: point will be the Battle of Jaku.
Speaker 2: I would love to see it.
Speaker 1: Which we don't see, but happens, you know, before we
Speaker 1: catch up with the events of the Force Weekends. Dave
Speaker 1: filoni saga has run in parallel with the cinematic saga
Speaker 1: to this point, telling its own story but referring its
Speaker 1: strategic times to the large rebellion, and this event offers
Speaker 1: a great opportunity to do both. We will see all
Speaker 1: of our streaming heroes come together, including a full on
Speaker 1: live action Rebels reunion complete with Freddy Prince Juior as
Speaker 1: Gaiden's forest Ghost. Oh my god.
Speaker 2: People really want to see it. They really want to
Speaker 2: see it. Yeah, and you know what, he looks good like.
Speaker 1: I think he's looking good.
Speaker 2: Freddy could do it.
Speaker 1: I theorize that we will also see other members of
Speaker 1: the Dameran family more Cgi Luke Kelleron Beck and.
Speaker 2: Lizzo with a blaster. I would love to see it.
Speaker 1: Yes, I hope that there's an appearance by the young
Speaker 1: Vice Admiral Holdo. They will all come together in an
Speaker 1: Adventures endgame style galactic Straverganzi thanks for an extremely entertaining podcast,
Speaker 1: and May the Force speed. Thank you. It's May third today,
Speaker 1: but you know, one day, ly me the Forced people
Speaker 1: with you, I'll say this. We understand certainly there have
Speaker 1: been rumblings that Star Wars, you know, the Star Wars
Speaker 1: ip World and Kathleen Kenny want to do some kind
Speaker 1: of team up. They've been hunting for a team up thing,
Speaker 1: and I love this.
Speaker 2: I think this would be such a cool way to
Speaker 2: do it. And I mean it's kind of hard to
Speaker 2: imagine because we live in a post MCU world, the
Speaker 2: world whether MCU exists and kind of changed Hollywood. But
Speaker 2: I mean a Star Wars event movie. Star Wars movies
Speaker 2: used to be the event movie. So doing a Star
Speaker 2: Wars event movie, you could be making the biggest movie
Speaker 2: on earth, especially with how much people love the TV
Speaker 2: shows and the movies, and to bring all of that together,
Speaker 2: I think this itea sounds really cool. Tony. Keep this
Speaker 2: one in your pocket, pitch it, pitch it to pitch
Speaker 2: it to Lucasfilm. Thank you so much, Tony. If you
Speaker 2: have theories or passions you want to share, hit us
Speaker 2: up x ray at cricket dot com instructions in the
Speaker 2: show notes. That's it for us.
Speaker 1: Rosy and he plugged.
Speaker 2: I will be at Jeffrey's Comics in the LA area,
Speaker 2: specifically Torrents, one of my favorite places in the whole
Speaker 2: of America. I will be there with so many other
Speaker 2: cool artists on Free Comic Book Day. You can come
Speaker 2: and get free comics. And if you are not in
Speaker 2: our area, your comic book shop will have free comics.
Speaker 2: It is the rule of free comic book Day. May six.
Speaker 2: You can go there, you can grab comics, maybe they'll
Speaker 2: you could give some donations of some food. Lots of
Speaker 2: different shops do it different ways, but you'll be able
Speaker 2: to get free comics. And if you come to Jeffrey's,
Speaker 2: I will be there signing things. I'll have some new
Speaker 2: zines that I'm making to prep you. Actually, four Guardians
Speaker 2: in the Galaxy have some fun new zines about some
Speaker 2: of the characters and their comic book history that will
Speaker 2: be free. I will also have Godzilla stuff that you
Speaker 2: can buy. It will be rad And I will again
Speaker 2: say check out the Hero Initiative because they do a
Speaker 2: lot of amazing stuff for the creators who made these
Speaker 2: characters possible, and made this whole world possible, and made
Speaker 2: the state of Hollywood today possible. So check out the
Speaker 2: Hero Initiative and support it where you can.
Speaker 1: I will plug the WGA, the Writer's Guilts of America.
Speaker 1: We're currently on strike against the Alliance of Television and
Speaker 1: Motion Picture Producers. Here's the thing. These corporations are enormously profitable,
Speaker 1: enormous profits. The CEOs, the eight CEOs of these corporations
Speaker 1: all together made like more than three quarters of a
Speaker 1: billion dollars eight hundred million dollar range, which if you're
Speaker 1: if you're scoring at home, is more than the two
Speaker 1: percent raise that writers are asking for. And there are
Speaker 1: various other problems. I want, I want bar with you
Speaker 1: with them, all of which is to say, these studios
Speaker 1: sell one thing, and that is the stories the writers write.
Speaker 1: And we're at a stage now where writers, if my
Speaker 1: only job was writing for I would not be able
Speaker 1: to be living. It would be very, very tough because listen,
Speaker 1: you might make you might make a good rate on
Speaker 1: a weekly basis, but you might only do eight or
Speaker 1: ten weeks of a mini room and then not be
Speaker 1: able to find anything for three months, four months, six months,
Speaker 1: eight months, a year, because it's getting harder and harder.
Speaker 1: And we talked a lot and joked a lot about
Speaker 1: the gig economy on this podcast, but the sus basically
Speaker 1: want to create a world in which writing for TV
Speaker 1: is a gig economy. They'll pay you by the day,
Speaker 1: they'll have AI kind of create the outline, and then
Speaker 1: maybe they'll hire a couple of kids, like on a
Speaker 1: day rate, to punch it up whatever the computer created,
Speaker 1: and then they'll put that out as cheaply as possible
Speaker 1: so that the CEOs could continue to garner their enormous, enormous,
Speaker 1: enormous paychecks, and so that they can serve not the
Speaker 1: not the interests of the people who assume stories or
Speaker 1: the people who create the stories, but the shareholders. Again,
Speaker 1: these corporations are seeing enormous profits, because the profits aren't
Speaker 1: the kind of profits that scale at the level that
Speaker 1: Wall Street likes. All of this is seen as a failure.
Speaker 1: David Zaslav pulled in some three hundred million dollars last year,
Speaker 1: and this is for the you know, basically shepherding Discovery
Speaker 1: into buying a thing that it can't afford, which resulted
Speaker 1: in numerous layoffs, and we're.
Speaker 2: Seeing billions of dollars of debt.
Speaker 1: So support your WGA writers. Support writers, post about them.
Speaker 1: If you see posts from writers on any of your
Speaker 1: social media platforms, give them your support. They would they
Speaker 1: would appreciate that.
Speaker 2: If you do want to be bored. My stories on
Speaker 2: my Instagram are a source of constant WGA information. I
Speaker 2: have many links to many stories, many different posts places
Speaker 2: where you can go and pick it with our friends
Speaker 2: in the WGA. So if you want to be bored
Speaker 2: by it, Rosie marks my stories. That's what I'm using
Speaker 2: them for at the moment, is just to share the
Speaker 2: stories of writers, the realities of what this is like,
Speaker 2: because even this job wouldn't exist for us if people
Speaker 2: didn't write these stories.
Speaker 1: That's right, that's very correct. Catch the next episode on Wednesday,
Speaker 1: May tenth for more market moves and return to the
Speaker 1: wilderness with Yellowjackets on the believed Showtime network.
Speaker 2: You are not ready for that one, And you can
Speaker 2: also subscribe on YouTube, where you can now watch four
Speaker 2: episodes of the show. Sometimes we are here on Zoom.
Speaker 2: Sometimes we are in the fancy studio. You can follow
Speaker 2: us at XRV pod on Twitter, where we share all
Speaker 2: kinds of cool things and you'll get to keep up
Speaker 2: with the podcast and check out our discord. You can
Speaker 2: join by going to the show notes. Hang out with
Speaker 2: a ton of amazing fans and listeners who talk about
Speaker 2: all kinds of cool stuff and very in depth ways,
Speaker 2: and me and Jason show up there sometimes.
Speaker 1: Five star ratings. Five we gotta have them. You gotta
Speaker 1: give it to us. Here's one from Alison Gower. Absolutely awesome.
Speaker 1: It's so fun to listen to you. It's a great
Speaker 1: way to bond with my teen son, who, like me,
Speaker 1: is a huge comic Marvel DC fan. We've listened together
Speaker 1: and he often stops you to explain more to me.
Speaker 2: No notes, Love you.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much, awesome Alison, and shouts to your
Speaker 1: wonderful son. X ray Vision is a Crooked Media production.
Speaker 1: The show is produced by Chris Lord and Saul Rubin.
Speaker 1: The show is executive produced by myself and Sandy's Rhard
Speaker 1: are editing in sound design, Who's by Vascilla's Photopoulos. Dylon
Speaker 1: Villanueva and Matt de Group provide video production support. Alex
Speaker 1: wella Ford handle social media. Thank you Brian Vasquez for
Speaker 1: theme music. See you next time, folks.
Speaker 2: Bye