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MCU Rewind: And Now for Something Completely Different; ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ Surprises and Delights
Because people who love geek culture have been trained to believe we can’t have nice things, there persists a prevailing feeling that, someday, Marvel Studios is just going to blow it. To this day there are those who predict the studio will fail, if only because nothing stays perfect forever. Yet, when the slate of Phase 2 films were announced, some believed that the MCU was about to fall flat on its face, especially after Iron Man 3 and The Dark World. These naysayers would point to two films on the Phase 2 slate as evidence for their argument, the one starring Ant-Man and The Guardians of the Galaxy. At the time, these movies seemed silly and unlikely to connect to the larger world of the MCU. Yet, each of them surprised fans by being incredibly fun and all-around enjoyable films. With director James Gunn at the helm, the MCU’s versions of the Guardians went from being something of a joke to one of the most beloved heroes in the canon.
Jokes are important to this movie. In fact, despite the quippy nature of Iron Man and the Joss Whedon-helmed films, Guardians is perhaps the “funniest” of the canon. (We’ll talk about Ant-Man soon enough.) Gunn imbued this tale of space-faring outlaws with so much humor, because otherwise these heroes wouldn’t be very likable. Chris…
