We've seen a few different versions of the Guardians of the Galaxy team form over the years, and as the Guardians are still reeling from the events of Infinity Wars that split the team, fans are getting ready to see yet another roster of Guardians put together by Star-Lord and Rocket Raccoon.
New rosters are something teams like the Guardians and the Avengers deal with often, though it's fair to say that some rosters resonate more with fans than others. So today we are going to take a look at the rosters of the Guardians of the Galaxy and the various time periods they take place in to see which team of Guardians comes out on top.
10 OG'S OF THE GALAXY
The first appearance of the original Guardians of the Galaxy occured in the pages of Marvel Super-Heroes #18, though they wouldn't look much like the big screen Marvel Cinematic Universe version most fans are used to seeing. The very first Guardians actually formed in an alternate future, around the year 3000.
The initial line-up is formed after astronaut Vance Astro/Major Victory spends 1000 years in suspended animation only to wake in a future where the alien Badoon race is attempting to take over Earth. Victory joins other solar system survivors like Martinex from Pluto, Charlie-27 from Jupiter, and Yondu from Centauri IV to fight against the Badoon.
9 GALACTIC GUARDIANS
The Galactic Guardians were a spin-off team of the original Guardians organized by the crystalline Martinex, who felt that the Guardians would be better served with two teams as Major Victory and his squad worked more on Earth.
Martinex's team included an array of cosmic heroes like Galactus' former herald Firelord and Giraud/Phoenix IX, a human who had been chosen as a new host. The most interesting addition to the team was the hero known as Hollywood, who would be revealed as Simon Williams/Wonder Man. Simon's ionic abilities prolonged his age and allowed him to survive to the year 3000.
8 ASGARDIANS OF THE GALAXY
While technically the team of powerful Asgardians formed during a time when the Guardians were inactive isn't technically a roster, we're still including them as they stepped in to fill the void left by the modern Guardians after Infinity Countdown and Wars tore the team apart.
The Asgardians of the Galaxy were led by new Marvel addition Angela and featured other Asgardian characters like Valkyrie (Brunnhilde), Thunderstrike, Throg the Frog of Thunder, Skurge the Executioner, and the Destroyer armor piloted by Kid Loki.
7 GUARDIANS 3000
While modern-day fans know this team as the Guardians 3000, this roster represents the core group of heroes who would make up the Guardians of the Galaxy in the future. This team would evolve from the four members of the OG's of the Galaxy to include new members who were also fighting against the Badoon.
Long-time Guardians like Nikki, Starhawk, and Aleta would join the team during these battles and would form the core group that would star in the first Guardians of the Galaxy series by Jim Valentino before getting a new timeline-twisting reboot that would reintroduce these classic characters into the new Marvel universe that had formed since their last appearances.
6 STAR-LORD'S NEW GUARDIANS
The most recent gathering of the Guardians was formed mostly by chance, following an attack on a group of cosmic heroes by the Black Order. This attack left a number of heroes lost in a black hole and later captured by the Universal Church of Truth.
Star-Lord and Groot happened to be flying nearby and managed to save a few heroes on their ship as they were quickly forced to form into a new team of Guardians that included Beta Ray Bill, Mondragon, Phyla-Vell, and the most popular new character of the last few years, Cosmic Ghost Rider.
5 ANNIHILATION
The modern-day team of Guardians had worked together prior to becoming a team of heroes, most notably during wartime as they formed up with other galactic empires to battle the Annihilation Wave. This "team" of heroes featured Peter Quill as a reluctant member of the galactic war, working alongside the last Nova, Richard Rider.
Nova and Quill led an army that included the reborn Drax the Destroyer, Gamora, Ronan the Accuser, Silver Surfer, Super-Skrull, and a number of other powerhouses against the Negative Zone's Annihilus and his planet-devouring Annihilation Wave. This event would be the catalyst for the formation of the modern Guardians of the Galaxy.
4 CONQUEST
A new threat attacked the galaxy in the wake of the Annihilation Wave as an Ultron-led Phalanx took over the Kree Empire to use as a base to launch their technological conquest of the galaxy. Peter Quill was partly responsible for unleashing the Phalanx on the Kree, and he was "recruited" to form a team out of Kree prisoners that survived the initial Phalanx attack.
As Quill reassumed his role as Star-Lord, he joined for the first time alongside future Guardians Rocket Raccoon, Groot, Bug, and Mantis, as well as other members like the Shi'ar Deathcry and Gabriel Vargas/Captain Universe, who had been transformed temporarily by the Uni-Power. This version of Groot actually spoke quite eloquently, unlike the more common "I Am Groot" iteration.
3 MARVEL NOW
The Marvel NOW era was a relaunch of all titles that generally featured new creative teams to take the titles in a new direction after the events of Avengers vs X-Men divided the superhero community. Marvel NOW sought to bring everyone back together, and that even included the Guardians, who started adding members of the Avengers on to the team.
The Marvel NOW team closely resembled the movie lineup of the Guardians with Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax, Rocket Raccoon, and Groot making up the main team. They would be joined at separate times by Iron Man, Captain Marvel, Venom (Flash Thompson), Thing, Ant-Man, and Kitty Pryde, who would marry/divorce/replace Star-Lord for a short period of time.
2 ANNIHILATORS
While this is another team that wasn't an official roster of the Guardians of the Galaxy, they were put together by former Guardian Cosmo the Spacedog to carry on the battle started by his friend and leader Star-Lord, who had recently sacrificed himself during the battle with the Cancerverse in The Thanos Imperative.
Cosmo's team was called the Annihilators after the first major events that brought the universes' heroes together and featured cosmic heavy-hitters like Beta Ray Bill, Ronan the Accuser, Quasar (Wendell Vaughn), Gladiator, Ikon the SpaceKnight, and the Silver Surfer.
1 MODERN GUARDIANS
The most recognizable roster of the Guardians is (mostly) the one that appeared on the big screen in 2014's Guardians of the Galaxy, which was based on the first modern Guardians that formed out of the ashes of Annihilation: Conquest. Star-Lord gathered the survivors of the event with the goal of preventing another Annihilation event from happening.
The Modern Guardians roster featured Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax, Rocket Raccoon, and Groot, along with Adam Warlock, Mantis, Bug, and Quasar (Phyla-Vell). The team worked out of Knowhere where they would meet Cosmo and welcome other members like Moondragon, Jack Flag, and a time-lost Major Victory, who inspired Quill to become the new Guardians of the Galaxy.
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