“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” Crash Course

Summer movie season officially kicks off this weekend, and oh boy did that sneak up on us quickly or what? Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 comes out on Friday, where it will undoubtedly make a killing. When I saw that the premiere had been held and TV spots everywhere I thought it was a bit early. It’s not, life is just passing me by at an alarming rate. I feel like I’ve been off my Marvel game recently: I stopped watching Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. part way through last season, I still haven’t seen Doctor Strange, and my reaction to the Thor: Ragnarok trailer was a bit “meh.” Similarly, I found myself behind on the nitty gritty details of Guardians 2, so I did some last minute studying to catch up on everything I need to know before this weekend. You will like this movie a lot, if the reviews are to be believed. Opinions are mixed as to whether or not you’ll like it as much as the first one, but that’s still quite a feat considering how often sequels don’t come close to delivering. The basic plot seems very straightforward, which is fine because the big draw of these movies is the interaction between the characters. The Guardians are hired to fight monsters, they run into difficulties, stuff blows up, jokes are made.

The New Players

Everyone has their favorite Guardian from the first movie (mine’s Rocket) and they’re all back this time around, but a different story means pulling in different characters from the comics.

Ayesha

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Elizabeth Debicki is taking on the roll of villain and she looks amazing. Not being familiar with the comics I don’t know if her people, called the Sovereign, are actually gold in the way Lee Pace’s Kree villain in the first film was blue, or if it’s a Capitol-from-The-Hunger-Games level of adornment and she’ll appear in other crazy looks throughout. If anyone can carry off being gold for an entire movie it’s certainly her.

Mantis

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Mantis seems to be the new addition with the most significant role, and even in the trailer she gets to be part of really funny moments. Her character is an empath, and is associated with the other big character making his debut in Vol. 2…

Ego

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Kurt Russell plays Peter’s father, and we know from the first movie that he’s not human (hence Peter’s ability to withstand the power of an Infinity Stone). He’ll meet his son in the sequel, but how exactly they get along remains to be seen. With a name like Ego, it’s not hard to believe that this character may be less than completely virtuous.

Cameos

Sylvester Stallone’s cameo was announced long ago, but there are a few other people who make a short appearance in the movie, which I won’t spoil here. You can Google it if you really want to know. I went a bit bug-eyed when I read one particular name, so you’re in for quite a surprise if you go in totally spoiler free.

End credits scenes

There are five easter egg scenes sprinkled throughout the end credits of Guardians 2. FIVE. Which seems excessive, but if we’re going to sit through all of the credits it’s nice that it’ll be worth our time. If you want to read an in depth description of them before you see the movie so you know what you’re looking at, you can do so here. It might be a good idea for people like me who aren’t familiar with the comic books. Three of the five seem like fun moments that are in the credits because they might not have necessarily fit anywhere in the movie, but two of them have some real consequences for the Marvel storyline going forward, and the upcoming Avengers: Infinity War specifically. Because Marvel knows how to keep us coming to see their movies.

Will you go out this weekend to see Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2? (Or wait until the crowds thin out a bit later in the week?)

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