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The Sovereign
In General
The Sovereign
Appearances: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 | What If...?
A collective of planets and the homeworld of the Sovereign people.
- Canon Foreigner: There are no planets called "The Sovereign" in the comics, as the Sovereign people are an original creation of the MCU.
- City of Gold: The Sovereign Homeworld has a futuristic golden metropolis spanning MULTIPLE planets (though it could just be a stylistic choice rather than it being literally made of gold).
- City Planet: The Sovereign Homeworld is covered in a beautiful golden metropolis so large it encompasses multiple planets anchored to the main planet by Anulax Batteries.
- Dramatic Thunder: There is a terrible thunderstorm when the Guardians fight the Abilisk, which adds to the intensity of the scene.
- Spell My Name with a "The": Unlike most of the other planets in the MCU, this one explicitly has a "The" before its name, as indicated on the Title In.
Sovereign
Sovereign
Appearances: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 | What If...? | Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
A race of beautiful but arrogant gold-skinned humanoids who were created by the High Evolutionary.
- Adaptation Name Change: They're clearly based on the Enclave, but are referred to as the Sovereign instead.
- Adaptation Species Change: Much like what happened with Drax, the Sovereign — again, based on the Enclave — were Earth-based humans in the comics, but they were changed into Human Aliens when introduced in the MCU.
- Amazing Technicolor Population: They basically look like humans with golden skin and hair.
- Artificial Human: Well, humanoid given that they are aliens, but they're an entire species created in pods. Vol. 3 reveals that they were originally created by the High Evolutionary as an aesthetic experiment.
- Asshole Victim: One of the reasons Rocket justifies stealing batteries from them, citing their snobbishness and obnoxious nature. The other Guardians don't disagree but still feel it was needless trouble and professionally discrediting to rob the very thing they were hired to protect.
- Attack Drone: They're far too vain to risk their beautiful, expensively-dressed hides in combat, so they exclusively use remote-piloted weaponry, which they treat as a particularly exciting, high-stakes form of arcade gaming. This serves two purposes - further emphasizing their "obnoxious sheltered teenager" characterization, and help make sure we don't feel too bad when the Guardians blow up a few hundred more Sovereign fighters. Sound effects even deliberately invoke playing in an old video game arcade when we see them being piloted.
- Awaken the Sleeping Giant: The third Stinger for Guardians Vol. 2 has them upping their threat level with their leader Ayesha planning to unleash Adam Warlock upon the Guardians, though they ultimately pale in comparison to their master, the High Evolutionary in Vol. 3
- The Beautiful Elite: An entire planet of golden and elegant genetically perfect people. Or rather, self-proclaimed perfect snobs who try too hard to be elegant and aren't nearly as powerful and feared as the Kree Empire or other galactic superpowers are. Their beauty is even mentioned by the High Evolutionary (who considers the entire race a bunch of beautiful idiots) as the sole reason he created them.
- Beware the Silly Ones: Downplayed, but Guardians Vol. 2 shows that they're not harmless and can be pretty dangerous when they really put their minds to it. In fact, their attack upon the Guardians within Ego is ultimately why Yondu is forced to perform a Heroic Sacrifice to save Peter.
- Big Bad Wannabe: For Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2. They hate the Guardians after Rocket steals from them and legitimately try to kill them multiple times, but they're far less of a serious threat in the film's story than Ego the Living Planet is.
- Brainless Beauty: The High Evolutionary deliberately designed them to be beautiful and didn't bother to develop their intelligence. He calls the Sovereign "beautiful numbskulls".
- Canon Foreigner: There is no alien race named "Sovereign" in the comics, though they are heavily based on the Enclave.
- Composite Character: The Sovereign is an original creation that mixes together the Enclave (the human scientists who created the artificial humans Adam Warlock and Ayesha) with the Universal Church of Truth, a villainous organization that regularly clashed with the Guardians of the Galaxy in the comics.
- Ayesha is herself a composite of the version of herself from the comics and the Matriarch, the leader of the Universal Church. Much like High Priestess Ayesha, they were very closely tied with Adam Warlock.
- The Church was composed of a very diverse collection of aliens species instead of a singular one of gold-skinned individuals and possessed the sinister goal of conquering the universe and "purifying" those who wouldn't submit to their will. The Sovereign shares the same eugenics driven superiority but come off as petty, arrogant, small-minded, and are comparatively more passive (at least in the sequel) since they only react if they are crossed, though there are hints (such as Ayesha's interest in Peter's unknown genetic makeup) that they do have some bigger ambitions.
- Connected All Along: While no one comments on the connection, it's revealed in Vol. 3 that the Sovereign were originally created by the High Evolutionary, the same Mad Scientist who modified Rocket.
- Dirty Coward: They don't actually fly ships into battle, preferring instead to control them remotely via what is basically a futuristic arcade game. They also hire the Guardians to kill the Abilisk because they consider that a better deal than actually risking any of their own people.
- Designer Babies: As Ayesha explains to the Guardians, the Sovereign community modify the DNA of their progeny during their incubation period in their birth pods so that they are physically and mentally "perfect" from the moment they are born.
- Disproportionate Retribution: The Sovereign are particularly infamous for meting out the death penalty for the smallest slights against them. Their reaction to Rocket stealing some of their batteries? Send an entire battle fleet after them with orders to shoot to kill. And as stated by Ayesha, the batteries were of lesser concern to her; the more grievous transgression was Rocket's insult against their people. The last scene reveals that her actions were disproportionate even by Sovereign standards, and she's being called to account for the ludicrous waste of resources.
- Everyone Has Standards: By the end of the film, even the Sovereign council cannot tolerate the waste of resources caused by Ayesha's vendetta against the Guardians anymore and calls her out on it.
- Failed a Spot Check: None of the Sovereign in the throne room notice Rocket showing off the stolen, glowing batteries in his satchel even as he is bragging (within hearing distance of them) to Drax "You wanna buy some batteries?"
- Fantastic Racism: They considered themselves genetically perfect and look down on the other races. The whole point of hiring the Guardians to defend their planet is because they consider them expendable.
- Felony Misdemeanor: One of the Sovereign guards threatens to shoot Rocket after he mentioned that they have a reputation for being "conceited douchebags".
- Gold Makes Everything Shiny: This is the predominant color in their skin, clothing, and architecture.
- Gold and White Are Divine: The Sovereign certainly think so. They believe themselves to be "genetically perfect" and they are all completely gold down to their eyes, and their High Priestess Ayesha at one point dresses in pure white. In this case, however, Light Is Not Good. The gold and white part is mostly shown when they wear gold winter capes decorated with white fur.
- Goldfish Poop Gang: They serve as secondary antagonists who chase the Guardians throughout the film from beginning to end, but are more comical than anything and don't pose anywhere near as much of a threat as Ego.
- Green-Skinned Space Babe: All of them are gold, and all of them were genetically engineered to be beautiful.
- An Ice Suit: When visiting an ice planet, they wear grand Pimped Out Capes lined with white fur.
- Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: They're not a nice civilisation, but they're so amusingly, pathetically childish that it's hard to hate them quite as much as one otherwise might. This side of them gets played up in Vol. 3, where we see Ayesha and Adam struggling to deal with their race's far more despicable creator, the High Evolutionary.
- Jerkass Has a Point: The Sovereign might be unlikable snobs with a major superiority complex, but at least they honored their agreements with the Guardians right up until Rocket decided to steal what is rightfully theirs just for the hell of it.
- Laughably Evil: While they initially come across as arrogant but dignified Space Elves, this steadily wears off over the course of Guardians Vol. 2, as the ridiculous, pathetic children beneath all that gold slowly get revealed, and it's played for all the comedy the film can muster.
- Light Is Not Good: Ayesha and the rest of the Sovereign fit pretty well with the light motif, what with them being colored in shiny gold and all. However, they and Ego are the main villains of the second film's plot.
- Named After Their Planet: They are called the Sovereign, which is also the name of their homeworld.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: They managed to capture Nebula between the events of Vol. 1 and Vol. 2. Considering she was trained as an assassin for most of her life and even Thanos himself was nearly killed by her, this is no small feat.
- Planet of Hats: The Sovereign's hat is "Arrogant Bastards". In their first actual appearance on-screen, the High Priestess admits to the Guardians' faces that they were hired because, competency aside, they're more expendable than any of her precious genetically tailored people. When the Sovereign fleet attacks shortly afterward, they do so by using remote-piloted drone ships in order to ensure there's no real danger to their people. When recruiting Yondu, the High Priestess Ayesha has an elaborate setup involving a ridiculously long unraveled carpet so she doesn't have to wet her feet by treading on the cold snow.
- Plot-Irrelevant Villain: They have nothing to do with with the main plot of Vol. 2, which is about Ego's plan to consume all the planets in the universe into parts of himself. They only serve to add obstacles to the heroes in a few scenes and to make the final battle a little more difficult.
- Pragmatic Villainy: The Sovereign admiral hesitates to blow up the Milano with the valuable stolen batteries that started the conflict, which would destroy the batteries altogether and, potentially, the entire remote-controlled fleet... but Ayesha's present concern — actually stating, in the junior novel, that they have many of both — is the "slight" against their people and the "heresy" that it represents. The order goes through; shoot with intent to kill.
- Pride: It's more or less their hat. The Sovereign are extremely vain, arrogant, and easily-offended.
- Small Name, Big Ego: They consider themselves genetically superior to just about everyone, but in practice, they come off as immature and ineffectual. Even their creator, the High Evolutionary, considers them idiots and only made them in the first place as an experiment in aesthetics.
- Superior Species: They claim to be a genetically superior race, but given that they do little to show it, it's clear the only ones who think this are themselves. They have the pompous attitude of rich snobs, and lose patience to frustration easily. The pilots directing their drone ships act like teenagers playing a video game, complete with one of them shouting "Damn!" and slamming her fist when her ship explodes, and the High Priestess has attendants that are clearly trying to make her look dignified, but instead look silly.
- Psychopathic Manchild: All of them act like snooty Alpha Bitches and Jerk Jocks who enjoy shooting things from the comforts of their own base.
- Ultimate Life Form: They believe themselves to be "genetically perfect".
- Uterine Replicator: Their species is genetically engineered from birth cocoons.
- Vile Villain, Laughable Lackey: It's revealed in Vol. 3 that the hilariously pompous and bratty Sovereign were serving the genuinely monstrous and humorless High Evolutionary.
- Villain Team-Up: After the Guardians escaped them the first time, the Sovereign decide to hire the Ravagers to help them get revenge on them. Although Yondu plans to betray them, Taserface is more willing to fulfill their bargain.
- Villainy-Free Villain: On the surface, all they're trying to do is punish an enormous theft of priceless artifacts that are rightfully their own property. They're just so absurdly bratty about it that it's hard to sympathize with them.
High Priestess
Ayesha
Ayesha
"Our concern is the slight against our people... We hire them and they steal from us. That is heresy of the highest order."
Species: Sovereign
Citizenship: Sovereign
Portrayed By: Elizabeth Debicki
Voiced By: Marcela Páez (Latin-American Spanish dub), Inés Blázquez (European Spanish)
Appearances: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 | Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
The High Priestess of the Sovereign who enlists the Guardians' help.
- Accidental Murder: The High Evolutionary had no idea Ayesha was on Counter-Earth when he triggered the planet's destruction, but given his Bad Boss tendencies, it likely would have made no difference to him whatsoever.
- Adaptational Early Appearance: In the comics she was created after Adam Warlock, here she's his creator.
- Adaptational Modesty: Wears a flowing golden gown instead of the Leotard of Power she has in the comics.
- Adaptational Villainy: In the comics, Ayesha wasn't the leader of a sinister alien civilization, but rather the Enclave's rebellious creation that turned against them for being evil. Here, not only does she serve as an antagonist to the Guardians of the Galaxy, but also takes aspects from the Enclave by creating Adam Warlock and essentially being combined with them.
- Adaptational Wimp: She lacks the superhuman strength, flight and cosmic energy manipulation that her comic book counterpart possessed. Instead, she is a schemer that stays in the background and can't be bothered to do things herself, relying on the Ravagers and remote controlled starfighters in the climax.
- Age Lift: In the comics, Ayesha was created by the Enclave some time after Adam Warlock and is therefore younger than him. In the MCU, she is the older of the two, being already a grown woman while Adam is not even out of his cocoon yet.
- Alas, Poor Villain: She and her people turn out to be another one of the High Evolutionary’s abused creations who has to beg him not to kill her son Adam. When she’s killed on Counter Earth because her creator deemed it a failed experiment it isn’t a cathartic moment but a tragic one, especially since Adam was mere moments away from saving her when it happened.
- Alternate Self: On Earth-72124.
- Anti-Villain: In Vol. 3, she's only out to capture Rocket because the High Evolutionary threatened to destroy her society if she didn't, and her genuine love for Adam humanizes her greatly.
- Armchair Military: Though she is willing to pilot the fighters with her people when needed, the ships are all remote controlled from her base.
- Badass Boast: She has a pretty good one in a TV spot:Ayesha: The Guardians can't protect the galaxy... from us!
- The Bad Guy Wins: Ironically, despite being a Butt-Monkey for most of her on-screen appearances, and her dying, in Vol. 3 she technically succeeds in her goal of saving her people from the High Evolutionary's wrath. With Adam being an accidental key player in bring the Guardians onto the path to stop the High Evolutionary. So now he can't make good on his genocide promise towards the Sovereign for their failures.
- Bad People Abuse Animals: She asks Adam several times to kill the pet he took from one of the Ravagers, even though he has grown attached to it. Adam even brings it with him during his missions because he knows that Ayesha will certainly kill it if he leaves it alone with her.
- Big Bad Wannabe: Ayesha swears vengeance on the Guardians for daring to offend the Sovereign. When the Sovereign forces try to pursue the Guardians, they end up getting easily swatted away by Ego. They try to hire the Ravagers to find the Guardians, resulting in Taserface's mutiny. Once the Sovereign find the Guardians, they try to capture them again, but end up only distracting the Guardians while they're fighting the real villain. As of The Stinger, Ayesha's still at it, but even the other Sovereign are getting tired of her wasting resources on the Guardians. It's for naught, as when she returns alongside her creation/son Adam Warlock, in Vol. 3, her master, the High Evolutionary, has taken the center stage as the main villain.
- Big "NO!": She yells this several times in a row when the Sovereign fleet gets destroyed by the Guardians during the final battle.
- Blatant Lies: When Peter Quill mentions that he prefers the conventional method of making babies to the one used by the Sovereign, Ayesha becomes interested and asks him to give her a hands-on demonstration one of these days, while insisting that it would only be "for academic purposes". Even one of the Sovereign maids can't help but smile upon hearing this.
- Break the Haughty: Dowplayed. Ayesha is portrayed as quite smug and arrogant throughout the film. When she fails to kill the Guardians and loses all her drones it takes her down a few pegs and she appears to be a bit haggard and disheveled during the movie's stinger. However, she retains her title of High Priestess and still has a superior attitude regarding her new creation that she believes will be able to destroy the Guardians.
- Color-Coded Patrician: Since gold is their people's color, she stands out by wearing a cape covered with white fur, instead of a gold cape lined with fur.
- The Comically Serious: Amusingly pompous in her arrogance, she's a rich font of unorthodox comedy. Even her interactions in Vol. 3 with her creation Adam Warlock, who was created to hunt down and destroy the Guardians, paint her more as a nagging mother than a dangerous threat.
- Composite Character:
- Ultimately proves to be one with the Enclave, as she takes their place as the creator of Adam Warlock.
- Also one with the Matriarch of the Universal Church of Truth.
- Compressed Hair: In the beginning of the movie, she wears a golden headgear that covers her hair. However, she doesn't wear it during her subsequent scenes, showing that she was hiding quite a thick head of hair under it.
- Covert Pervert: Despite having contempt for forms of reproduction, she is not above showing interest how "lesser species reproduce" by hitting on Peter. In front of his love interest, no less.
- Death by Adaptation: She dies during the destruction of Counter-Earth, while her comic book counterpart is still alive.
- Death by Irony: Ayesha goes to Counter-Earth to save her society from failure-induced destruction at the hands of the High Evolutionary, only to die by his hands anyway when he destroys Counter-Earth for failing to live up to his standards.
- Demoted to Dragon: An especially undignified example; in Vol. 2, Ayesha was at least trying to be the Big Bad, but come Vol. 3, she's been reduced to the High Evolutionary's lackey, forced to do his bidding under threat of the Sovereign's annihilation, and her main contribution is being able to control the very powerful, but naive, Adam Warlock (and even that, she isn't 100% successful in doing).
- Didn't See That Coming: After having her fleet corner the Guardians' spaceship in order to shoot it down, Ayesha certainly didn't expect Ego to suddenly appear and destroy the entire fleet by himself, and reacts with obvious confusion when that happens.
- Disc-One Final Boss: At first it seems like she's gonna be the main antagonist of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, pursuing the Guardians over a slight, but she becomes small fry when Ego the Living Planet's plan to assimilate all life is discovered.
- Do with Him as You Will: She says this as she delivers the captive Nebula to the Guardians of the Galaxy, knowing that they have a beef with her.Ayesha: Our soldiers apprehended her attempting to steal the batteries. Do with her as you please.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: Ayesha's death in Vol. 3 is remarkably sudden and unceremonious. The High Evolutionary doesn't even notice (and wouldn't care even if he had) that he accidentally killed her along with everyone else on Counter-Earth.
- Even Evil Can Be Loved: For all her flaws, Adam loves her enough to rush to her rescue when their sojourn on Counter-Earth terminates in destruction. He doesn't make it in time.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: In Vol. 3, she cradles Adam as he recovers from the wound Nebula inflicted, and she tries to protect him from the High Evolutionary when Warlock's backtalk earns him a painful attack from the scientist. She dies reaching out to him as he rushes to try in vain to save her during the destruction of Counter-Earth.
- Expository Hairstyle Change: As the Guardians further frustrate Ayesha, her hair is no longer styled, but loose and disheveled.
- False Reassurance: As she prepares to shoot down the Guardians' starship during the final battle, Ayesha "comforts" them by telling them that their death will not be in vain, as it will serve to demonstrate what happens with those who double-cross the Sovereign.
- Flat "What": His reaction when someone shows up out of nowhere and saves the Guardians of the Galaxy by destroying the entire Sovereign fleet single-handedly.Ayesha: What?... Who?
- Gold-Colored Superiority: Ayesha is covered in gold, reflecting her lofty position as the leader of the Sovereign (who are naturally gold).
- Green-Skinned Space Babe: Golden-skinned, and inhumanly beautiful.
- Failed Attempt at Drama: When she recruits the Ravagers to pursue the Guardians, she makes a Big Entrance with a ridiculously long entourage, including two minions deploying a blue carpet from a roller so her feet won't get cold in the snow...Until the roller gets jammed.
- The Hero Doesn't Kill the Villainess: Out of the three major villains of Vol 2 (Ego, Taserface, and Ayesha herself), Ayesha is the only one not to get killed, and she happens to be the only female among them. Even when she does meet her end in Vol. 3, it's at the unknowing and uncaring hands of the High Evolutionary as he destroys Counter-Earth.
- High Priestess: She holds the title of High Priestess of the Sovereign.
- Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: Pretty much nothing goes right for her or her species in the movie, and her reactions to her repeated failures drive in just how little the Sovereign matter overall. She's trying her best to defy the trope with the creation of Adam Warlock, though while Adam is legitimately powerful, the two of them ultimately end up deferring to Ayesha's master, the High Evolutionary.
- In Vol. 3, Ayesha's attempts at posing a serious threat are undermined by the loss of dignity she suffers from serving as the High Evolutionary's lackey and having to deal with Adam Warlock, who is as childlike as he is powerful. Her efforts prove so fruitless that it's hard not to feel a little sorry for Ayesha, especially since she's working under threat of her society being destroyed by her insane master. The poor treatment she suffers from the High Evolutionary plays up her sympathetic qualities, as does her unceremonious death at his unknowing, uncaring hands.
- It's the Principle of the Thing: When told that blowing up the Guardians' ship could blow up the batteries, she says that punishing the Guardians for their insult is more important.
- Large and in Charge: She's the Golden High Priestess of the Sovereign and measures 6'3" tall.
- Light Is Not Good: Her body may be radiantly golden and shiny, but her nature is not that good.
- Make an Example of Them: As the Sovereign fleet prepares to shoot down the starship containing the Guardians of the Galaxy in the climax, Ayesha declares that their death will serve as an example of what happens to those who try to double-cross them.
- Meaningful Name: Ayesha in the Western world was a name popularized by H. Rider Haggard's Shenote . Like Haggard's character, Marvel's Ayesha is an unnaturally beautiful haughty woman, "She who must be obeyed".
- Never Trust a Trailer: The trailers of Vol. 2 give the impression that Ayesha is the Big Bad of the movie and that she's an Omnicidal Maniac seeking to wipe out all life form in the galaxy that she views as "weak". In the actual film, she is only a secondary villain and is more comedic than anything else.
- Non-Action Big Bad: Despite being one of the main antagonists of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, she never actually takes part in the combat herself, instead she prefers to rely on others to do so, like the Sovereign fleet, the Ravagers, or Adam Warlock. The closest she gets to participating in combat is piloting an Omnicraft during the final battle, and even that she does remotely from the safety of her base.
- Not So Above It All: She appears to be flirting with Quill when she shows interest in "privately discussing" archaic reproduction methods with him.
- Not So Stoic: The most emotive she gets is when she throws a temper tantrum while having a Rapid-Fire "No!" in the climax after her fleet failed to destroy the Guardians once again.
- Parental Substitute: To Adam Warlock. He considers her his mother even though the Sovereign don't use conventional methods of reproduction.
- Percussive Therapy: She starts banging on her pod over and over in frustration when the Guardians manage to destroy her drone and the rest of the Sovereign fleet during the final battle.
- Please Spare Him, My Liege!: When the High Evolutionary uses his gravity powers against Adam Warlock for failing to capture Rocket and speaking disrespectfully to him, Ayesha begs him to forgive her newborn son and to give them another chance.
- Pre-Mortem One-Liner: As she prepares to fire on the Guardians' starship in the climax, she makes a pause to tell them that she will Make an Example of Them, and then adds "Dont screw with the Sovereign!" before firing.
- Pretty in Mink: Her winter cape mostly covered with white fur, when her subordinated wear gold capes lined with fur, when she comes to make a deal with Yondu.
- Psychotic Smirk: She has one on her face as the Sovereign fleet surrounds the Guardians' spaceship after they leave the asteroid field and prepares to shoot them down.
- Rank Scales with Asskicking: Subverted - she operates one of the hundreds of starfighters when they take on the Guardians, but they're all wirelessly controlled so she's in no more danger than any of their pilots, and she's not presented as a significantly greater threat than any of the rest of her fleet.
- Rapid-Fire "No!": Her reaction after the destruction of her fleet in the climax is to repeat "No!" over and over again while bursting with rage.Ayesha: No! NO! NO! NOOOOOO!
- Related Differently in the Adaptation: In the comics, Ayesha was created by the Enclave, the same people who created Adam Warlock before her, and is therefore basically his younger sister. In the MCU, Ayesha created Adam herself, making her basically his mother. Adam even refers to her as "Mother".
- Revenge Before Reason: She gets called on for using so many resources just to punish the Guardians.
- Roll Out the Red Carpet: Upon arriving on Contraxia, Ayesha makes a Big Entrance with a ridiculously long entourage, including two minions deploying a carpet (albeit a blue one) from a roller so her feet won't get cold in the snow. Then the roller gets jammed.
- Slouch of Villainy: During the film's third post-credits scene, Ayesha is so tired from her repeated failures to kill the Guardians that she's slumped on her couch in a way that resembles the Thinker Pose, in contrast to how she was sitting in a dignified manner in her throne during her first scene.
- Sophisticated as Hell: Normally, Ayesha speaks in a fairly sophisticated manner, but when she's about to shoot down the Guardians' starship in the final battle, she allows herself some digressions.Ayesha: Guardians, perhaps it will provide you solace that your deaths are not without purpose. They will serve as a warning to all of those tempted with betraying us. Don't screw with the Sovereign!
- Statuesque Stunner: She is 6'3", and a very gorgeous Gold-Skinned Space Babe.
- This Is Unforgivable!: She considers the Guardians stealing batteries that they were hired to guard to be "heresy of the highest order" and authorizes lethal force when hunting them down.
- Tranquil Fury: During the film's third post-credit scene, Ayesha is seen sitting quietly in her couch after her failure to kill the Guardians. She is too exhausted to get angry, but you can feel that she's still seething with rage.
- The Unfought: The closest any of the Guardians come to fighting Ayesha is when her remote-controlled ship is destroyed along with the Sovereign fleet during the climax of Vol. 2. In Vol. 3, she is killed without even sharing a scene with any of the heroes, much less fighting them.
- Ungrateful Bastard: At the end of Vol. 2, she's still as determined as ever to eliminate the Guardians of the Galaxy and even creates Adam Warlock to accomplish this, even though they've just stopped Ego from destroying all other life forms in the universe, which presumably includes the Sovereign. Granted, she may not be aware of this fact.
- Unrelated in the Adaptation: In the comics, Ayesha is the biological mother of Stakar Ogord. In the MCU, there is no sign that the two have any connection to each other.
- Villain Ball: During the final battle, the Sovereign fleet fires continuously on the Guardians' starship and manages to disable their laser generator. However, Ayesha makes the drones cease fire for a few moments so that she can give a speech to the Guardians about how their deaths will serve as a warning to anyone who has the bad idea to mess with the Sovereign in the future. Unfortunately for her, this gives Nebula enough time to wire her arm to the starship in order to re-power the lasers, allowing Yondu to take down the entire fleet. Had she let the drones keep firing uninterrupted, she probably would have won right then and there.
- Villainesses Want Heroes: Downplayed, but in her first scene, she shows interest in having intimate relations with Peter Quill. For academic purposes, of course...
- Villainous Breakdown: She grows increasingly frustrated with her failed attempts to destroy the Guardians, until at the end she's left sitting staring into space, with her hair in disarray and her advisers wanting to talk to her about her wasting of resources. However it emerges that she's not defeated yet; rather she's in a state of Dissonant Serenity when she reveals she's creating Adam Warlock for the sole purpose of hunting down and finally killing her enemies.
- Villainous Mother-Son Duo: She forms one with her "son" Adam Warlock in Vol. 3.
- Villain Takes an Interest: Subverted. During her meeting with the Guardians of the Galaxy, she realizes that there is something special about Peter Quill and starts questioning him about his parentage, making it seem like she is interested in what he is... only for her to then express her disdain for his hybrid status.
- We Have Reserves: She is willing to sacrifice her entire fleet to make the Guardians of the Galaxy pay for their battery theft, even though the Sovereign Admiral tries to warn her against it. A less cruel example than most, considering that the Sovereign fleet is entirely composed of remote-controlled drones.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: In Vol. 3, Ayesha is still out to get the Guardians, but it's not out of revenge; the High Evolutionary caught wind of her creating Adam Warlock, had him prematurely released from his cocoon, and demanded that Ayesha and Adam capture Rocket for him under threat of their society being destroyed. They even have to oppose others on the High Evolutionary's payroll out of fear that if it isn't them who bring Rocket in, the High Evolutionary will just destroy the Sovereign anyway.
- Wham Line: She has one when she shows her latest creation to her servant in one of the mid-credit scenes:Ayesha: I think I shall call him... Adam.
- Who Are You?: She asks this to the Guardians of the Galaxy in a TV spot, though it doesn't happen in the film proper.Ayesha: Just who in the hell do you think you are?
- Womanchild: Humorously, the Sovereign in general seem to have the emotional maturity of spoiled 14-year olds, and Ayesha is no exception. Given her own megalomania, she also doubles as a more light-hearted example of Psychopathic Womanchild.
Ayesha's entourage
Sovereign Chambermaid
Sovereign Chambermaid
Species: Sovereign
Citizenship: Sovereign
Portrayed By: Hannah Gottesman
Appearances: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
A Sovereign female under the service of High Priestess Ayesha.
- Alternate Self: She has one on Earth-72124.
- Green-Skinned Space Babe: Much like her boss, she's a very beautiful gold-skinned alien woman.
- Hesitation Equals Dishonesty: When Ayesha asks her if the council is angry with her for wasting a lot of resources in her pursuit of the Guardians of the Galaxy, she doesn't have the courage to answer and looks down in embarrassment, which makes Ayesha understand that she is right.
- Lady-In-Waiting: She serves as the main handmaiden of High Priestess Ayesha.
- No Name Given: Her actual name is unknown. In the credits, she's only referred to as "Sovereign Chambermaid".
- Not So Stoic: She tries to remain as regal as the rest of her race, but she breaks into laughter upon hearing Taserface's name.
- Personal Mook: She takes care of receiving the messages for her boss and conveying the grievances of the Sovereign council to her.
- Satellite Character: Her only role is to act as Ayesha's servant.
Adam Warlock
Adam Warlock
See here
Military
Leadership
Sovereign Admiral
Sovereign Admiral
Species: Sovereign
Citizenship: Sovereign
Portrayed By: Ben Browder
Appearances: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
The Admiral of the Sovereign fleet.
- Armchair Military: He just gives orders to his soldiers from behind but doesn't participate in the battles, not even by using a remote-controlled drone.
- As You Know: During the chase of the Guardians of the Galaxy, he points out to Ayesha that Anulax batteries are extremely flammable, a fact she probably would have already known.
- The Cameo: For Ben Browder, as James Gunn is a fan of the TV series Farscape where Browder played the main character, so he wanted him to make an appearance in one of his movies.
- Captain Obvious: When Ego unexpectedly shows up and obliterates the entire Sovereign fleet, causing all the pods to shut down, the Sovereign Admiral loudly declares to Ayesha that their ships have all been destroyed, as if she couldn't realize it by herself.Sovereign Admiral: Someone destroyed all our ships!
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Ayesha calls him "Admiral" at one point, but his actual name is never revealed. Even in the credits, he's only referred to as "Sovereign Admiral".
- Leave No Survivors: After Ayesha makes it clear that she's willing to risk the safety of her drones to get revenge on the Guardians for their affront, the Sovereign Admiral orders his soldiers to fire on their spaceship to kill them all.Sovereign Admiral: All command modules, fire with the intent to kill!
- Mook Lieutenant: As the Admiral of the Sovereign fleet, he is the one who gives orders to the drone pilots.
- Noble Top Enforcer: Downplayed, but he seems a little more reasonable than Ayesha and is reluctant to risk the destruction of their fleet in their pursuit of the Guardians of the Galaxy.
Subordinates
Zylak
Zylak
Species: Sovereign
Citizenship: Sovereign
Portrayed By: Alex Klein
Appearances: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
A Sovereign pilot.
- Blood Knight: Implied. When the Sovereign Admiral orders the pilots to shoot to kill, Zylak grins cruelly.
- Butt-Monkey: First his drone gets blown up by Drax, then all of his teammates deride him for it, even though his drone lasted much longer than theirs.Sovereign Pilot: You suck, Zylak!
- Canon Foreigner: There are no characters named Zylak in the comics.
- Didn't See That Coming: Zylak manages to keep up with the Guardians' spaceship at close quarters and even get a shot at them in the asteroid field. However, he wasn't expecting that Drax would get out of the spaceship to shoot his drone and looked quite shocked upon seeing this happen.
- No-Respect Guy: Even though he's arguably the most skilled of the Sovereign pilots, being the only one whose drone was able to follow the Guardians' spaceship through the meteor field, he gets insulted and mocked by his teammates after Drax manages to shoot down his drone.
- Slasher Smile: He makes a long and creepy smile as he receives permission to use lethal force on the Guardians.
- Sole Survivor: Of all the Sovereign drones that tried to pursue the Guardians' spaceship into the quantum asteroid field, Zylak's was the only one that managed not to be destroyed on entry. In fact, his drone proves so persistent that Drax is ultimately forced to get out of the spaceship with a huge gun in order to get rid of it.
- Token Competent Minion: A minor example, but he proves to be the only Sovereign drone pilot capable of flying through a quantum asteroid field without getting promptly destroyed.
- A Villain Named "Z__rg": Downplayed, but he's an alien trying to kill the heroes whose name starts with a Z.
- The Voiceless: He doesn't utter a sound during the film, except for an anguished scream when his drone is destroyed.
Others
Species: Sovereign
Citizenship: Sovereign
Appearances: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
The other Sovereign pilots.
- Arcade Sounds: Despite the fact that they are military installations of an advanced alien civilization, the cabinets used by the Sovereign to control the Omnicrafts make noises pretty much identical to those of the old arcade video-games from the 1980s.
- Big "YES!": They all simultaneously exclaim some loud "Yes!" when Zylak manages to damage the Guardians' spaceship with one of his shots.
- Dungeon Bypass: When the Guardians fly into an asteroid field to evade the Sovereign fleet, the majority of the pilots just go around the asteroid field to wait for them to come out.
- Equal-Opportunity Evil: There are just as many women as there are men among the Sovereign pilots.
- Evil Minions: Played With. Technically, they serve as Ayesha's soldiers, but they merely command drones remotely to attack enemies and never actually leave their base, making them closer to this trope than to Mooks.
- Fair-Weather Friend: Played for Laughs. The other pilots are all cheering for Zylak when he manages to keep chasing the Guardians' ship through the asteroid field and fire at them, but the moment Drax shoots down his drone, they immediately turn on him and start insulting him to his face.
- Hypocritical Humor: They all criticize Zylak when his drone gets shot down, even though he lasted much longer than any of them, as the majority already lost their drones before or while entering the quantum asteroid field,
- Pac Man Fever: The Sovereign's remote fighter control facility, which is more similar to an arcade than a professional military installation.
- Psychopathic Manchild. All of them essentially treat their chase to kill the Guardians like a video game, even throwing childish tantrums every time they lose one of their drones.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: During the space chase, the Guardians think they can escape the Sovereign fleet by flying through an asteroid field. As it turns out, the majority of the fleet has simply gone around the field so they can attack them as they come out.
- Spanner in the Works: During the climax of the film, the Sovereign fleet arrives at the worst possible time, as the Guardians were just about to laser-drill Ego's core. Their drones started a battle and the wreckage from the aftermath hits Mantis, releasing her hold over Ego. Yondu would perhaps have survived had the Sovereign fleet not arrived at that critical moment.
Technology
Sovereign Omnicrafts
Sovereign Omnicrafts
Species: Drones
Appearances: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
A fleet of drones remotely controlled by the Sovereign.
- Alpha Strike: They do this to the Milano at the beginning of the film and later to Yondu's starship during the final battle, causing them extensive damage both times.
- Attack Drone: As Ayesha explained to the Guardians, the Sovereign consider each of their "genetically perfect" number too precious to waste in a war, so they exclusively use remote-piloted weaponry.
- Conservation of Ninjutsu: Strangely enough, the Omnicrafts don't cause that much trouble to the Guardians when they attack their starships in large numbers, being unable to even break the Milano's window and ending up easily destroyed by Ego or Yondu. The Guardians struggle quite a bit more when they are chased by Zylak's Omnicraft alone, as it manages to keep up with them for a while and damage the Milano with a single shot, forcing Drax to go out into space to shoot it down.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: The entire Sovereign fleet is taken out in one go by Ego as soon as he enters the picture.
- Death of a Thousand Cuts: Their shots aren't powerful enough to seriously damage their enemies' starships individually, which is why their specialty is to surround the enemy ships and fire a multitude of shots until they break.
- Defeat Equals Explosion: They all explode after hitting asteroids or from being shot by either Rocket, Drax, Ego or Yondu.
- Face Ship: The Omnicrafts have two-way screens on the front so you can see who's controlling them.
- Fighting a Shadow: Although Rocket is quite excited about the prospect of killing Sovereign, Gamora points out that the Omnicrafts are just drones controlled from the Sovereign base, as the Sovereign think too highly of themselves to put themselves in direct danger, so Rocket doesn't hurt the pilots in any way when he shoots them down.
- Mecha-Mooks: In a way, Invoked by the Sovereign. They refuse to take the risk of being killed in battle, so they send their remote-controlled drones instead, allowing the Guardians to destroy them as much as they want without the viewer feeling bad since no life is actually lost.
- Midair Collision: After the Guardians have fired their lasers to destroy most of the Sovereign fleet in the final battle, two damaged Omnicrafts collide with each other and a piece of flaming debris hits the fuel line of the Guardians' starship, causing it to blow up.
- Mook Mobile: These are the combat vehicles used by the Sovereigns to hunt down the Guardians throughout the film.
- Subspace Ansible: The Sovereign are not only able to manually control their drones lightyears away from their homeworld, they can even communicate via the projection screen in real time.
- The Swarm: The Omnicrafts are much smaller than the starships used by their enemies and always attack together in greater numbers.
- Try and Follow: Zig Zagged. When the pursued Guardians try to escape the Sovereign fleet by flying into an quantum asteroid field, some of the Omnicrafts follow them and get destroyed one after another. However, it turns out that the majority of the crafts have bypassed the asteroid field to catch them on their way out.
- Zerg Rush: They always attack in large numbers in order to overwhelm their enemies' ships.
Fauna
Orlonis
Orlonis
See Morag.
