Earlier this month, "Guardians of the Galaxy 2" director and writer James Gunn began the 300-day countdown to the release of the highly anticipated sequel to the 2014 hit that brought "Parks and Recreation" star Chris Pratt to the front and center as one of the newer Marvel superhero recruits (alongside "Ant-Man"'s Paul Rudd and "Doctor Strange"'s Benedict Cumberbatch).
Gunn remains tight-lipped about the storyline of the second film, which was rumored to shed light on Star-Lord/Peter Quill's biological father, whose "absentee father" status was glazed over in the first film.
Meet new alien Mantis in concept art for #GuardiansoftheGalaxy Vol. 2: https://t.co/YeyzPQ1vEY pic.twitter.com/vGNm7n2mCw
— Entertainment Weekly (@EW) July 15, 2016
The concept art for "Guardians of the Galaxy 2" was recently released, showing the heroes in a fighting stance in front of a bright, explosive backdrop, which implies another war against Marvel big bad Thanos, or one of his minions. Based on the concept art alone, there are a few changes in the lineup.
First being that Yondu (Michael Rooker) gets a starring role, albeit behind the main Guardians. Secondly, Gamora (Karen Gillan), step-sister to Gamora (Zoe Saldana) gets featured a bit more prominently this time, as it seems she has switched sides to #TeamGuardians. Saldana confirms this to IGN.
Describing Nebula as "teeny," "hateful," "resentful and bitter," Saldana says that Gamora may be reluctantly joining #TeamGuardians because she finally gets fed up being pushed around by the guy in the chair (Thanos). Saldana admitted that the movie will give Nebula a chance to tell her story, of a "terrible life" growing up with a supervillain.
"Obviously, their relationship is very volatile," Saldana explained. "We’re starting somewhere very crazy but appropriate given where we had ended things off in the first installment. So Thanos is definitely spoken about – not highly."
Given those details, it seems that "Guardians of the Galaxy 2" will revolve around the theme of family, tackling issues about Quill's father and Nebula's lack thereof. Meanwhile, another addition to #TeamGuardians (who hopefully doesn't have daddy issues), is Mantis, played by Pom Klementieff, who executive producer Jonathan Schwartz describes as very socially awkward.
Too bad we have to wait for May 5, 2017 to see the interactions of these new faces once "Guardians of the Galaxy 2" hits theaters.
