Guardians of the Galaxy

The Guardians!

These characters were nearly played by totally different actors.

They’re very similar concepts. So why was one fantastic and the other a disaster?

The new minor league baseball team will debut in 2020. Rocket would be so proud (or maybe annoyed, he wasn’t too keen on being called a trash panda).

Fans of both James Gunn and Guardians of the Galaxy received quite a shock yesterday, when it was revealed that Disney had fired the filmmaker over a series of old, offensive tweets. The tweets, which contained crass, juvenile jokes about rape and children, were dug up by alt-right personality Mike Cernovich — one of many conservatives who took issue with Gunn’s ongoing criticisms of Donald Trump and his administration. Since Gunn’s firing, several people have come to the director’s defense, including Guardians star Dave Bautista.

There are plenty of reasons we can’t wait for 2017 to end and 2018 to begin, not the least of which is that this year has felt like, 20 years long. Thankfully, movies have kept us sane and happy throughout this garbage fire, and they’ll continue to do so in 2018, giving us not one, not two, but three new adventures in the Marvel Cinematic Universe — including the studio’s biggest film yet, Avengers: Infinity War, which assembles the series’ largest ensemble of superheroes (and villains) to date.

From ‘Iron Man’ to ‘Thor: Ragnarok,’ after a decade of the Marvel Cinematic Universe we ranked all the coolest MCU posters so far.

It’s not easy directing a Marvel movie. You’ve got to manage hundreds of creative people, appease your bosses at the studio, and deliver something that is fun for casual fans and hardcore comics nerds alike. If you’re James Gunn, in between doing all of that you also have to correct the constant fevered speculation about your film.

Pop quiz: What’s the highest-grossing non-sequel Marvel movie after The Avengers? Surprisingly, it’s not Iron Man or Captain America or Doctor Strange. It’s the first Guardians of the Galaxy, which made an impressive $773 million worldwide...

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is out later this year, and naturally Marvel is ramping up its related content to match with a new ongoing series for the team, a new Rocket Racoon title and now, Groot's very first solo ongoing. This May, Christopher Hastings and Flaviano launch I Am Groot, which sees everyone's favorite tree-alien space-hero stuck in his diminutive baby form and stranded on a planet without any of his Guardian colleagues and no-one who understands him.

Baby Groot may be in Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 for really real reasons that are super important to the plot and not at all as a ploy to sell adorable toys, but that doesn't mean the pint-sized version of the hero can't have it both ways. Though much of merchandising plan for Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 remains a secret, we have seen some of the toys we can expect to hit shelves this spring and beyond. Baby Groot may have been absent from those initial reveals, but just ahead of the holiday, NECA is here to assure us Baby Groot won't be forgotten.

In honor of the caped crusaders of the convention scene, ComicsAlliance has created Best Cosplay Ever (This Week), an ongoing collection of some of the most impeccable, creative, and clever costumes that we’ve discovered and assembled into a super-showcase of pure fan-devoted talent.