Guardians of the Galaxy is James Gunn’s little offspring which has now grown faster than Groot and become a household name. Both the Guardians movies have been extremely successful at the box office and with the critics alike. The single biggest achievement of Marvel has been to successfully introduce these relatively unknown characters to the comic-book audience at large but instead making them endearing so much so that each of them command legions of fans personally.
Fans have loved this group of misfits and outlaws that have now had major impacts on the plot of Infinity War as well. While people may not be Star Lord’s fans for now, as it was because of him that Team Tony couldn’t remove the Infinity Gauntlet from Thanos’ hands.
He snapped after hearing the news about Gamora’s death and the original plan went sideways giving Thanos an opportunity to fight back. But he still is one of the big characters in the MCU and will be leading his team to another space adventure in Vol. 3 after matters with Thanos are resolved.
Guardians of the Galaxy is the franchise that has really explored the cosmos of the MCU apart from the Thor franchise. It laid the seeds for Thanos to arrive along with other movies. Almost all the Guardians except maybe Rocket and Drax had big significant roles in Infinity War, as they impacted the plot to a huge extent.
Guardians of the Galaxy is probably the most important franchise for the MCU as the thing might have just fallen apart if it wasn’t for Gunn and his gang of outlaws. Infinity War may not have been possible or could have been way different and probably unlikable if the Guardians were not brought into this shared Universe.
The individual characters in the team may not be able to stand their own like the big guns of Marvel that include Iron Man, Cap, and Thor who are able to pull off a successful movie on their own shoulders, but they are surely the best as a team. The two Guardians movies have told us quite a bit about the characters, and Infinity War built upon that as well.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, in particular, focussed on character development. It made Peter Quill aka Star-Lord take the center stage as throughout the movie we learned about the lineage and the heritage of Quill.
Quill turned out to be the son of a Celestial, Ego the Living Planet. This was the first time that MCU introduced these powerful cosmic creatures known as “Celestials” but the movie failed to tap the great potential of these entities from the story-telling point of view.
They are sometimes also called as Space Gods. Ego believed that he was the last living Celestial in the aftermath of extinction of the whole species but as it turns out his claims were too far fetched and grossly exaggerated.
They are beings of massive energy powered by living light. They can use this energy to create massive physical manifestations for themselves. We saw that Quill is actually capable of extreme power because of the connection he has with his father Ego and his powers. But as it turned out, Ego was actually the big bad and Quill was not his only child. Ego was looking to control the entire Universe and he needed support from one of his many children and Quill was the only one who was capable of possessing the Celestial Power and gene within him.
In fact, there is one fan theory out there that since Thanos is so obsessed with re-balancing the universe which is often associated with Celestials in Marvel comics, it may be possible that Thanos is just a pawn in a larger scheme hatched by a group of Celestials to whom Mad Titan is reporting. But it’s just too wild and outlandish. Coming back to GOTG in MCU…
We were shown that Ego had produced children from many different planets. And as it turned out, Ego had killed all his other Children and almost took Quill out as well. Amidst all this, a character that we all have now grown to love from her sort of weird cuteness is Mantis. She was introduced in Vol. 2 as the caretaker of Ego. She helped her master sleep and stay calm. There is no other backstory that we really know about her.
Now, what if she does have a bigger relation with Ego and Star-Lord than being professionally attached to them? A hawkeyed fan was able to spot something which we may not have noticed till now in Vol. 2. When Ego was explaining Quill and the other Guardians about what his intentions are and where he came from, he showed them that he mated with people of other planets as well. One of those people/aliens actually looks like Mantis. Here, have a look:
So, what if Mantis was one of the children of Ego as well? Her powers may not impress everyone theoretically, but she is extremely strong at what she does. We have seen Mantis put a Celestial to sleep. We even saw her hold Thanos with the Gauntlet for quite a long time. So if she is able to hold off these omnipotent beings, then her heritage has to be big as well. Peter Quill was able to hold an Infinity Stone for a while because he had the power and durability of Ego within him. So, this may be the case with Mantis as well.
Ego may have kept this part from Mantis a secret so that he could use her as his slave. But this connection may have been left by Gunn to be revealed later on, or it may be something Gunn may have put in to play with our brains! James Gunn is usually pretty responsive towards his fans, so he may reply to this as well. Even if he doesn’t, it is a great connection amongst the team members, Star-Lord and Mantis as they are in fact half brother and sister. They are going to appear next in Avengers 4 which comes out next year on May 3.
In case you are wondering how can Star-Lord appear as he is dead, well Letitia Wright aka Shuri accidentally revealed that he is very much part of Avengers 4. Here’s What she was heard saying at MCM London Comic Con event: “Chris Pratt was genuinely a great person. He would like give me bible scriptures out of nowhere and then do a dance and leave. He’s great. I love Chris Pratt”. The remaining heroes will figure out a way to bring back heroes including Mantis who turned into ash post-Thanos snap.
Play Now: Avengers Infinity War Quiz (Click on the link below to begin):
Avengers: Infinity War Movie Test – How Much You Really Know?
Recently, Star-Lord and Mantis were seen in Avengers Infinity War fighting alongside Avengers against Thanos who is hell-bent on wiping out half the life from the universe. The official movie synopsis reads:
“Iron Man, Thor, the Hulk and the rest of the Avengers unite to battle their most powerful enemy yet — the evil Thanos. On a mission to collect all six Infinity Stones, Thanos plans to use the artifacts to inflict his twisted will on reality. The fate of the planet and existence itself has never been more uncertain as everything the Avengers have fought for has led up to this moment”.
Before Infinity War, they were also featured in GOTG Vol.2. Here’s the official movie synopsis:
“Peter Quill and his fellow Guardians are hired by a powerful alien race, the Sovereign, to protect their precious batteries from invaders. When it is discovered that Rocket has stolen the items they were sent to guard, the Sovereign dispatch their armada to search for vengeance. As the Guardians try to escape, the mystery of Peter’s parentage is revealed”.
Don’t Miss: Avengers 4 – Jeff Goldblum Teases A Union of The Collector And The Grandmaster
