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Main Character Index > Heroic Organizations > Guardians of the Galaxy > Peter Quill | Gamora | Rocket Raccoon | Groot | Drax | Yondu Udonta | Nebula

Spoilers for all works set prior to Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame are unmarked.

The Guardians of the Galaxy

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gotgshipcockpit_9.png
"What a bunch of A-holes." note 

Appearances: Guardians of the Galaxy | Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 | Avengers: Infinity War | Avengers: Endgame | What If...? | Thor: Love and Thunder | I Am Groot | The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special | Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

A team of disparate heroes trying to make the galaxy a better place. Light on the heroes, heavy on the trying.


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    In General 
  • Anti-Hero Team: All of them (sans Mantis starting in 2 and later Cosmo in the Holiday Special) have some sort of criminal past — even the Gentle Giant Groot has apparently spent some time kidnapping and/or impaling people for money as Rocket's accomplice.
  • Appropriated Appellation: Ronan dismissively mocked this Ragtag Bunch of Misfits as the "guardians of the galaxy", a name that Peter accepted with pride.
  • Badass Crew: Highly dangerous, sometimes even to each other, even more so to their enemies.
  • Bash Brothers: When fighting alongside one another, they make a formidable team.
  • Beware the Silly Ones: Gamora is the least silly of them, and even she's The Comically Serious more often than not. Drax looks every bit the badass he is... until he opens his mouth. Rocket looks harmless but will mess your day up with traps or a BFG. Groot? Silly looking tree creature that will run you through with his branches and give his friends an "I done good?" grin afterward. Star-Lord's a goofy, misplaced 80's kid and the weakest of the lot in a combat situation, and tries to talk his way out before fighting, but he's astonishing at confusing the enemy long enough for the rest of the team to ruin their day. Still, Ronan and Ego found out why you don't want to piss him off.
  • Blue Is Heroic: In Vol. 3, they're all wearing a blue uniform except Groot.
  • Breakout Character: Before Vol. 1 came out, no one had really heard of them compared to their more famous superhero associates; after Vol. 1, their popularity skyrocketed to the point that they are about even with the Avengers in name recognition (though not box-office results). Groot especially has risen to be iconic to the fans being heavily featured in "Guardians" associated merchandise as a sort of Series Mascot.
  • Byronic Hero: With the exception of Groot (at first), all of the members fit the mold, with tragic back stories, exceptional skills and abilities, varying degrees of charisma, varying degrees of broodiness, and, most of all, defiance of social institutions and norms. The new additions to the team in Vol. 2 continue this trend to a degree; Nebula and Yondu certainly fit the mold, but Mantis and Kraglin avert it.
  • Character Development: All of the original crew in Vol. 2 and Infinity War have clearly grown and matured from their original selves. The only exceptions are Quill, who is still very impulsive and childish at times, and Groot II, who is a complete inversion of this trope.
  • Cloudcuckoolander: The titular team is pretty much this to Gamora's exasperation. Tony Stark seem to share the sentiment when he met them, to the point that he take a half-minute-long beat to process their shenanigans while looking as if he was trying to figure out how he ended in that situation.
  • Cool Ship: The Milano, Peter's Ravager ship serves as the Guardians' means of transport and base. Following its destruction in Vol. 2, it is replaced by a much larger, more impressive ship called the Benatar.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: Everyone but Groot (as far as we know, anyway) has either a sad or grim backstory. Maybe both.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Quite like their foil The Avengers, the Guardians do make witty remarks. This tends to be a trait of all the characters in the MCU.
  • Depending on the Writer: The way the Guardians are shown under James Gunn's films and the Avengers film is quite different in overall group dynamics and character interaction:
    • Since Gunn had to introduce and establish the Guardians to start with, he anchored the group around Peter Quill and his role as the leader and overall human-origin Audience Surrogate in a group of out-there aliens. In the case of the Avengers crossovers, the role of Audience Surrogate passes to the more familiar and established Avengers characters and as such Quill's original role and function are downplayed in favor of Rocket Raccoon, Gamora, and Nebula. The latter two are more tied to the overall plot about Thanos and his quest for the Infinity Stones, and Rocket Raccoon as a tech-genius comic relief and overall series mascot (and according to James Gunn, the secret "true protagonist" of the Guardians franchise), ends up being the representative figure of the Guardians brand in interactions with the other Avengers. This can be justified for Rocket and Nebula, to an extent, considering they are the only ones of the Guardians team who survive the Snap.
    • Likewise in terms of characterization, Rocket Raccoon in the previous Guardians characters was an impulsive Kleptomaniac Hero who was often The Load for the group who had to be barely restrained by his fellow Guardians. In the two Avengers movies, admittedly set after Vol. 2 where Rocket had some Character Development about this, Rocket proves to be generally capable and effective, often serving as someone to rein in Thor's depression and self-doubt in both movies, and serving as an Avengers ally in policing the cosmos with Nebula and Captain Marvel, ending up becoming the most experienced and well known of all the Guardians in the intergalactic superhero community.
    • Although Quill flirts constantly with Gamora and it's implied he expects more out of a relationship with her, even by the end of Vol. 2 they're still highly-guarded individuals who have affection for each other, but are either too immature or emotionally shut off to progress much further, but are open to the possibility and are comfortable acknowledging that. In Infinity War, they're very clearly love interests, even though the audience didn't see any of the character growth that should have occurred in the intervening years to get to that point, especially since Quill is mostly unchanged from before.
  • Dwindling Party: Out of all the groups in Infinity War, the Guardians suffer it the worst as every one of them, sans Rocket, Nebula, and Kraglin perish at Thanos's hands.
  • Dysfunction Junction: They're always complaining at each other, which is even mentioned as to why they're more family than friends.
    Nebula: All any of you do is yell at each other. You're not friends.
    Drax: You're right... we're family.
  • Enemy Mine: With the Ravagers and Nova Corps during the first movie's final battle.
  • Fire-Forged Friends: Started as trying to hurt and kill each other and ended up as genuine True Companions. Helped along by how they all had had few, if any, friends and/or family for a long time and deep down really wanted people to care about and trust. Indeed their bonds come to surpass friendship and they become something of a fire forged surrogate family.
  • Five-Man Band: The five founding members fit this dynamic. In Vol. 2, their roster expands and so they transition into The Team.
    • Star-Lord—The Leader. The team leader and master tactician. He gives directions to The Team, serves as the ship's captain and also acts as a Team Dad.
    • Gamora—The Lancer. The second-in-command and most influential voice on the team aside from Star-Lord. She's also opposite in personality to Star-Lord, being more calm and reasonable to contrast his flamboyance and impulsiveness.
    • Rocket—The Smart Guy. The resident Gadgeteer Genius and wielder of BFGs. He's the go to guy for technical expertise or a bomb that needs to be thrown together.
    • Drax—The Big Guy. A Blood Knight from a Proud Warrior Race who lives for combat. He's a Leeroy Jenkins who has a tendency to recklessly charge into battle, and he's also not too bright, although it is largely due to cultural difficulties.
    • Groot—The Heart. He's always a Gentle Giant with a huge heart full of compassion. Easily the least violent and aggressive out of the whole team. Only becomes more pronounced as Baby Groot, who's an innocent child who doesn't know better.
  • Foil: The space-faring counterpart to the Avengers. While the Avengers are high profile heroes that were assembled for being the best of the best, the Guardians are an odd group of Reformed Criminals given a second chance and even then still function as an Anti-Hero Team. The majority of the Avengers are human with the occasional non-human among them, while Star-Lord is the Token Human among the Guardians. The Avengers have a very professional relationship and at best are merely True Companions, while the Guardians are a Family of Choice.
  • Geodesic Cast: The Guardians provide a team to compare and contrast the Avengers.
  • Good Is Not Nice: Their priority is always saving people's lives, but that doesn't mean they'll be nice about it.
  • Guys Smash, Girls Shoot: Inverted and discussed. Peter prefers guns, while Gamora is more associated with melee weapons — but isn't opposed to using guns, as Peter learns at the start of Volume 2.
  • Hero with an F in Good: They are trying to do the right thing and make the galaxy a better place, but most of the Guardians are still former criminals and a bit fuzzy on what does or does not constitute a crime. Kidnapping, theft, murder, and destruction of property are all fair game.
  • Hidden Depths: Except for Groot, who's clearly a Nice Guy from the start, they all get a moment in the first film to shed their inner demons.
  • Irony: When Thor meets up with them in Infinity War, everyone except Quill is impressed by him. So much that when they’re reunited in Endgame and Thor joins them, they’re in favor of the God of Thunder assuming the role of leadership. They even encourage Quill to fight Thor, the winner becoming leader. By Love and Thunder, Thor has overstayed his welcome with only Quill willing to offer him advice and at least say goodbye.
  • It's All About Me: Peter, Rocket, and Drax are all self-serving for the vast majority of the first movie, wanting to use the orb as a payday, or in the case of Drax, wanting revenge. Even after they find out what the orb is, or more specifically what is inside the orb, Peter still wants to sell it and make it someone else's problem. Rocket and Peter even have a debate on why they should even bother keeping the orb since the universe is always shitting on them. Peter's rebuttal is also somewhat selfish since his reason for not giving the orb to Ronan is he would use it to destroy the universe which he happens to live in.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: The Nova Corps officer isn't wrong when he calls them a bunch of a-holes. The entire climax of the first movie is driven by them deciding to stick out their necks for a bunch of strangers.
  • Lightning Bruiser: Most of them have the full Super-Strength, Super-Toughness, Super-Speed combo. The exceptions are Peter (the Puny Earthlings' resident representative), Rocket (a strong but frail Glass Cannon), and Yondu (a pirate with a whistle-controlled arrow, but no amazing physical abilities).
  • Moment Killer: In the middle of their big slow-mo Team Power Walk; Gamora can't stop a yawn, Peter rubs his nose, and Rocket takes a moment to adjust his junk.
  • Oh, Crap!: Their joint reaction once they witness firsthand how utterly destructive the Infinity Stone can be. Rocket even suggests just handing it over to Ronan because the artifact is just that terrifying.
  • One Last Job: Selling the Orb is this for most of them and it leads to their new careers as Guardians of the Galaxy.
  • Only in It for the Money: Initially. Peter, Gamora, Rocket, and (to an extent) Groot want to escape the prison so they can sell the Orb for incredible riches. (Though Gamora is also motivated by the desire to get the Orb as far away from Ronan as possible so he can't use it to wreak havoc.)
  • O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
    • The usually lighthearted Guardians are somber during Tony Stark's funeral. For extra OOC, Drax wore a shirt, Rocket left his guns, and even the bratty Groot was respectful.
    • Usually, when the Guardians fight, there's quips, jokes, flashy takedowns, and trying to equate with their foe. But during the final confrontation with the High Evolutionary, it had none of that, in fact, no one was talking at all. Also their attacks were more brutal and efficient than usual, which shows just how enraged they all are with the High Evolutionary for everything he did to Rocket.
  • Parental Issues: Almost every single member has Abusive Parents. Star-Lord and Mantis have Ego, Gamora and Nebula have Thanos, and Rocket has the High Evolutionary. Drax is an inversion, being a former father who went insane after his wife and daughter were murdered. Averted with Groot II, who never knew his real father, but was raised happily with Rocket and the Guardians.
  • Punch-Clock Hero: Zigzagged in the second film: they do like helping people, but the practical necessities of surviving on their own means they have to charge prices and hunt bounties, essentially making them well-intentioned mercenaries with a moral code. After all, fuel, parts, food, and other supplies aren't free, even for the Guardians. Rocket even muses about this at one point in their latest galaxy saving adventure. However, as of the Holiday Special, they've now started using their money for altruism, buying Knowhere and making it an actually good place to live.
    Rocket: So we're saving the galaxy again?
    Peter: Yup!
    Rocket: Awesome! We're really gonna be able to jack up our prices if we're two-time galaxy savers!
  • Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: A team made up of assassins, thieves, pirates, and thugs who now protect the galaxy. To put this in perspective, the team consists of:
    • An abductee from a primitive, backwater planet who grew up amongst one of the galaxy's more infamous space pirate bands. Who turns out to be Half-Celestial, in the second film, for added weirdness.
    • Two cybernetically modified sister assassins created by the infamous Thanos, who betrayed him due to growing a moral code and pure hatred respectively.
    • A Jerkass Uplifted Animal gunslinger with an extremely Dark and Troubled Past.
    • A giant plant-based alien.
    • A crazed alien warrior out for revenge on the murderers of his wife and daughter.
    • An insect-like Humanoid Alien who's spent most of her life serving a sentient planet that happens to be the father of the Half-Human Hybrid abductee mentioned earlier.
    Commander Rael: Are you telling me that the fate of twelve billion people is in the hands of a thief, two thugs, a murderer, and a maniac?
    Rhomann Dey: This might not be the best idea.
  • Red Is Heroic: They all wear red during the climax of the first film, after borrowing some clothes from the Ravagers.
  • Reformed, but Not Tamed: They are as brash and vulgar as they all were during their respective criminal days.
  • Reformed Criminals: They started off as cellmates and ended up as heroes.
  • Rubber-Forehead Aliens: Most of them just look like humans with different skin colors — Gamora is green, Nebula is blue-and-purple-striped (plus a cyborg), Drax is gray with crimson scarification, Mantis is peach-colored and has small antennae on her forehead, Yondu is blue. Peter himself, who's half-alien, looks identical to a standard human, and Kraglin is a Human Alien. Weirdly, despite that, Drax thinks that Mantis is absolutely hideous to look at, describing her repeatedly as "disgusting". Whether this is a result of some minor cultural quirk on Drax's part or suggests something very weird about his species' genders is anyone's guess. It's notable that he never suggests Gamora or Nebula are similar grotesque in his eyes.
  • Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Groot and Star-Lord are the sensitive to Drax and Rocket Raccoon's manly.
  • Similar Squad: To the Avengers, with both founding members of each team being a similar Five-Man Band.
  • Space Pirates: Well, at least three of them used to be. Rocket in particular still likes to take things that he decides he wants for the hell of it, which tends to get the group in trouble.
  • Surrounded by Idiots: Groot's the only one that doesn't have a low opinion on the mental faculties of his fellow Guardians.
  • Suspiciously Similar Substitute: They are in a large sense the MCU counterpart to the Fantastic Four; not individually, but in their group dynamics (they bicker and squabble but come together in time to save the day), their mix of family story with sci-fi adventuring, and of course in the way their adventures serves as a gateway for the weirder and wilder parts of the shared universe.
  • Team Title: They are the titular "Guardians of the Galaxy".
  • The Team: Though they start out with Teeth Clenched Team Work, they grow into this through the movie.
  • Thou Shalt Not Kill: Downplayed. By Vol. 3, the Guardians won't kill for the most part unless it's absolutely necessary. They will murder people in self-defense, but they'll try to avoid it for the most part if they can help it. Though Drax is still a bit fuzzy on the concept.
  • Took a Level in Kindness: All of the founding members but Groot become more compassionate as the first film goes on.
  • Translator Microbes: Word of God says all of them except Groot have translator implants. invoked
  • True Companions: By the end of the first movie they are their own family. Dysfunctional as all hell, but a family nonetheless.
  • Total Party Kill: All of the Guardians, sans Rocket, Nebula, and Kraglin, are dead by the end of Infinity War after Thanos's plans are realized.
  • Two Girls to a Team: Gamora and Mantis by the end of Vol. 2, because Nebula decides to leave in order to pursue Thanos. After Endgame, it's Nebula and Mantis, with Gamora missing in action. After Volume 3, it's Cosmo and Phyla.
  • Unlikely Hero: A bunch of former criminals and miscreants probably wouldn't be where you'd look to find heroes to protect the galaxy.

Members

For Peter Quill / Star-Lord, see his page.
For Gamora, see her page.
For Rocket Raccoon, see his page.
For Groot, see his page.
For Drax the Destroyer, see his page.
For Yondu Udonta, see his page.
For Nebula, see her page.
For Thor Odinson, see his page.

    Mantis 

Mantis

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mantis_aiw_profile_8.jpg

Species: Insectoid (Half-Celestial hybrid)

Affiliation(s): Ego (formerly), Guardians of the Galaxy

Portrayed By: Pom Klementieff

Voiced By: Erika Ugalde (Latin-American Spanish dub), Laura Pastor (European Spanish dub), Herself (French and Canadian French dubs), Sayaka Akimoto (Japanese), Luisa Palomanes (Brazilian Portuguese dub)

Appearances: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 | Avengers: Infinity War | Avengers: Endgame | Thor: Love and Thunder | The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special | Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

Mantis: I am Mantis.
Drax: What are you doing?
Mantis: Smiling. I heard it is the thing to do to make people like you.

An alien woman with empathic powers (and servant of Ego) who joins the Guardians.
  • Abusive Parents: With the reveal that she's one of Ego's hybrid kids, his status as an abusive father extends to her, using her as a servant to help him fall asleep. Granted, compared to what he did to her half-siblings, he was practically saintly.
  • Action Girl: Although Mantis is not a battle-hardened warrior like Gamora and Nebula, she has the will and courage to use her powers to subdue opponents that are much tougher than she is. She completely embraces this trope in Thor: Love and Thunder, which has her rushing into battle with a BFG, and later, a sword in her hand and the other Guardians by her side. By the time of the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, she's capable of kicking ass by subduing numerous police officers with martial arts and her powers.
  • Adaptation Distillation: She has the more alien characteristics of her modern incarnation, but also has a more humanoid appearance and Asian skin tone like her original form from the 1970s.
  • Adaptation Personality Change: Mantis's original version, exposed to many more and much more varied experiences since childhood, was considerably forthright and proactive, and quite forward with her lovers and romantic interests. By contrast, the MCU Mantis grew up in total isolation under Ego's control, therefore her character grew up into a completely different kind of person.
  • Adaptation Species Change: In the comics, she is a half-Vietnamese woman who turned out to be the Celestial Madonna. In the movie, she's an alien, though Marvel only auditioned Asian women for the part to ensure that she still resembled her comic counterpart.
  • Adaptational Modesty: Her outfit resembles her classic 1970s costume from the comics, but with leggings and no Navel-Deep Neckline.
  • Adaptational Wimp: Downplayed. In the comics, Mantis is a top-tier martial artist who has successfully traded blows with the likes of Thor and Doctor Strange, whereas she does not seem to possess any combat capabilities in the movies. However, her empathic powers are still nothing to be messed with, able to temporarily put Ego the Living Planet (who's a Celestial) to sleep against his will, along with keeping Thanos himself restrained for a bit while he wore the Infinity Gauntlet, which was outfitted with four of the six Infinity Stones. Thor: Love and Thunder, however, shows Mantis becoming more adept at fighting and wielding weapons and she can subdue police officers in under a minute as shown in the holiday special.
  • Adapted Out: In addition to her combat prowess described above, Comics Mantis eventually entered a symbiotic relationship with the plant-like Cotati, and became a Plant Person herself, giving her a whole slew of abilities surrounding plants, control of plants, and creating whole new bodies out of plants by projecting her astral self into them, even across the whole galaxy. Naturally, with her backstory surrounding the Cotati removed, this ability is (so far) not present in her MCU version.
  • Affirmative Action Girl: Her introduction in Vol. 2 bumps the Guardians up to Two Girls to a Team.
  • All Asians Know Martial Arts: Mantis has a humanoid appearance, resembling an asian person, and she actively fights in martial arts moves in the Holiday Special and Vol. 3.
  • Ambiguously Gay: When Drax mistakes her waking him up in the middle of the night for sexual interest, Mantis tells him "I don't even like the type of thing you are!". It's not clear if she's referring to his gender, his species, or some other distinction.
  • Animal-Themed Superbeing: She's a mantis-looking alien named Mantis.
  • Back from the Dead: As with the rest of the heroes who got dusted by Thanos in Infinity War, she appears alive and well again in time for the final battle in Endgame thanks to Bruce Banner using the new Infinity Gauntlet made from Stark tech.
  • Badass Pacifist: Fighting isn't her thing — but that doesn't mean she should be underestimated. Her Empathic abilities can subdue the likes of Ego and Thanos, making her very valuable all the same. Thor: Love and Thunder subverts this since it shows Mantis wielding a BFG, and later, a sword while fighting alongside the other Guardians. Though in the Holiday Special, she is horrified at the amount of violence Drax uses against the police. Vol. 3 again shows her more willing to take violent measures, using her power to induces an OrgoCorp guard to start shooting wildly at her fellows, with fatalities.
  • The Beastmaster: In Vol. 3 she is able to tame and command three Abilisks.
  • Because You Were Nice to Me: Exposure to Drax's honesty, friendship, and genuine selfless fatherly love for his deceased daughter ultimately cause her to reveal Ego's true intentions to the Guardians.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: She's the friendliest member of the Guardians, and the only one to not have any combat-based abilities, so it's easy to see her as harmless. And yet, in both Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Avengers: Infinity War she very nearly brings down the nearly-invincible Big Bad using just her sleep-inducing powers. And in Thor: Love and Thunder, she's 100% on-board with killing Toothgnasher and Toothgrinder just after the Indigarrans had "gifted" them with the goats.
  • Beware the Silly Ones: She becomes a bit more serious in Avengers: Endgame, as she is seen charging into battle alongside millions of other dusted heroes.
  • Birds of a Feather: She rivals Drax for being the nuttiest and most comedic of the Guardians. Unsurprisingly, they have a lot of scenes together, including Mantis's bizarre attempt at a friendly smile and Drax's equally bizarre attempt at a practical joke (tricking her into petting Rocket, knowing he'd bite her for it) at her expense, that show them becoming quite fond of each other in spite of their mutual quirks.
  • Black Eyes of Evil: Avoided, for a change (her sclera, iris, and pupil are all as black as the cosmos, but she is indeed a heroine).
  • Body Horror: During the ambush on Knowhere in Infinity War, Thanos uses the Reality Stone to turn Mantis into a spool of fleshy ribbon. Her eye is still blinking as the ribbons land on the floor, showing that she's still conscious and aware of this happening.
  • Bridal Carry: Drax carries an unconscious Mantis to safety this way during the climatic battle of Vol. 2.
  • But Now I Must Go: At the end of Vol. 3, Mantis choses to leave the Guardians to find her own path in life that isn't dictated by Ego or the titular group. Though she loves her Found Family dearly, Mantis understands that being connected to the Guardians forever won't help her truly discover herself, and even rejects Drax's offer to accompany her for that reason.
  • Butt-Monkey: The poor girl. She learns from Drax that she is 'hideous', a 'pet', 'horrifying to look at', and is tricked by him into getting bitten by Rocket as a joke! And she also gets hit with a flying bit of space rubble in a moment that is most definitely Played for Laughs. This exchange with Drax remains unforgettable:
    Mantis: [referring to fireworks] It's beautiful.
    Drax: Yes. And so are you... on the inside.
  • Can't Kill You, Still Need You: Implied Trope. Ordinarily, Ego kills any of his children who do not inherit his Celestial genes. However, Mantis can put him in a trance to help him sleep, which is a big relief to an otherwise immortal, restless entity. Considering that she's also one of his countless children, Ego's treatment of her is a very small mercy.
  • Charm Person: She can use her empath abilities to manipulate others into doing as she wishes. While not making them mindless zombies, she can cause them to believe she's their best friend and the like.
  • Chekhov's Skill: Her ability to put Ego to sleep is critical in taking him down. It was also a critical part in the almost-successful plan to pry the Infinity Gauntlet off of Thanos's hand.
  • Cloudcuckoolander: Even by the main characters' standards, though it's justified as she is an alien with no social skills to interact with people.
  • Cuteness Proximity: She gets very giddy when meeting Rocket for the first time, thinking he's a "puppy". She keeps it up through the whole film.
    [Gleefully] The crappy puppy makes me want to die!
  • The Cutie: Is easily the cutest and most innocent of all the Guardians next to Baby Groot.
  • Dark Secret: The Holiday Special reveals she's Ego's daughter. She's afraid to tell Peter this, because she fears he'll associate her with Ego, but at the end, it turns out he's ecstatic to have her as a sister.
  • A Day in the Limelight: The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special puts her and Drax at the forefront, with the pair going on a quest to give Peter the best Christmas ever. It greatly expands upon Mantis as a character, especially with the revelation that she's Peter's half-sister.
  • Defector from Decadence: Ego took Mantis in as his "adopted daughter" (or rather, his pet) note , as a means to escape his boredom via her ability to induce sleep. Mantis eventually turns on him and uses her powers to take him out of action at a crucial moment, contributing to his death.
  • Dirty Mind-Reading: In Vol. 2, she reads Peter's emotions and proceeds to blurt out how he has "sexual feelings" for Gamora... while Gamora is sitting right next to him.
  • The Dragon: She's the only person working for Ego, even though she doesn't like what he's doing.
  • The Empath: Her main abilities are empathy-based. When she touches someone, she can know precisely what they are feeling at the moment, down to pinning down which one someone is in love with, as well as make herself share the same sentiment. This is demonstrated when Mantis touches Quills, figures out he's attracted to Gamora, and then touches Drax and gets to laugh alongside him at Quill's embarrassment. Moreover, she can force a state of mind into whoever she's in contact too, which includes putting them to sleep, making them fall in love, or giving them an irrepressible will to dance, even in the middle of a shootout.
  • Everyone Has Standards:
    • Though she does briefly point and laugh at them, even Mantis can't stand the obnoxious screaming of Toothgrinder and Toothgnasher, and offers to help Nebula kill them just to shut them up.
    • She also chides Drax for flipping a police car over, stating that he almost killed the officers inside.
  • Forced Sleep: Has the ability to empathically render people unconscious.
  • Foreshadowing: A subtle one, but Mantis' empath abilities are powerful enough to make Ego fall asleep, even when he's enraged and at full power. Peter Quill is also able to go toe-to-toe with Ego when he unlocks his half-celestial powers. Mantis, like Quill, is one of Ego's children, as she reveals in The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, and thus the two are half-siblings.
  • Friendless Background: Word of God states that Mantis has been very lonely for a long time when she meets the Guardians, having only really ever known Ego, her father.invoked
  • Funny Background Event: She has a few of them across the movies, most notably jumping around in Titan's low gravity when Tony and Quill are discussing battle plans in Infinity War.
  • Glass Cannon: Mantis's empathic powers can temporarily incapacitate beings of incredible power, but sometimes her durability has not been enough, as she was knocked unconscious by one hit from Thanos.
  • Green-Skinned Space Babe: Averted, diverging from her counterpart in the comics. Here, she retains Pom Klementieff's natural skin color, to aesthetically differentiates her from Gamora and Drax.
  • He Will Not Cry, so I Cry for Him: When she uses her Empath Touch on Drax, she feels his grief over the deaths of his wife and daughter, and starts weeping uncontrollably. Drax, on the other hand, has a beatific look on his face, either because he doesn't know how to emote due to his nature, or he's learned to live with it.
  • Heart Is an Awesome Power:
    • Being able to sense emotions through skin contact, and being able to put beings to sleep by touching them, doesn't sound that impressive. Right up until she forces an entire living planet to sleep, against his will, so that the Guardians have a chance of killing him.
    Drax: I never thought she'd be able to do it with as weak and skinny as she appears to be.
    • In Avengers: Infinity War, it is demonstrated a second time how awesome Mantis is when she completely stuns Thanos, who at this point wields the Infinity Gauntlet fitted with the Power, Soul, Reality, and Space Stones. Thanos might have been defeated right then and there if not for a Tragic Mistake, though that's assuming he didn't recover the Infinity Gauntlet anyway.
  • Hollywood Homely: In-Universe, Drax repeatedly describes her as being "hideous" and "repulsive", but to humans, she looks like a pretty human woman with jet-black eyes and cute little antennae on her forehead. Played with in that the only one of the Guardians who thinks she's ugly is Drax, who is the group's Cloudcuckoolander (and Gamorra matter-of-factly tells Mantis that she isn't ugly), so it might just be his own strange sense of aesthetics that is in play. The overly large eyes are a little unsettling, for sure.
  • Iconic Sequel Character: She's the only member of the Guardians of the Galaxy not to be introduced until the second film, yet she's just as iconic as the others.
  • The Ingenue: She's the most innocent member on the team by far.
  • In Name Only: Steve Englehart, the creator of comics Mantis, expressed disappointment in the character due to how heavily she was altered to the point of having little in common aside from her name.
  • Insectoid Aliens: Despite her rather human-like appearance, she does mention that she was found as a larva by Ego. When Iron Man, Spider-Man, and Doctor Strange tussle with the Guardians in Infinity War, Spider-Man freaks out at the sight of her, begging her not to lay her eggs inside him.
  • Kung-Fu Wizard: By the Holiday Special she's learned martial arts, which combined with her mind control abilities form a (potentially) lethal combination.
  • The Load: Turns into one after getting hit by debris in the Final Battle. It's for Drax to carry her out of danger.
  • Long-Lived: Implied to have a longer lifespan than humans in Vol. 3, when she's shocked to find out people on Earth sometimes die at 50.
  • Love Informant: Mantis cheerfully and obliviously reveals to the Guardians that Peter is sexually attracted to Gamora. Mind you, this probably wasn't really news to any of them by this point.
  • Luke, I Am Your Father: The Holiday Special reveals that Mantis is one of Ego's children, making her and Quill half-siblings. She didn't tell him about it until the end of the special.
  • Malaproper: When Peter Parker asks Drax and Mantis what it is they do in Infinity War, Mantis proudly proclaims "Kick names, take ass!", much to Tony Stark's dismay.
  • Morality Pet: Subverted. She tries to be this to Ego, but he is beyond such concerns. He sees her as his personal alarm clock, there to put him to sleep so he can catch some shut-eye from his boredom.
  • My Friends... and Zoidberg: Poor Mantis gets this treatment when Rocket is listing off the people he lost in Avengers: Endgame.
    Rocket: I lost the only family I ever had. Quill, Groot, Drax, the chick with the antenna, all gone.
  • My Greatest Failure: She is torn by guilt and remorse at seeing Ego murdering his children and being unable to do anything to really help them, and she tries many times to warn the Guardians. It's especially heart-wrenching for her since she, like Quill, is also one of Ego's children and thus his victims are her half-siblings, all while she was kept alive for Ego's amusement & use.
  • My Sensors Indicate You Want to Tap That: She uses her powers on Peter at one point and picks up on his Unresolved Sexual Tension with Gamora, a sentiment she happily vocalizes, much to Drax's amusement.
  • My Significance Sense Is Tingling: When people begin to disintegrate due to Thanos's fingersnap at the end of Infinity War, The Empath Mantis feels it and utters, "Something... is happening..." before she disintegrates.
  • Neck Lift: After discovering the corpses of Ego's children in a cavern, Gamora goes to see Mantis and furiously lifts her up by the neck to question her about what's going on.
  • Nightmare Fetishist: When hearing that Rocket has blasters and knives available should Quill and Thor fight it out for the leadership of the Guardians, Mantis reacts with a gleeful and more than a bit unnerving, "Yes, please! Use knives!" stretching out each syllable in delight.
  • Nice Girl: Socially awkward though she may be, Mantis is, at heart, a good person who treats the Guardians with kindness. Even though Drax directly calls her ugly, she even still forgives him because of his reassuring kindness about her appearance. Her basic decency is a big part of why she turns on Ego.
  • No Body Left Behind: Is disintegrated along with half the universe after Thanos completes the Infinity Gauntlet.
  • No Social Skills: Her limited exposure to people has made her unable to pick up on social cues, and the Guardians help her learn to communicate better with them.
  • The Not-Love Interest: To Drax in Vol. 2. They spend most of their screen time together and form a bond with each other. It's even because of Drax that Mantis starts trying to warn the Guardians about Ego's true nature. However, they make clear they aren't interested in each other in any way that can be considered romantic, with Drax even being disgusted by the thought of it. The Holiday Special has them hanging out together in their attempt to kidnap Kevin Bacon for Peter's gift.
  • Only One Name: She goes by a single name without any other identifiers.
  • Once Done, Never Forgotten: The Holiday Special has Drax not letting her live down that she once ate a large supply of zarg-nuts. In Vol. 3, it's briefly implied that he still hasn't let it go.
    Mantis: GET OVER THE ZARGNUTS!
  • O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Played for Laughs. Though she'd shown a bloodthirsty quirk in Endgame, Thor: Love and Thunder shows the sweet, still relatively innocent Mantis pushed to her limits after mere minutes of enduring Thor's new pet goats. The screaming is so bad that she is right behind Nebula when she tries to put them down.
  • Percussive Prevention: On Knowhere, Mantis puts Drax to sleep before the latter can execute his silly plan to attack Thanos.
  • Perpetual Smiler: Mantis constantly wears an adorably happy grin when talking to people, even when the people in question are insulting her right to her face.
  • The Pollyanna: Best summed up in this line from Vol. 2:
    Mantis: [to Gamora, in reference to a conversation she just finished with Drax] I'm learning many things, like how I'm a pet and ugly! [Big goofy ":D" smile]
  • Power Glows: The tips of her antennae light up whenever she's using her empathic powers.
  • Platonic Life-Partners: Drax finds her physically repulsive but nonetheless strikes up a close if vitriolic friendship with her. After she joins the crew, she's shown hanging around Drax the most. Most significantly, he's initially the only person who knows that she's one of Ego's biological children in The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special.
  • Practically Different Generations: It's hard to say exactly when Mantis was born relative to Quill, or what her exact age is, since aliens tend to live long/age differently in this setting. But, since she did witness her father Ego kill a good number of children during her own lifetime, such amount of time is long enough to widen the age gap between her and Peter.
  • Puppy-Dog Eyes: She's very good in looking like a kicked puppy whenever she's scared or sad.
  • The Prankster: Mantis frequently likes to use her charm abilities to play pranks on people, though Drax tends to be her favorite target. Examples include getting him to fall in love with his sock and having an OrgoCorp guard fall in love with him.
  • Related in the Adaptation: The Holiday Special reveals that she is Ego's daughter, and Peter's half-sister.
  • Satellite Character: Discussed. While Mantis does have a fleshed out personality, as she points out in Vol. 3, she is on the team not for any particular reason and she mostly does what the team wants or is doing. She leaves with the particular intent of forming her own motivations and character.
  • Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer: She's the only member of the Vol. 2 team who doesn't appear on its teaser poster, which makes sense given that she's a new character. She does appear in the first trailer, though, as well as the main poster.
  • The Sixth Ranger: She's one of the new team members in Vol. 2, but is the only outright new character joining them, not having appeared in the first film.
  • Slaying Mantis: She attempts to pose like one after the abrupt awakening she gave to an unconscious Thor startled her and the other Guardians.
  • The Smurfette Principle: In Infinity War she's the only girl on Iron Man's team consisting of Iron Man himself, Dr. Strange, Spider-Man, Star-Lord, and Drax. At least until Nebula shows up to help.
  • Super-Strength: While she greatly dislikes getting her hands dirty, she's at least as strong as a super soldier, as she is capable of easily kicking a fully-grown man in armor across a room.
  • Super-Toughness: She may look like the resident Squishy Wizard, but she can fall hundreds of feet and land on her feet just fine and she's merely KO'ed by a flying hunk of debris to the head. In Infinity War she was able to survive a Thanos headbutt. In Vol. 3, Mantis often lands on her neck when falling from great heights, but always survives.
  • Token Good Teammate: The Guardians of the Galaxy aren't evil per se, but they all have sketchy criminal backgrounds with shades of anti-heroism with her standing out as the exception. However, during the Holiday Special, Mantis stole a woman's map and money using her mind control powers.
  • Tomboy and Girly Girl: Mantis serves as the girly girl to Gamora and Nebula's tomboys.
  • Took a Level in Badass: After her resurrection in Endgame, Mantis bravely joins the other heroes in charging Thanos's army head-on. Thor: Love and Thunder also has her becoming more active in fighting alongside the other Guardians of the Galaxy. By the Holiday Special, she's gained martial arts skills on a par with most MCU Badass Normal heroes, enough to have her own fight scene!
  • Took a Level in Jerkass: Downplayed. She's still an overall nice girl, but hanging out with the Guardians has given the soft-spoken Mantis an abrasive edge. The Christmas Special and Vol. 3 in particular has her engaging in insult matches and ball busting she probably wouldn't have jumped into earlier on, and she's much louder and crass whenever she talks.
  • Two Girls to a Team: Mantis officially joins the Guardians at the end of the second film. Though with Nebula's addition it gets pushed to three girls. And back down to two after Gamora's death.
  • The Un-Smile: By way of introduction, her first attempts at a 'smile' creeps even Drax out.
  • Visual Pun: Whenever danger's present she hunches over and holds her hands up close to her chin, adopting a posture reminiscent of an actual praying mantis.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: With Drax. Thanks to Drax being... well Drax, they snipe at each other a lot. That doesn't stop them from hanging around each other often.
  • Who's on First?: When Thor says that Thanos is going to Knowhere in Infinity War, Mantis replies that he must be going somewhere.
  • With Great Power Comes Great Perks: As she spends more time with the Guardians, Mantis begins to use her abilities for cheap pranks and minor conveniences that she never took advantage of before. She ends up charming a woman to give her bus tickets and all her money in the Holiday Special, and later uses them on Kevin Bacon to take away his fear of them.
  • Womanchild: Due to having spent her life on Ego, she comes across as very childlike in her interactions with other beings, and she literally knows nothing of the outside world — it's both endearing, heartbreaking... and, at times, hilarious.
  • Wrestler in All of Us: Mantis uses a Poison Rana/Inverted Frankensteiner in Vol. 3 to takedown a mook.
  • Xenafication: Thor: Love and Thunder shows Mantis embracing more of the warrior life, wielding a BFG, and later, a sword while charging into battle with the other Guardians of the Galaxy.
  • You Will Be Spared: As it turns out, Mantis herself is one of Ego's offspring who failed to carry the Celestial gene, and the only one he decided to spare because she had the means to treat his insomnia.

    Kraglin Obfonteri 

Kraglin Obfonteri

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mcu_kraglin.png
"Welcome home, Peter."

Species: Xandarian

Affiliation(s): Ravagers, Guardians of the Galaxy

Portrayed By: Sean Gunn

Voiced By: Gerardo Alonso (Latin-American Spanish dub), Alejandro "Peyo" García (European Spanish dub), Christiano Torreão (Brazilian Portuguese dub)

Appearances: Guardians of the Galaxy | Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 | Avengers: Endgamenote  | Thor: Love and Thunder | The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special | Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

"That ain't right. I just gotta say this one time, Captain: no matter how many times Quill betrays you, you protect him like that none of the rest of us matter."

Yondu's Second-in-Command who is often seen at his side, and in many ways a surrogate brother to Peter.
  • Ace Pilot: Leads the fight against the Dark Aster in Vol. 1 and is able to fly a ship that an entire planet is trying to consume in Vol. 2. Vol. 3 has him pilot Knowhere itself with badass results, taking this trope to its logical extreme.
  • Adaptation Dye-Job: In the comics, Kraglin is entirely covered in blue hair. In the MCU, he has fair skin and brown hair.
  • Adaptation Species Change: Was a A-Chilitarian in the comics. Here he looks human and Word of God says he's a Xandarian.invoked
  • Alien Arts Are Appreciated:
    • As the Guardians are battling Ego on his planet in Vol. 2, Kraglin is singing along to "Wham Bam Shang-A-Lang" by Silver while having a bowl of soup. In a deleted scene, Kraglin also goes over some of the artists on Quill's Zune that he enjoys, which includes the likes of Alice Cooper, Traffic, and Thin Lizzy.
    • During the Holiday Special, Kraglin is shown having enjoyed Christmas as a kid alongside Peter, and notes how upset he was when Yondu ruined it for both of them. He's more than willing to help make this particular Christmas for his adopted brother alongside the rest of the Guardians.
    • In Vol. 3, Kraglin cites Garth Brooks as one of his favorite Earth musicians, and can be seen joyfully laughing when Rocket picks "Come And Get Your Love" to play as they get to work in The Stinger.
  • Aloof Big Brother: A naturally aloof person and a Vol. 2 deleted scene has him explicitly reference he and Peter being kids around the same time.
  • Ascended Extra: Has a much larger role in the second Guardians movie. And is set up to be Yondu's successor.
  • Bash Siblings: Kraglin becomes this with the Guardians of the Galaxy as of Thor: Love and Thunder
  • Beard of Evil: A scruffy, untidy-looking one, underlining his nature as a pirate. Subverted in that he's actually one of the most decent pirates under Yondu's command.
  • Big Brother Instinct: In The Holiday Special, he points out that, on Earth, they celebrate Christmas, in response to Quill's downcast mood. This is due to how he wanted to celebrate this with Quill years ago, only for Yondu to be disgusted by it although Peter later reveals that Yondu accepted Quill's gift for him.
    • Literally pilots the head of a dead God into battle when Peter asks for his help.
  • Breakout Character: Despite only playing a minor role as Yondu's Number Two in the first Guardians film, Kraglin proved popular enough to gain more and more screentime over the course of the Guardians films (as well as make a brief cameo in Thor: Love and Thunder). By the time of Vol. 3, Kraglin is now considered to be a member of the titular Guardians, to the point of appearing alongside them on the poster.
  • Canon Immigrant: At first he was an original character made for the first Guardians film. While Marvel had a similarly-named Ant-Man villain that came from space, he has nothing in common with him. However following the success of the film, the comic book character was made into a member of Yondu's Ravagers when he returned in 2017, incorporating aspects of the Guardians of the Galaxy character with him.
  • The Casanova: Sometime between Avengers: Endgame and Thor: Love and Thunder, Kraglin began marrying various alien women on every planet the Guardians of the Galaxy visit. Quill is not amused, and has to tell his adopted brother to stop doing this.
  • The Cavalry: In Endgame, he leads the Ravagers into battle alongside all the other heroic factions in the Battle of Earth.
  • Characterization Marches On: Downplayed. In his first appearance, he knows Yondu was hired to kidnap Quill and deliver him to his father, and was in on the job at the time, implying he's closer to Yondu in age. Later appearance imply he's sort of like Yondu's other kid beside Peter.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Is generally unfazed or plain sarcastic in the most serious or dangerous of situations.
    • Informs the Broker that no, Yondu wasn't joking about wanting a cute frog figurine while threatening the Broker's life.
    • After listening to Nebula's Dark and Troubled Past Motive Rant response to his question on what she's going to do with the bounty money the Ravagers have promised her:
      Kraglin: Yeah... I was talking about like a pretty necklace, or a nice hat, you know. Something to make the other girls go "ooh, that's nice."
    • When trying to warn that an entire Sovereign attack fleet is coming Yondu's way, he just blithely says "Hey Captain, remember that Ayesha chick?"
  • Dissension Remorse: Kraglin is the instigator of a crew mutiny, tired of Yondu constantly putting Quill's well-being and desires ahead of their entire den of thieves. Him pointing this out causes an uprising he soon regrets when the rebels begin viciously spacing otherwise very strong crew members simply for being loyal to Yondu. Kraglin eventually helps Yondu escape, kill the mutinous crew, and save Quill. Kraglin actually apologizes saying he never meant to cause such a huge reaction; he just had some complaints that he wanted to get off his chest and it snowballed from there.
  • The Dragon: Ravager Number 2 for Yondu. He's the only one that goes with Yondu to places like the Broker's.
  • 11th-Hour Ranger:
    • Kraglin joins the final battle of Vol. 2 by being the last person to enter the atmosphere of Ego's planet.
    • He appears just in the nick of time to help the Guardians stop the High Evolutionary from escaping.
  • Everyone Has Standards: While Kraglin was willing to criticize Yondu for his Parental Favoritism regarding Quill, he never wanted to start a mutiny amongst the crew. He's utterly mortified when Taserface kills several of Yondu's loyalists (many of which were his friends), and he tearfully begs his surrogate father for forgiveness after Taserface and his crew fall asleep.
  • Foil: To Nebula. Both of them are the less favored surrogate siblings of the original Guardians, but while Nebula is eager to betray Thanos, Kraglin stays loyal to Yondu. Nebula is cybernetically enhanced by Thanos in an abusive way that pitted her and Gamora against each other, while Kraglin inherits a cybernetic enhancement (the fin and arrow) as a sign of loyalty and respect from Quill.
  • Freeze-Frame Bonus: His surname can be seen during Peter's processing, which shows both Kraglin and Yondu's names under Peter's known associates.
  • Good Scars, Evil Scars: A big one over his eye. Seems like an aversion, until we discover he's actually a decent guy.
  • Hidden Depths: Like Yondu, it's implied that Kraglin is quite fond of Peter and also doesn't regret not handing him over to Ego. Though even he does eventually tire of Yondu's favoritism towards Peter affecting their business dealings. Kraglin might seem like a simple thug, but there are several times where it's clear he's a lot smarter and more perceptive than he looks at first glance:
    Taserface: [speaking about Yondu] Seems he's gone soft...
    Kraglin: If he's so soft, why you whispering for?
  • Honorary True Companion: Although Kraglin isn't with the Guardians full-time due to being part of the Ravagers, he's still considered to be a part of the group due to his close relationship with Quill. Though by the time of Thor: Love and Thunder, Kraglin begins actively taking part in some of the Guardians' missions, and becomes a member of the new generation of Guardians in The Stinger of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
  • How Do I Shot Web?: After inheriting Yondu's Yaka Arrow (and equipping himself with a spare fin) at the end of the second movie he's trying to train himself to use it as his old captain did but is struggling, only managing to impale Drax with it. This continues through most of Vol. 3.
  • Human Aliens: He has a human appearance because he's a Xandarian.
  • Interspecies Romance: The Xandarian Kraglin gets married to a an Indigarrian woman named Glenda at the beginning of Thor: Love and Thunder. Apparently, he often marries alien women on pretty much every planet the Guardians visit.
  • Kavorka Man: Despite not exactly being easy on the eyes, Kraglin apparently was capable of seducing and marrying a number of alien women sometime before and during the events of Thor: Love and Thunder.
  • Last of His Kind: The only currently serving Yondu clan Ravager left after the ending of Vol. 2. With Star-Lord's death in Infinity War, he was the only Yondu clan Ravager alive anywhere until Star-Lord's revival in Endgame.
  • Legacy Character: For Yondu, taking his fin and arrow after his funeral.
  • Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: After Taserface kills every member of the crew loyal to Yondu, Kraglin sides with Yondu, as many of the victims were his pals; this aids in their escape.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: His eventual feelings about openly voicing his grievance over Peter with Yondu are emotional devastation. Kraglin is horrified that it led to a mutiny during which those loyal to Yondu were jettisoned into space (many of whom were Kraglin's friends), and helps Yondu escape.
  • Not So Above It All:
    • Despite his stoic and deadpan demeanor, he can't help but laugh when Yondu mocks the Broker by spouting gibberish.
    • His brief interaction with Nebula reveals a hilarious dorky side to him.
    • While waiting for Yondu to return from Ego's planet in Vol. 2, Kraglin can be seen relaxing with a bowl of soup as he listens to some of Quill's music.
    • Thor: Love and Thunder shows that Kraglin is even more of a womanizer than Quill was back in 2014, as he constantly marries alien women on every planet the Guardians land on, much to his adopted brother's exasperation.
  • Not So Stoic: He absolutely loses it at Yondu's funeral when the other Ravager clans show up, sobbing in grief and cheering with pride simultaneously while pounding his chest in the Ravager salute.
  • Number Two: Led the Ravagers during the attack on the Dark Aster, while Yondu was busy directly assaulting the Dark Aster and later got taken out of the battle.
  • Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Though he wasn't seen on-screen at all, Kraglin was present during the final battle against 2014 Thanos in Avengers: Endgame, leading the Ravagers faction of the heroes against Mad Titan's forces.
  • One-Man Army: While it takes him a while, once he finally masters the Yaka Arrow (with a little prompting from vision of Yondu) Kraglin's able to use it to almost the same lethal effect as its previous owner did, wiping out almost all of the High Evolutionary's army of Hellspawn single-handedly. He even lampshades it in the mid-credit scene, casually suggesting that the rest of the new Guardians stand back and let him take down all the animals attacking the village they're protecting.
  • Only Sane Man: To Yondu's Ravagers, because he is the only one who recognizes the captain's favoritism for Peter hurting the crew's business. And then it gets even more pronounced when he's the only one who doesn't mutiny against Yondu.
  • Pre-Mortem One-Liner: Gives one to Behemoth right before Cosmo crushes him with two large pieces of debris.
    She's a good dog!
  • Primary-Color Champion: Kraglin has blue eyes, wears a red jacket, while the head fin and the Yaka Arrow he inherits from Yondu are red in color.
  • Put on a Bus: Unlike the other "new Guardians", neither Kraglin nor the Quadrant is seen or even mentioned in Infinity War. He later arrives as part of The Cavalry against Thanos's army in Endgame (though he's never seen on-screen), and later makes a proper return in Thor: Love and Thunder.
  • Rank Up: When the Ravagers show up in Endgame alongside all the other heroic factions, Kraglin appears to be leading the charge.
  • Really Gets Around: In Thor: Love and Thunder, he shows up married to a native of the planet the Guardians just saved, only for Quill to exasperatedly remind him to stop marrying a woman every time they visit a new planet.
  • Red Is Heroic: He sports a red jacket and starts to utilize the red-colored head fin and Yaka Arrow after joining the Guardians of the Galaxy.
  • Ship Tease: He gets a scene in Vol. 2 that hints at this with Nebula of all people. When she decides to leave the Ravagers to go find Gamora, Kraglin inquires what she plans to do afterward, and wishes her "happy trails" as he rejoins his fellow Ravagers. By Thor: Love and Thunder, however, Kraglin is shown getting married to a woman every time he goes to a new planet, throwing cold water on whatever Ship Tease there was, though that doesn't stop him from proclaiming "Kragula, back in action!" when Nebula asks for his help in Vol. 3.
  • Sixth Ranger: An unofficial one to the Guardians of the Galaxy, since his Ravager crew and Yondu are dead by the end of Vol. 2. It becomes official by Thor: Love and Thunder in which he's shown to have joined the crew full-time.
  • Small Role, Big Impact:
    • In Vol. 2, he saves Yondu and Rocket's life and by doing so, plays a rather vital part in saving the day. Unfortunately, he's only in a few brief scenes after that, although The Stinger suggests a larger role in the future.
    • By explaining how Yondu ruined Christmas for Quill in the holiday special, he kickstarts the plot of Mantis and Drax going to Earth to kidnap Kevin Bacon. He then convinces Bacon to stay by relaying Quill saving the universe with a dance-off.
  • Sole Survivor:
    • The entirety of Yondu's crew is dead by the end of Vol. 2, except for Kraglin.
    • With Star-Lord's death in Infinity War, he's now the only Yondu clan Ravager, former or otherwise, alive anywhere... Until Endgame.
  • The Stoic: He doesn't say much but his words carry considerable weight in Vol. 2 when he speaks out against Yondu's favoritism towards Peter. It's the final straw Taserface and his goons need to take over the gang. Kraglin immediately regrets speaking out when all of his friends are killed due to being loyal to Yondu.
  • Tears of Joy: At Yondu's funeral, when every other Ravager faction comes by to pay their respects, Kraglin ecstatically pounds his chest while sobbing and cheering at the same time.
  • Took a Level in Badass: Not the bravest soul serving under Yondu, but by Endgame he leads the Ravagers into the Final Battle. And though it takes about a decade by the time of Vol. 3, he's finally gotten the hang of using the Yaka Arrow and can reliably fight bad guys with it.
  • Tragic Keepsake: He inherits Yondu's head fin and Yaka Arrow. Learning to use them is a different matter though.
  • Trick Arrow: By the end of Vol. 2, Kraglin begins to train himself in wielding Yondu's Yaka Arrow with a rather rough start. About a decade later, he still sucks at it if Thor: Love and Thunder is any indication. Finally subverted as of Guardians 3, wherein a little reminder from Yondu gives him the boost he needed to control it, using it with the speed and efficiency his father figure had.
  • Undying Loyalty: To Yondu. He makes a point of mentioning how he's always the one that defends Yondu's decisions even when the rest of the crew disagrees.
  • Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Had he kept his mouth shut about his grievance with Yondu, the entire mutiny and the deaths of many loyalist Ravagers could have been avoided.
  • Villainous Friendship: Despite the fact that they are both murderous thugs, Kraglin is very loyal to Yondu and understands his quirks. In Vol. 2, even though he aided in the mutiny against Yondu, he is forgiven and is literally the only Ravager spared from Yondu's wrath. Though his intent in speaking out was never to have things go to the extremes they did.
  • "Well Done, Son" Guy: He's implied to be this for Yondu, especially considering his grief over losing him in Vol. 2. Yondu's final message to him in Vol. 3 is what enables him to master the Yaka arrow.
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: He is absent from the Guardians during the events of Infinity War and doesn't even get mentioned. He reappears in deleted footage from Endgame leading the Ravagers into battle alongside the Avengers and their other allies, and makes a proper return in Thor: Love and Thunder.

    Cosmo 

Cosmo

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cosmo.jpg
"I refuse to do any more work while you demean me."

Species: Enhanced dog

Citizenship: Russian

Portrayed By: Fred the Dog (Guardians of the Galaxy), Slate the Golden Retriever (The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special onwards)

Voiced By: Maria Bakalova, Aoi Yūki (Japanese dub)

Appearances: Guardians of the Galaxy | The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special | Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

A dog used as a test subject by a U.S.S.R. space program who developed telekinesis out in space. She came under possession of the Collector at some point.


  • Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: In the comics, Rocket and Cosmo had a fierce rivalry with each other, and can barely tolerate being in the same room. In the MCU, Cosmo's rivalry is transplanted to Kraglin instead, while she and Rocket generally are good teammates outside of the occasional quip between them. In fact, Cosmo is more than happy to recognize Rocket as the leader of the Guardians in The Stinger.
  • Adaptational Nonsapience: Subverted. In the comics, Cosmo is a highly intelligent dog who can communicate with humans telepathically in the comics. In the MCU, she first appears behaving like a perfectly normal dog, though her return in The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special reveals that she is telepathic and can talk just like in the comics.
  • Adaptational Wimp: Downplayed. In the comics, Cosmo is a powerful telepath and telekinetic. In the MCU, she initially doesn't show her displaying any of those powers until The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, and even then, her control over her telekinesis isn't as good as in the comics. Subverted by Vol. 3 as she can even hold the entirety of The High Evolutionary’s giant spaceship.
  • Ascended Extra: She appears in the first Guardians movie as part of the Collector's collection, with basically no involvement to the main plot of the movie or interaction with the main characters despite growling at Rocket, with her inclusion in the movie only serving as an Easter Egg for the comic fans. In the Holiday Special, she now has a speaking role, reveals her telekinetic powers, interacts directly with Rocket and is mentioned by the other Guardians as a familiar. Vol. 3 gives her slightly more prominence by having her involved in several scenes on Knowhere, including the big finish of the film. She's also part of the new Guardians of the Galaxy team at the very end.
  • Badass Adorable: She's as cute as any Labrador, and able to crush an enemy between two huge concrete slabs with her telekinesis.
  • Bash Siblings: Cosmo becomes this with the Guardians of the Galaxy as of the Holiday Special.
  • Beware the Silly Ones: She's a dopey golden retriever who gets into very immature conflicts with others. Yet she's also a powerful telepath who can crush enemies with ease.
  • The Bus Came Back: Cosmo first appears in two non-speaking cameos in the first movie, including a small scene in The Stinger. She isn't shown or mentioned during the plot of Vol. 2 and only appears at a picture in the end-credits. In The Guardians Of The Galaxy Holiday Special she returns, this time even in a speaking role and is given a somewhat a larger role in Vol. 3.
  • The Cameo: A picture of Cosmo is briefly shown during the end-credits of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.
  • Canine Companion: For the Guardians as a whole, but especially towards Kraglin. The two of them are often paired together during missions, and despite their rivalry, are good teammates who care about each other deeply.
  • Dogs Love Being Praised: In Vol. 3, she's deeply insulted when Kraglin calls her a "bad dog", and spends the rest of the movie complaining to everyone about it. She's elated when he finally calls her a good dog after she saves his life.
  • Early Installment Character-Design Difference: In the first film, Cosmo was much larger and had a large space helmet over her head, along with a simplistic dog spacesuit. She's significantly smaller in the Holiday Special and Vol. 3, and her suit has built in Translator Microbes on it.
  • Furry Reminder: Although clearly sapient and intelligent, Cosmo happily works for dog treats, her idea of a Christmas gift for Kraglin is to bring him a dead Orloni and she is highly offended when called a bad dog.
  • Gender Flip: The casting of Maria Bakalova as the voice of Cosmo in Vol. 3 confirmed that Cosmo in the MCU is female. James Gunn tweeted that this was due to Cosmo being based on Laika, a dog who became the first animal to orbit the earth, so he decided to go "back to the original source material".
  • Hate at First Sight: As a nod to their rivalry from the comics, Cosmo seems to take a dislike to Rocket as soon as she sees him walk by and angrily growls at him. Downplayed, as their interaction in the Holiday Special is portrayed as far more friendly, though she is annoyed when he bosses her around. She later joins his new Guardians team and seems to respect him as leader.
  • Inexplicably Awesome: Cosmo is a Russian dog who was shot into space in The '60s, communicates verbally with others through a translator built into her space suit, and somehow gained telekinetic powers over the course of her life. Not much else about her past is explained, but that simply makes her cooler.
  • Long-Lived: She was sent out into space by the Soviet Union in 1966, and yet she's still a perfectly healthy dog in the mid-2020s.
  • Mind over Matter: She has powerful telekinetic abilities. In The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, she's shown using telekinesis to move parts of a building into place (though Rocket complains that her aim isn't very good). She also shows great precision in Vol. 3 when she shows up Kraglin by using a pebble to knock over all the targets he failed to hit with Yondu's arrow, and also incredible strength when she holds the High Evolutionary's exploding ship against Knowhere for long enough for all of the test subjects to escape.
  • Mundane Utility: Uses her incredible telekinesis powers to hold her cards while playing a game.
  • Mythology Gag: Shares a moment glaring with Rocket while growling, referencing their frequent headbutting in the comics.
  • Older Than They Look: Considering the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the fact that most Soviet dog spaceflights took place in the 50's and 60's, she has lived past the average dog lifespan by a few decades and still looks like a dog in her prime.
  • Once Done, Never Forgotten: Cosmo has a habit of holding grudges over the most simple insult and will never let it down until the person apologizes. In her fury at Kraglin for calling her a "bad dog", Cosmo points out that the Soviets sent her to space with no intention of bringing her back, and even they never called her a "bad dog".
  • Remember the New Guy?: In The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, she's shown working with the Guardians as they try to repair Knowhere and also celebrates Christmas with them despite having never directly interacted with the group previously.
  • Suddenly Speaking: She spends the first film acting like a silent, non-sapient dog. It is only until the holiday special that she shows her telepathic speaking ability. Possibly justified as her speech seems to be provided by an electronic device she lacked in the first movie.
  • Translator Collar: When she's shown speaking it has an electronic tone and appears to be coming from her suit collar, signified by a waveform display moving every time she does.
  • Truer to the Text: Despite being based on real-life female space dog Laika, comic Cosmo is male. Gunn decided to make Cosmo female in the MCU to take the homage closer to the real-life dog.
  • Uplifted Animal: She's smart enough to understand and communicate in human speech (albeit with a Translator Collar).

    Adam Warlock 

Adam Warlock

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/adam_warlock_1.jpg
"I am the Warlock, Mum, and I am done being ordered around!"

Species: Enhanced sovereign

Citizenship: Sovereign

Portrayed By: Will Poulter

Voiced By: Shunsuke Takeuchi (Japanese dub)

Appearances: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 note  | Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

An artificial being created by Ayesha to be the greatest of the Sovereign and destroy the Guardians of the Galaxy. Though he is incredibly powerful, he's also very naïve. After many encounters with the team, Adam eventually befriended and joined the Guardians.


  • Adaptational Backstory Change: In the MCU, Adam is created by Ayesha rather than by the Enclave like in the comics.
  • Adaptational Dumbass: Due to being let of his cocoon early, Adam is much less intelligent than his comics counterpart, who could have and has had intellectual debates with Thanos.
  • Adaptational Late Appearance: In the comics, Adam Warlock was a member of the modern incarnation of the Guardians of the Galaxy from day one (and was already a well-established character long before the team was even formed), and was an Arch-Enemy to Thanos. In the MCU, on the other hand, he isn't even mentioned until The Stinger of the second Guardians of the Galaxy film, and he never fought Thanos at all during the Infinity Saga due to being properly introduced after it.
  • Adaptation Name Change: In the comics, he was initially called "Him" after his birth and was only given the name "Adam" much later by Ellie Roberts, a young woman from the Counter-Earth. In the MCU, Ayesha calls him "Adam" before he's even born.
  • Aerith and Bob: "Adam" is a fairly mundane human namenote , while the only other named Sovereign are "Ayesha" and "Zylak".
  • Affably Evil: He's hardly rude to anyone, and even felt bad about killing a Ravager by accident. After Groot saves him, he's even grateful enough to make a Heel–Face Turn and eventually joins the Guardians.
  • Age Lift: In the comics, Adam was created by the Enclave before Ayesha and is therefore older than her. In the MCU, Adam is the younger of the two, not even being out of his cocoon yet while Ayesha is already a grown woman.
  • Alien Arts Are Appreciated: When asked about his favorite Earth music, Adam cites himself as a fan of Adrian Belew, specifically noting his work with King Crimson.
  • Ambiguous Innocence: Played for sympathy - as a child with way too much power, he honestly doesn't get what death is and accidentally kills a Ravager because he misunderstood a metaphor.
  • Anti-Villain: Aside from attacking the Guardians (because he was ordered to) and killing a Ravager by mistake, he could hardly be called a villain in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, as he mostly just wants to protect his mother and keep his people safe. He's notably depicted as the most benevolent Sovereign by a long shot.
  • Batman Can Breathe in Space: He can fly through space unaided without a space suit.
  • Children Are Innocent: He was taking out of his cocoon way too early, and thus has the mind of an enthusiastic young boy who quickly shows he's the White Sheep of the Sovereign as a whole.
  • Comic-Book Movies Don't Use Codenames: He's exclusively referred to as "Adam" throughout the movie, and despite also being referred to as "The Warlock" a few times, the two names are never combined. A Deleted Scene implies that he will go by his comic name in a hypothetical future appearance, with Kraglin telling him that "Adam" by itself is too boring for a hero name.
  • Decomposite Character:
    • Vision was based on him, being a powerful artificial being with an Infinity Stone stuck in his forehead.
    • The Collector in the first Guardians Of The Galaxy movie had a different looking cocoon in his collection that Word of God confirmed was meant to be Adam Warlock. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 introduced him as a separate character.
  • Dumb Muscle: Adam is shown to not be bright at all, having the intelligence and acumen of a 6-year-old, forgoing strategy in favor of charging the enemy blindly, and being unable to control his powers effectively. Justified, as the High Evolutionary pulled him out of incubation early, which resulted in his stunted mental growth. In the mid-credits scene he’s discussing Earth music with his fellow new Guardians, and he seems to have quite sophisticated taste, suggesting he’s growing into the much cleverer original version of the character.
  • Easily Forgiven: None of the Guardians hold much of a grudge against him for nearly killing Rocket, including Rocket himself. Justified as "tried to kill us, but instead became our friend" is par for the course when it comes to the team. The fact that he helps save Quill from certain death in the climax certainly helps.
  • Foil: To Groot. Both of them were young beings who had to deal with less-than-perfect parental figures whose negative personality traits reflected on them as well, but are still overall good people. The main difference is that Groot was raised by heroic characters, while Adam was raised by a woman who wanted to obey the High Evolutionary at all costs, no matter what horrible things they commit on his behalf. Groot even recognizes their similarities enough to spare Adam and convince him to perform a Heel–Face Turn.
  • Flying Brick: He has a combination of flight, Nigh-Invulnerability, Super-Strength, and energy beams.
  • Heel–Face Turn: He started out as an enemy to the Guardians but after being saved by Groot, he repays them by saving Quill. The post-credits scene reveals that Adam has joined the Guardians, now led by Rocket.
  • Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: Despite how powerful he is, he spends much of the movie being more of a joke than a real threat, including being knocked unconscious several times. Justified, as he's essentially a young child that doesn't want to hurt anything, so he is often run rings around by older characters.
  • In the Back: This is how Nebula defeats him in the beginning of Vol. 3, forcing him to flee and get medical help.
  • Kind Hearted Cat Lover: He adopts the pet of a Ravager he killed out of personal guilt. It's his first step to becoming a kinder and more empathetic person.
  • Lightning Bruiser: He was designed to be the absolute best of his race, possessing superhuman levels of strength, durability, agility and reflexes.
  • Manchild: Due to being let out of his cocoon early by the High Evolutionary, Adam Warlock is essentially a child in an adult body who is confused by the world and just wants to help his mother. That's not to say that he's immature, just that his understanding of the way that the world works is.
  • Momma's Boy: He defers to his mother, Ayesha, for much of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and is devastated when he fails to save her.
  • Nice Guy: Once Adam grows a bit and realises the error of his ways, he settles in to be a courteous, gentle, and generally friendly chap. By the end of the movie, he's well on his way to becoming the hero and core Guardians member we all know and love.
  • Nigh-Invulnerability: He's ridiculously durable, and the one serious wound he takes through the entire movie (getting outright stabbed through the chest) he shrugs off pretty quickly. Though repeatedly caught in explosions that put him down, none of them really seem to injure him and he acts more concussed than physically injured.
  • No-Nonsense Nemesis: His incredibly direct approach to attacking the Guardians is half-baked yet extremely effective, resulting in him taking down half the team and kickstarting the plot of the third film.
  • Pupating Peril: He was introduced in his cocoon state, but Ayesha suggested that when he emerged he would be the most powerful and destructive being ever created by the Sovereign. Ultimately he doesn't entirely live up to the hype, but this is suggested to be because the High Evolutionary had him released before he was ready rather than any flaw in his design.
  • Really Was Born Yesterday: James Gunn have stated that much of Adam's behavior in Vol. 3 is based in the fact that despite his adult appearance, he is very newly emerged from his cocoon (and was even forced do to so pre-maturely), so he is still in many ways like a newborn child in terms of mental development. As a result of this, he tends to just do what authority figures tell him to do, has a quite excitable nature, and is by-and-large still pretty naïve about how the world works.
  • Red Herring: A cocoon reminiscent of one that he has resided in the actual comics appeared in the first Guardians movie as a part of the Collector's collection. However, the ending to Vol. 2 establishes that he wasn't even alive at that time, meaning that the mysterious cocoon was not his.
  • Related Differently in the Adaptation: In the comics, Adam Warlock was created by the Enclave, the same people who would later create Ayesha, and is therefore basically her older brother. In the MCU, Adam is created by Ayesha herself, making him basically her son. He even refers to Ayesha as his "Mother".
  • Shipless Faster-Than-Light Travel: Implied early on as he flies to Knowhere to attack Rocket with no waiting spaceship mentioned.
  • Sophisticated as Hell: When the High Evolutionary insists that there's something wrong with Adam after his failed attempt at the Guardians' lives, he retorts with this:
    Adam: Yes, there's something wrong with me. I was stabbed, your extraordinary phallusnote !
  • Unskilled, but Strong: Adam is incredibly strong and durable, can fly, is super fast, and has a whole host of energy projection powers. His only real battle tactic however is to fly straight into his opponent, knock them to the ground, and then wail on them with his fists, and his tendency to focus on one opponent at a time repeatedly gets him blindsided.
  • Villainous Mother-Son Duo: He forms one with his "Mother" Ayesha for most of Vol. 3.
  • Vocal Dissonance: He has a very youthful face but also has a refined, sophisticated deep voicenote 
  • Walking Shirtless Scene: Spends the last act of the movie shirtless after his outfit was destroyed in an explosion.
  • What Is This Feeling?: He first experiences guilt and empathy after killing a captive, and ends up adopting the man's pet.

    Phyla 

Phyla

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/phyla.png
"Do you ever feel a little sad for them?"

Species: Star Child

Affiliation(s): Guardians of the Galaxy

Portrayed By: Kai Zen

Appearances: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

A former test subject of the High Evolutionary who joined the Guardians after she was rescued.


  • Adaptational Backstory Change: In the comics, Phyla is the daughter of a Kree super-soldier and an Eternal, and inherited a wide variety of powers from her parents. Here, she was genetic engineered by the High Evolutionary as a member of a "perfect" society.
  • Adaptational Species Change: She is a Kree in the comics, but is an entirely different humanoid species in the MCU.
  • Adaptation Name Change: A very minor one. She bears the family name of Vell in the comics, but due to it being impossible for her to be the daughter of Mar-Vell in this setting, she doesn't. So it's less that Phyla's name has become anything else so much as it's now a case of Only One Name.
  • Age Lift: She is usually an adult in the comics when she joined the Guardians. Here, she is still a child.
  • Alien Arts Are Appreciated: In The Stinger for Vol. 3 when the Guardians are discussing their favourite Earth bands, Phyla says her two favourites are Britney Spears and Korn.
  • Bio-Augmentation: Thanks to the High Evolutionary's experiments, she has enough stamina to run around a wheel for hours without showing any signs of tiring, function for weeks without food, and can project a form of energy around her fists.
  • Canon Character All Along: It seems odd that the Guardians would recruit a random child from the High Evolutionary's experimental batches, until it's revealed that she's the MCU incarnation of Phyla-Vell.
  • Composite Character: Being one of the adopted children of Drax means that Phyla now has something in common with her comic version's longtime partner and comic Drax's daughter, Moondragon.
  • In Name Only: Beyond her white hair and powers, she has virtually nothing in common with her comic book counterpart, such as her younger age, lack of connection to the Vell family, and no longer being a Kree.
  • Kid Hero: As seen in the mid-credits scene of Vol. 3, she becomes the first child to join the Guardians in the MCU, and is one of the very few pre-pubescent heroes throughout the entire franchise.
  • Language Barrier: She initially can only speak a language that Drax can understand, with her main catchphrase being "Joob Joob". By the time of the mid-credit scene though she's able to discuss her favorite Earth musical acts, either due to the Guardians updating their translators or Phyla learning a new language.
  • No Name Given: Subverted. Although she is eventually referred to by name in the mid-credits scene of Vol. 3 and retains her comic book counterpart's white hair, she spends most of her screen time in the movie without ever being identified as Phyla or displaying the powers she's known to have in the comics, so anybody watching with knowledge of the source material may not even know it's her until then.
  • Race Lift: The Phyla-Vell of the comics is more or less white-coded, but this version of the character is portrayed by an actress of Asian descent.
  • Unrelated in the Adaptation: This version of Phyla does not seem to have any sort of familial relationship to Mar-Vell, who is her father in the comics, although it remains to be seen if she and Mar-Vell's MCU counterpart are indeed genetically related.

    Blurp 

Blurp

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screen_shot_2023_08_11_at_30243_pm.png

Species: F'saki

Voiced By: Dee Bradley Baker

Appearances: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

A domesticated creature Adam Warlock adopts after he killed his previous owner.


  • Morality Pet: For Adam Warlock. Blurp's devastated reaction to seeing his previous owner be destroyed at his hands causes Adam to feel remorse for the first time in his life. He later insists on keeping Blurp around despite Ayesha's protests, and he immediately stops attacking when Gamora threatens to kill him.
  • Potty Failure: When encountering Gamora for the first time, Blurp pees on the floor of the Bowie in terror.
  • Team Pet: Becomes this for the new generation of Guardians, as he's seen leaping into battle alongside them to rescue some villagers from some rampaging animals.

"The galaxy still needs its Guardians."

Alternative Title(s): MCU Cosmic Guardians Of The Galaxy

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