guardians of the galaxy

Marvel's 'Guardians of the Galaxy' hits theaters this Friday, and it's packed with familiar faces (and voices), like Chris Pratt, Bradley Cooper, Vin Diesel, and new favorite Karen Gillan. And while they're superhero superstars now, that wasn't always the case -- it may be hard to believe now, but there was a time when you didn't know their names. Join us as we take a look back at the cast of 'Guardians of the Galaxy' to see what they were up to before they were famous.

This week, Marvel Studios' new film, 'Guardians of the Galaxy,' will open in theaters. One of the aforementioned Guardians is a walking, talking tree named Groot, voiced by Vin Diesel. Earlier today, footage was released of Vin Diesel voicing Groot in a number of languages, including Russian. Earlier today, we got a chance to speak with Russian Groot

As much as ‘Guardians’ is a modern Marvel money-making machine, it’s also a tribute to a genre that died in the mid-‘80s. A genre that includes those very movies that people around my age think of fondly – in other words: ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ is more a tribute to movies like ‘The Last Starfighter’ than it is to ‘Star Wars.’

It's kind of remarkable that Marvel Studios have already green-lit a sequel to 'Guardians of the Galaxy' -- a movie that, itself, doesn't come out for another few days. But this says less about Marvel's confidence that 'Guardians' will make money (and, let's not kid ourselves, it certainly will), but more about how the Guardians fit in with the larger story Marvel is trying to tell with the episodic nature of its films. And this episodic nature might just be what doomed Edgar Wright's version of 'Ant-Man' -- as opposed to it just being "too weird," which Marvel studio head Kevin Feige has denied.

Marvel Studios certainly brought their A-game to Hall H at Comic-Con tonight, and while the panel was mostly focused around their 2015 releases ('Ant-Man' and 'Avengers 2' -- not too shabby), they did have some special surprises in store -- like confirmation of 'Guardians of the Galaxy 2' and an official release date.

During an interview with our own Mike Ryan, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige, who also producers the films in the MCU, revealed that Nova/Richard Rider was originally part of an earlier draft of 'Guardians of the Galaxy' before getting cut. Does this mean we'll see the character pop up in future sequels of James Gunn's space opera? According to Feige, it's a strong possibility, but what needs to happen beforehand?

Before Marvel Studios' official panel later today at Comic-Con 2014, Marvel Animation gave a presentation that confirmed what we already suspected: the studio is prepping an animated 'Guardians of the Galaxy' series for Disney XD, which should help you bide the time between the first film and the planned sequel.

‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ is the weirdest and funniest of the Marvel movies to date as we follow a ragtag group of strangers (to each other and, most likely, to most audience members) led by Chris Pratt’s Peter Quill (aka Star-Lord, a name he desperately wants to be called). Will you like ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’? It depends!

Family trees in the Marvel universe -- cinematic or purely comic book -- tend to be a little twisted. When it comes to James Gunn's upcoming 'Guardians of the Galaxy,' that's definitely still the case, thanks to a pair of adopted sisters that look poised to spend the film's runtime slowly moving away from each other and towards opposite ends of the personality spectrum, with plenty of hand-to-hand combat to keep things strange.

If you've already made plans to check out James Gunn's 'Guardians of the Galaxy' as soon as the latest entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe hits theaters on August 1st, you probably don't need any extra nudge to get your butt into a cushy multiplex seat. But if you've been wondering if you should experience the film in IMAX and haul out for a midnight screening, it looks like the scales have just now been gloriously tipped.

Remember how we got to see 17 minutes of Marvel's 'Guardians of the Galaxy,' out in theaters next week? While we could only show you a few snippets of what we saw at the time, a new five-minute clip from the film debuted online that reveals more from that IMAX sneak peek.

There's this movie -- just a space opera in the Marvel Cinematic Universe -- that's coming out next week: 'Guardians of the Galaxy.' Maybe you've heard of it. Late-night talk-show host Jimmy Kimmel is probably counting on that, because he basically let the cast of the film, including Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel, run the show on last night's 'Jimmy Kimmel Live.'