History Headscratchers / GuardiansoftheGalaxy

** THANK YOU! [insert grumble: Why did it take so long for someone to get this and point it out? end grumble] To go back to the tugboat metaphor [[MythologyGag (sorry Drax, just be patient) ]] the necrocraft fighters are akin to high-speed cutters (or corvettes, if you're French or a warship geek) - obviously superior in open water, but unable to take any advantage of their superior performance in close quarters, and much thinner-skinned and vulnerable to bumps. It doesn't matter if you can hit 50 knots if you're in a crowded harbor where it takes insane skill to maneuver safely at 20 knots - and when one 10-knot impact will crush your hull so thoroughly that you sink in minutes. And your opponent is in a tugboat that was designed to survive even a 10-knot impact with a freighter a hundred times its size. And all your gun turrets have gotten stuck facing forward, because you're not lucky enough to actually be in a ship, you're in [[GlassCannon something]] designed by a reject from the [[StarWars TIE fighter design team...]]

** He doesn't seem ''that'' shocked with the baby Groot appears in the pot, but he wouldn't have grieved so much if he thought there was a chance he could come back. Though it's possible he did know and just forgot because the shock of watching him die was too much (this happens in the comics). This troper assumes it's either that he forgot or that the Nova Corps suggested it to him.

New entries on the bottom. '''Spoilers''', naturally.

* Towards the end of volume 2, one of the Starhawks who have gathered in the 31st century says that the return of [[spoiler:Thanos]] in the 21st century is the thing that leads to the BadFuture the Starhawks have been trying to change. However, in ''ComicBook/TheThanosImperative'' we learn that [[spoiler:the threat to our universe had nothing to do with Thanos, and Thanos is the one who actually stops the BadFuture from happening.]] So why did Starhawk put the blame on [[spoiler:Thanos]]?
** They must not have known about the [[spoiler: Cancerverse]] so they assumed it was [[spoiler: Thanos, the dude known for regularly destroying universes for kicks.]]

** He's not a regular human though; he's actually half human, half Spartax, which gives him above-human stats. Star-Lord is a LOT tougher than you give him credit for. He has all sorts of suits, shields, and gadgets to help him fight off high powered threats. Remember, while he was still 'Cosmic policeman Star-Lord' he was able to beat the Fallen One, a former Herald of Galactus who outclasses the Silver Surfer in power level. And IIRC the only time him and Thanos actually fought each other (as opposed to, say, Thanos and Nova or Drax) was when they [[spoiler: were both in the Cancerverse and Quill had a Cosmic Cube to give him a boost.]]
** Nope, that's not the only time. When Thanos [[spoiler:wakes up from his cocoon before the events of ''The Thanos Imperative'']], he straight up punches Star-Lord without Star-Lord suffering any serious damage, even though Quill wasn't using any shields or gadgets, nor did he have [[spoiler:the Cosmic Cube]] then. Thanos is constantly shown to be able to kill super-powered beings, and in that particular instance he certainly wasn't pulling back his punches, so it seems weird Quill got out of it unscathed.

* After being built up to being a dangerous and powerful badass capable of curbstomping Drax [[spoiler: and survive his ship blowing up]], Ronan gets easily distracted [[spoiler: by Peter Quill dancing in front of him]]. Right before that he easily swats away Rocket who had also got in his way. How did he manage to pick up the VillainBall at the end of the film?
** In fairness to Ronan, Quill went all out with the distraction, and [[spoiler: after being blown up that many times and being unfazed, you're allowed a little overconfidence. It wasn't like he was in a hurry to finish things, since he was already monologuing when Quill started dancing.]]

** It's a bit of a leap in logic, but basically: [[spoiler:The Aether was given to the Collector on Loki-as-Odin's orders, and Loki was working for Thanos during the Avengers, and Thanos' prize for his aid would have been the Tesseract Infinity Stone.]] It's a bit of a stretch, but it's also safe to say that something sinister is probably going on with the Collector.
** Of course, we don't know for certain that [[spoiler: the plan to use the Collector was Loki-Odin's. It could have been a protocol Odin established a long time ago, or done by someone working behind Odin's back. Pretty sure Sif definitely name dropped the All-Father, but she could have been bluffing to allay suspicion.]]

* Okay, so Quill's apparently an [[spoiler:Immortal, so he can touch them]]. But how come the Others are able to? And Ronan as well?

* Thanos, the big bad of the MCU, really doesn't come across like that in this film. His resources seemed limited to The Other, an unknown amount of "daughters," and Ronan who he hired. As far as we know, he possesses none of the Infinity Stones. Loki's scepter, which is likely the Mind Stone, he gave away and it was lost. In the course of Guardians of the Galaxy [[spoiler: Thanos loses The Other, Ronan betrays him, and both Gamora and Nebula betray him as well.]] Sure, Thanos had access to the Chitauri army, but GOTG seemed to present him as not much of a threat. Even the Nova Corps is aware of him, presenting him as a threat, but not the end-all-be-all.

** In the comics, when Thanos finally acquires all the Infinity Gems, he [[spoiler:kills ''half of all the living beings in the whole universe'' with a (literal) snap of his fingers.]] They do press the ResetButton on that later on, but this should give you clue what kind of a threat he is, if he's successful.

** This could be because Peter is [[spoiler: half-alien on his dad's side. His ancestry might make him more durable than a normal human, or at least specifically render him more resistant to the ill effects of vacuum exposure.]]

** In ''Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2'' we find out [[spoiler:Peter's dad is an incredibly powerful cosmic being, and Peter has the same power inside him.]] So it's perfectly possible that, [[spoiler:even though he didn't know about his power in this movie, he was subconsciously using it to stay alive.]]

** This is a BIG MISTAKE people keep making. They keep comparing movie Thanos to his comic version. The two are separate characters. Yes, Comic Thanos is boarder line invincible especially under the pen of Jim Starlin who writes him as a VillainSue. But then you have WesternAnimation/AvengersAssemble Thanos who while still powerful was far more cocky and eventually defeated in a somewhat humiliating way. Movie Thanos is different from both. And so far all we have is talk about how powerful and feared he is supposed to be despite his plans constantly failing and his agents betraying him.

[[folder: Rocket's Depiction as Digitigrade]}

** In fairness to Ronan, Quill went all out with the distraction, and [[spoiler: after being blown up that many times and being unphased, you're allowed a little overconfidence. It wasn't like he was in a hurry to finish things, since he was already monologuing when Quill started dancing.]]

** You're asking the wrong question. If you take any plant cutting, place it in soil, water it sufficiently and give it enough light, it will grow into another plant – but if you leave some broken branches lying on the ground, they'll just rot. Even a flower left in water is unlikely to grow into a new plant without just the right conditions. In other words, broken and untended bits of Groot will soon become nothing more than dead wood. Unless someone purposefully plants one with the intention of growing it, as Rocket did (though Word of God has it that Rocket did not know that Groot could regrow this way). So a more interesting question is, would anyone with both the knowledge and motive have realised this and secretly grown their own Groot...?

8

** There is a time-skip between Rocket mourning Groot after Ronon's death and him showing up with a flowerpot and a baby Groot in it. Could be that in between those scenes someone just suggested he take a cutting and grow himself a new Groot.

* So if Groot is such a rare alien that even the Collector wants a piece of him, why is the rest of the galaxy so blase about his existence?
** The Collector has an eye for the exotic, and recognizes something rare when he sees it. Everyone else assumes he's like any other weird species they'll pass by once and never see again. Any awe might also be quickly replaced with annoyance once they hear him saying the same thing ad nauseum. The Collector has been to all sorts of places and seen all sorts of weird critters, and yet has ''never'' encountered anything like Groot, so he has more reason to be amazed.

** Rocket is not unique. There are lots of racoons on that planet called Earth. There are trees, too, but they can't walk and talk, so Groot is unique. Or no, after all there is [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings another planet]] with trees that can also walk and talk, but they are not exactly space faring, and the Tolkien state keep them hidden.

** He mentions how his mother felt it was very important to share the things in pop culture that she loved with him (she made his mixtapes after all) so she probably introduced him to all that stuff, and he of course retained it because of the deep emotional connection to his mother

** what about Loki? It's established in Thor 2 that the Asgard can get to this sector of the galaxy; it's also mentioned more than once that Loki has ways of getting around the World-tree that don't involve the Bifrost. He could very well have made trips to Midgard - in fact, given his personality and the fact that none of the other Asgard have been to Midgard in centuries, he is almost guaranteed to have done so! It wouldn't be OOC for Loki to fund some of his personal projects (and maybe a safehouse or two?) in the wider galaxy by picking up desired items in places he goes to quite easily but where others (like Yongu, and most of the Ravagers) wouldn't be able to easily blend in. After all... Loki did manage to wear an impeccably appropriate outfit for the opera in Berlin.

** I always thought that because Peter's mother has a southern accent he mentally associated that with the parental figure. Yondou is the closet one he had for the past twenty plus years. So his translator implant mentally gives Youndu his father figure one, that he carried throughout the movie.

* Thanos, the big bad of the MCU, really doesn't come across like that in this film. His resources seemed limited to The Other, an unknown amount of "daughters," and Ronan who he hired. As far as we know, he possesses none of the Infinity Stones. Loki's sceptre, which is likely the Mind Stone, he gave away and it was lost. In the course of Guardians of the Galaxy [[spoiler: Thanos loses The Other, Ronan betrays him, and both Gamora and Nebula betray him as well.]] Sure, Thanos had access to the Chitauri army, but GOTG seemed to present him as not much of a threat. Even the Nova Corps is aware of him, presenting him as a threat, but not the end-all-be-all.

** I have to agree with the OP. Thanos was enraged by Ronan's betrayal. Both his "daughters" betrayed him and he did not see it coming. Loki tricked him. He has failed to exact vengeance on Loki or retrieve the Tesseract. Loki had just fallen through a rip in space and Ronan was a terrorist renegade without the backing of the Kree Empire so both were desperate individuals with few options. Thanos' army failed to conquer Earth and lost rather easily at that and most likely would have lost a prolonged war. Thanos's "armies" do not strike me as being any more impressive than The Ravagers (pirates). Gamora thought the Nova Corps as strong enough to keep the gem away from him. Yeah, Thanos is a threat to primitive planets, but he does not come across as one to a civilization like the Kree or Xander. Thanos strike me more as some sort of intergalactic pirate or scavanger who hides in the outskirts of space civilization who needs the gems to be a major threat. He has to hire outside, disloyal agents because he has none he can depend on. He failed to retrieve the stone himself letting it slip through his fingers yet everyone knows he is after them so its not like he is hiding it. I don't seem him as a major threat yet either.

** Gamora left him for moral reasons, so that has nothing to do with how powerful he is. Nebula left because Ronan was within arm's reach with the Infinity Stone, so it was pragmatism. Also just because he 'lost' his two battles we've seen is more of a failing in his agents than anything in him. The Chitari had the Avengers on the ropes and they only won through a combination of desperation and a failing in Loki's mind control. The Guardians beat Ronan because Ronan had at that point abandoned Thanos' plan and decided to go solo. I would also like to point out that Thanos didn't get a chance to go after Ronan before the Guardians got to him. We haven't actually SEEN him do anything other than move a few pawns around on the board.

** To lay all this to rest on whether or not Thanos is a threat: we see what Loki is capable of in Avengers and we see what Ronan is capable of here. Both of them are incredibly powerful and basically require teams of superheroes in order to defeat them, and yet they work for Thanos because they are terrified of him. They can give some of the strongest members of both teams a run for their money (Loki and Thor can fight on relatively even terms and Ronan curb-stomps Drax), but when Thanos threatens them, they're basically pissing themselves. And finally, as said above me, these are movies about superheroes who are (generally) successful in their endeavours. ''If'' Thanos becomes successful in his endeavours... there are no more movies. It's basically game over; Thanos-1, all other superheroes-dead.

** This is a BIG MISTAKE people keep making. They keep comparing movie Thanos to his comic verison. The two are separate characters. Yes, Comic Thanos is boarderline invincible especially under the pen of Jim Starlin who writes him as a VillainSue. But then you have WesternAnimation/AvengersAssemble Thanos who while still powerful was far more cocky and eventually defeated in a somewhat humiliating way. Movie Thanos is different from both. And so far all we have is talk about how powerful and feared he is supposed to be despite his plans constantly failing and his agents betraying him.

** It’s possible that the Nova Corps just doesn’t realise ''how'' corrupt the Kyln really is. A place full of corruption doesn’t generally go out of its way to show that, so the guards at the Kyln were probably able to do a decent job of hiding any major problems from the overseeing powers. Rocket knew how corrupt it was, as he’s a seasoned criminal who’s likely interacted with enough other seasoned criminals to have gotten the run down about the Kyln and its problems, but that doesn’t mean that the Kyln’s corruption is common knowledge. Notice that he felt the need to point out to the other characters how bad the Kyln is, so he clearly didn’t expect them to know, and Peter even naïvely suggested that the guards will protect Gamora, right? That’s probably what the Nova Corps people assumed as well – and they may have actually intended to use Gamora’s stay in prison as a way of softening her up. Since the characters were never shown undergoing any sort of trial process, it’s likely that they were in there not to serve their sentences, but simply to be kept secure while whomever’s in charge got around to addressing their cases. They may have been hoping that spending a few days in a prison where 93% of her fellow, violent inmates wanted her dead, and where, if she remained, she’d be yelled at, spat upon, and eventually murdered no matter how careful the guards were, would make Gamora much more eager to enter a plea bargain and spill her guts about Ronan and Thanos to save her own hide. Remember, Nova Corps didn’t know that Gamora planned to betray her bosses anyway, and even if she’d said something to that effect to the police, they’d have had no particular reason to believe her on the spot and probably would have decided to follow procedure and lock her up. They may have even attached special orders to her case to keep her safe, knowing what kind of reception she’d get from other inmates. But since the guards were lazy, selfish jerks, who also probably didn’t want to piss off some of the worst criminals in the galaxy by protecting Gamora, they probably figured they could just let the murder happen, and if somebody higher up complained, just shrug it off with, hey, determined inmates, not our fault. So if the team hadn’t escaped prison within 18 hours of their arrival, we probably would have been treated to scenes with court-appointed lawyers reasoning with Gamora, being baffled by Groot, getting exasperated with Peter, and giving up on any sort of defence for Rocket.

** In a deleted scene (An extension on the criminal bio scene after they are arrested), they explain. When the talk about sending them to the Kyln, Dey (John C. Reilly's character) objects, explaining how bad of a place the Kyln is, but his superiors tell him that its the only prison they have at the moment (Or at least the closest) that can safely handle the Guardians. If they don't think a local prison planetside can hold an apparently moronic tree, a 3 foot rodent, and the goofiest thief/conman alive, then they probably aren't confident that it would hold one of the chosen assassins of Thanos either.

** I presume the Collector would have paid up, he looks like a man of incredible means probably from the countless artifacts that he's actually sold. He strikes me as the kind of guy who'd want a first edition of something and would happily sell anything else to fund important things. As for stopping Ronan that depends entirely on how willing he was to use various things that he possesses and if he had prep time. Ronan didn't seem to be anymore powerful than Malekeith wielding the Aether. And that's assuming that Aether is the only super weapon in the Collectors collection. I find it very easy to believe the Collector has hundreds of super weapons.

** The Collector asks them "How would you like to get paid?", and when Rocket replies "Units", he opens a drawer full of the little bars that are seen elsewhere being used as currency, and takes some out to count. It looks like he was indeed about to honour the deal and pay them, but then his assistant takes Stones into her own hands...

** One explanation in fanfiction is that someone defined "whore" to him as "someone who sells their body", which he took to mean mercenary work rather than sexual favours.

** Think of it like a tug boat. Incredibly powerful in terms of muscle to push things much much bigger than themselves, but designed to use that power for a very specific purpose and at the cost of everything else. Note that Peter mentions that the pods weren't designed to fly in space for very long (life support, engine power, fuel supply) and can only hold a single person - even Rocket notes that there's no room for anyone other than himself. And as mentioned, they're strong against collisions but not against weapon fire and there is in fact a very distinct difference between those kinds of impacts. It's also probably a highly unusual tactic to ram in space - the Necrocraft may not have honestly been expecting that and may not have had a plan on how to react to the tactics. Perhaps a better example would be a submarine. They're designed to survive extreme pressures that would literally crush any other type of vehicle and could probably crush any other normal vessel but torpedos and other weapons can still take them out.

** You think Ronan really cares enough about the lives of his warriors, that he would implement such a design that would allow his pilots to survive collisions? Ronan seems to going for quantity over quality in regards to starfighters, so he would be going for a material that would be easy to get and craft. Again we don't know enough about the material to know if it's common or cheap. Yes it's on a space station that houses pirates and smugglers, but don't forget said station is backed and possibly run by the Collecter, who was stated and shown to be incredibly rich, so he could afford to make the construction vehicles like that. Ronan likely does not have the resources or materials, nor really the desire to outfit his fighters with a material strong enough to withstand collisions. Besides if this indestructible material is as common as you think it is, don't you think everybody would build their ships with it?

** THANK YOU! [insert grumble: Why did it take so long fo r someone to get this and point it out? end grumble] To go back to the tugboat metaphor [[MythologyGag (sorry Drax, just be patient) ]] the necrocraft fighters are akin to high-speed cutters (or corvettes, if you're French or a warship geek) - obviously superior in open water, but unable to take any advantage of their superior performance in close quarters, and much thinner-skinned and vulnerable to bumps. It doesn't matter if you can hit 50 knots if you're in a crowded harbor where it takes insane skill to maneuver safely at 20 knots - and when one 10-knot impact will crush your hull so thoroughly that you sink in minutes. And your opponent is in a tugboat that was designed to survive even a 10-knot impact with a freighter a hundred times its size. And all your gun turrets have gotten stuck facing forward, because you're not lucky enough to actually be in a ship, you're in [[GlassCannon something]] designed by a reject from the [[StarWars TIE fighter design team...]]

** Peter can understanding what Groot is saying: as Rocket explains, the only words the Groot is capable of saying (for most of the movie) is "I am Groot" in that order. The difference is that Rocket knows Groot well enough to distinguish tone, which is something the transalator doesn't do. For example, you can say "Oh my God," and it could mean different things in different situations. In one situation, you might be expressing disbelief and in another, you might be expressing anger. Simularly, Rocket understands Groot well enough to understand whether or not "I am Groot" means that Groot is trying to express pride or anger or sadness or whatever.

** I think the above is right on. The movie makes it clear Groot is a rare species. His planet doesn't even really have a name - tt's literally called Planet X - and the Collector was practically begging Groot to donate his (eventual) cadaver to his collection. Simply put, nobody but him and Rocket know his language, so nobody could program it into Quill's translator.

** Drax clearly states during the prison escape sequence that he recognises the animal that Rocket is and that he has eaten said animals in the past. Drax has also never been on Earth, so Rocket must be some type of alien animal that simply evolved in the same manner as an Earth raccoon.

** A: I assumed the Sakaarans are troops on loan from from Thanos (a la the Chitauri for Loki), so they don't count as Kree troops. And B: he isn't engaged in all-out war against the Nova Corps, but rather guerrilla tactics and smaller squirmishes until he can get Thanos to do the heavy lifting for him. Kinda like how America really doesn't like terrorists, but at the same time we're not worried about them actually destroying America.

* Ronan clearly does not like the peace treaty, so why not just overthrow the Kree Government? Even without the Power Stone, he's still got his Universal Weapon (there's a reason why Ronan was the Kree's most powerful member) and an army, all enough to topple the Goverment that signed the peace treaty. Since there are plenty of people who riot because if the peace treaty, that works in Ronan's favor too, because that's a common cause he can use to rally them. One of his major lines is: "They call me terrorist, radical, zealot because I obey the ancient laws of my people, the Kree, and punish those who do not." If he runs on that logic, then isn't the Kree Government, from his point of view, not following the laws of his people by expelling him, thus giving him a reason to punish said government?

** But he ''would'' do anything to attack Xandar, and I doubt it is beneath him to overthrow the Kree Government if it will help his cause. As stated above, there is plenty of benefit in doing so, especially in helping him destroy Xandar. It's already known there are numerous Kree who do not support the peace treaty, so he could rally them in addition to his own army in overthrowing the Kree Govermment. Also, if he overthrew the Kree Government, he could bend their military to his will and have them attack Xandar.

*** Morag wasn't lifeless, just abandoned by sentient creatures. It had those little bouncy scavengers living on it. Use of the Power Stone would've left Xandar looking like RealLife Mars, more or less.

*** Not to mention that his Knowhere complex was probably impregnable to pretty much anything ''short'' of an Infinity Stone going critical in the middle of the place. He's got other treasures worth billions right there in the middle of a lawless settlement of thieves, swindlers and space pirates, and nobody'd walked off with any of it yet.