Comic Book / Guardians of the Galaxy (2008)

Guardians of the Galaxy is a 2008 series by Marvel Comics created by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, featuring a new version of the Guardians of the Galaxy. Unlike the previous series, this series is set in the mainstream 616 universe and in the present time.

Following the events of Annihilation and Annihilation: Conquest, a few of the protagonists who helped solve the troubles of those series decide that the universe can't take another, and so organize a team to proactively go out and lay the beatdown on whatever troubles threaten to destroy everything.

The series lasted for 25 issues, and was followed by The Thanos Imperative, which closed out the series. The series was followed by a new series launched in early 2013 as part of the Marvel NOW! relaunch, with Brian Michael Bendis writing and Steven McNiven on art.

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Guardians of the Galaxy provides the following tropes:

• Aborted Arc: At the beginning of the series, Drax is looking for Cammi, but when the possibility of reviving his daughter comes up, he forgets all about her.
• Amicable Exes: Adam and Gamora have shades of this. It gets creepy when he becomes Magus.
• A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Read: Mantis winds up reading the mind of a Zom, an undead cyborg created by the Badoon. She's horrified to discover there's still some of the original being's mind left.
• And I Must Scream: Rocket Raccoon manages to stop a rampaging Thanos by threatening to paralyze him in his weakened state and trap him in an environment where he will never be able to attack anyone or even try to kill himself and reunite with Death.
• Anyone Can Die: Issue #19 of has half the main characters KIA by the time the issue is over. Issues #22/23 reveals it was an illusion the whole time, with only Phyla dying in between issues #24/25.
• Apocalypse How: Several occur throughout the run.
  • A Dyson Sphere has suffered a Class 2, with every living thing in it dead and the surface destroyed by the local sun.
  • The Kree-Shi'ar War results in several Class Xs, one of which the team have to deal with.
  • One potential future we're shown results in a Class X-2, with the only living things left being a version of the original Guardians, and the Badoon. The end of the issue results in that universe being destroyed completely.
  • As Kang reveals, the mere existence of the Magus causes a Class X-5, with every potential timeline being destroyed and replaced with one ruled by the Magus and the Church.
• Arbitrary Skepticism: Adam Warlock, a genetically engineered "quantum wizard", asks Major Victory, a time-travelling telekinetic, if he believes in werewolves, while they're on a burning planet falling into a fissure in space-and-time. Never mind that werewolves have long been proven to exist in the Marvel universe. The major just shoots back that at that point, he's willing to believe in anything.
• Arc Words: 'The death of the future tense'.
• Archnemesis Dad: Gamora and Thanos.
• Aren't You Going to Ravish Me?: After the end of the Phalanx Conquest, Gamora gets annoyed when Richard Rider/Nova arranges a meeting with her and it doesn't end up just being for some Victory Sex, but him trying to recruit her for Peter's Guardians of the Galaxy. She even calls him a "pig" and he lampshades the absurdity of her reaction:
  Richard: I'm a pig because I didn't lure you here for a post-conquest booty-call?
• "Ass" in Ambassador: Delegate Gorani of the Uuchan delegation to Knowhere skirts this. He's not the Guardians' enemy, but he's not their friend either. For example, when being pursued by the Shi'ar Imperial guard, who plan to kill the Guardians and take over Knowhere, Gorani refuses to do anything to help, and outright suggests Quill let the Shi'ar kill them.
• Atrocious Alias: After her rebranding, lots of characters comment on Phyla's new name of "Martyr" being ridiculously ominous.
• Ax-Crazy: The Magus gleefully admits to being a psychopath.
• Back for the Finale: In the last issue, every member of the original Guardians appears... except Aleeta.
• Back from the Dead:
  • Moondragon is revived by Drax and Phyla in the series.
  • Thanos, after Drax killed him in Annihilation, is resurrected by the Universal Church of Truth who (incorrectly) thought he was their Messiah. This turns out to be Adam Warlock's fault, having found him immediately thereafter and placed him in a cocoon.

• Badass Normal: Starlord; while he used to have all kinds of nifty cosmic powers, these days he's just a guy with a gun and a rad helmet taking on cosmic level threats.
• Bad Future:
  • Adam Warlock may have contained the Fault in time but his actions resulted in every possible future becoming the 'Magus future', where the universe is under the control of the Universal Church of Truth, lead by Magus. It got so bad that Kang the Conqueror is the only one left standing, giving Starlord a Cosmic Cube that might give him the edge over the Magus.
  • At one point, some of the team go through multiple bad futures.
  • In the final issue of the run the remaining leaders of the Universal Church of Truth return to their future where Thanos is heralding in the end of the universe. Wether or not this is Thanos' actions or simply the church trying to stop the natural entropic end of the universe is left unclear, but the imagery is terrifying regardless.
• Bar Brawl: The team gets into one started by Phyla, fresh off a Deal with the Devil, after she hears some Shi'ar talking smack about her dead dad. Soon the entire bar's gotten involved. It stops when Adam Warlock returns, but given he quit the team because of issues with Star-Lord's leadership, he points out finding him right in the middle of a brawl isn't doing him any favors.
• Belief Makes You Stupid: The Universal Church of Truth, a fanatical group who zealously worship Adam Warlock (who is in fact on the Guardians as they oppose the team) as their savior. Yes, they end up directly opposing the team their Jesus figure is on several times until his Superpowered Evil Side takes over and he leads the church. During the Realm of Kings event, they try to worship a baby Eldritch Abomination, even after it bites someone's head off (they consider this a "blessing").
• Berserk Button:
  • Insulting Phyla's dad, Captain Mar-Vell, is not a sensible move. Especially not when she gets a Hair-Trigger Temper.
  • Peter Quill: "That's it. NOBODY calls the Guardians of the Galaxy krutakers!"
• Beware the Nice Ones:
  • Rocket is usually genial, cheerful and pleasant. That doesn't stop him from trying to claw out Mentor of the Shi'ar Imperial Guard's throat during a fight.
  • In issue #12, when Phyla is told by Maelstrom that he tricked them into coming to Oblivion and that Moondragon wasn't there she goes berserk, and starts trying to smash his head in with a stick.
• Big Damn Heroes: In Issue #12, Wendell Vaughn, the previous Quasar, appears just in time to save Drax from being fed to the Dragon of The Moon by Maelstrom. Subverted quickly when Maelstrom uses Wendell's quantum energy form against him.
• Body Horror: Happens to the population of a Dyson Sphere, when one of the space-time fissures messes with their DNA. The result is a giant writhing green mass with some bones visible in it. And according to Adam, the people inside of it are still cognizant.
• Breaking the Fellowship: The team breaks up in issue #6 when they learn Peter had Mantis brainwash most of them into joining up, with even Peter leaving. Rocket forms a new team out of whoever he could find, but the originals don't regather until the beginning of the War of Kings.
• Brick Joke: When Star-Lord and half of his team are thrown through time and encounter the classic Guardians of the Galaxy, he decides to come up with another name for his team to avoid any unnecessary problems with the other Guardians. The name he chose: The Ass-Kickers of the Fantastic, a name that Rocket Raccoon suggested for their team name in the beginning of the first issue.
  Star-Lord: All the good names were taken.
• Came Back Strong: Thanos, who was already pretty much nigh-unstoppable as is, gets resurrected as completely unkillable. And since Thanos didn't want to be resurrected at all, this is bad for everyone.
• Captain Space, Defender of Earth!: The series started on the very premise of deconstructing this trope, taking some of Marvel's forgotten characters who had played it straight and remaking them as severely flawed characters.
• Cassandra Truth:
  • No matter how hard Quill tries, absolutely no-one (save Crystal of the Inhumans) will believe him when he says the universe is falling apart, even when there's solid proof in the things coming out the space-wedgies.
  • Major Victory keeps trying to tell everyone about the threat of the Badoon. He's only believed once the team encounter some of their handiwork.
• Catchphrase:
  • "I am Groot!" (It actually means something different every time. We just can't understand the subtle nuances.)
  • Starhawk is still "The one who knows."
• Characterization Marches On:
  • In the Star-Lord series for Annihilation: Conquest, Groot was capable of speaking complete sentences, and had a regal sense of dignity and pride about him. Starting around issue #10 he mainly just declares "I am Groot!" with nobody commenting on the change.
  • The first person to be able to understand Groot's language is Maximus the Mad during War of Kings (and no one's even sure that he's not faking it). Come volume 3, everyone on the team seems to have no trouble at all understanding the big guy.
• Chekhov's Gun:
  • The depleted Cosmic Cube
  • The cocoon the Universal Church of Truth found.
• The Chosen One:
  • Jack Flag is called this at one point. And then it never comes up again.
  • Mantis as well, being she is the Celestial Madonna, though no-one ever focuses on it, and Mantis never brings it up herself.
• Clap Your Hands If You Believe: The Universal Church of Truth runs on their abiding faith in life itself, from trillions of beings all over the universe. Their cardinals focus their belief into all sorts of handy super-powers. It's even their battle-cry.
  Cardinal Raker: I believe! Let the pain begin!
• C-List Fodder:
  • Most of the inhabitants of the Negative Zone prison are incredibly obscure villains. And Jack Flag.
  • The team itself counted when the title started. What with that highly successful movie, they've moved up slightly.
• Come with Me If You Want to Live: Kang the Conqueror of all people pulls this on the title characters in issue #19.
• Confession Cam: A rare non-television example is used in the series with its debriefing 'video' clips.
• Conservation of Ninjutsu: An entire planet's worth of the Church's best soldiers versus Mantis, Major Victory, Cosmo, Gamora and Martyr quickly turns into this. And then Thanos shows up.
• Continuity Nod:
  • In the first issue, as the team fights Church thugs, Gamora and Adam discuss the Church's complicated origins, which Adam would rather not talk about (since it was founded by his evil future self).
  • In issue #2, Phyla brings up Moondragon's time with The Avengers while talking about the floating chunk of Avengers Mansion the team found.
  • The Skrulls hiding in Knowhere during Secret Invasion are followers of the long-deceased Princess Anelle, from the Kree-Skrull War storyline.
  • During his fight with Vulcan, Adam (Or more accurately, the Magus) brings up his previous deaths in response to one of Vulcan's rants.
  • Mantis and Kang have a history.
  • When facing Thanos with a broken cosmic cube, Peter Quill notes he's wielded one before.
• Cool Starship: The Captain America briefly returns in issue #16. And then gets shot down by the Badoon.
• Corrupt Church: The Universal Church of Truth definitely. They use the faith of their followers to empower themselves but are unafraid of bugging out and leaving them to their doom when things get hot. Become even more so under the leadership of Adam Magus in the future.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Quill versus Ronan the Accuser. Quill is a completely ordinary human with some fancy guns. Ronan is a Kree, and a Kree Super-soldier. Quill doesn't even phase him, though he takes it in stride before Ronan deals with him.
• Custom Uniform of Sexy: The team wears standard red-line outfits except for the two most fanservicey characters: Gamora used a cleavage-baring leotard with the same color scheme, and Moondragon used a customized version of the outfit that bared her legs. Mantis, the only other female of the group, dressed just like the men.
• Deal with the Devil: Phyla makes one of these with Oblivion to get Moondragon back. She just has to kill Adam Warlock before he becomes the Magus.
• Description Cut: In the very first page of the first issue, Peter claims their first mission didn't go too badly. Then we get this;
  Alien: BURN THE UNBELIEVERS!
• Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life:
  • Phyla suggests in issue #1 that Drax is doing this, given he was made to kill Thanos, and having having done that is not sure what to do next.
  • Likewise with Gamora, as pointed out to her by Richard Rider.
• Don't Create a Martyr: The reason Ronan gives for just banishing Star-Lord in issue #8, rather than killing him, since Peter is still popular with the Kree, even if Ronan hates his guts.
• Driven to Suicide: One version of the original Guardians launch an attack on the Badoon stronghold, and once they're accomplished their goal they immediately stop fighting and wait for death, because the Badoon have already killed everything else in existence.
• Dropped a Bridge on Him: Phyla-Vell, killed off screen after fulfilling her obligation to Maelstrom and Oblivion by reviving Thanos.
• Drowning My Sorrows: Quill begins doing this, due to the recent mess with the Phalanx and Ultron taking over the Kree empire being sort of his fault.
• Dying as Yourself: Happens to Adam Warlock. Or not, since the Magus was just faking.
• Dyson Sphere: The team visits one early on in the series when a fissure in time and space opens up there. They arrive and find that the locals aren't there. And when they do find them, they really wish they hadn't. Note that only the tiniest fraction of the sphere's surface was inhabited, protected from the local star by a shell, which the team had to open to get rid of what they found. The trouble with that started when they wound up a good distance away from the control panel required to re-seal the shell.
• Earth Is the Center of the Universe: Near-completely averted throughout the run, which keeps the narrative away from Earth the entire time. The only time it gets visited at all is for one page at the end of one issue, where Quill tells Reed Richards and the Initiative not to let the portal to the 42 Prison open, and again during issue #16, and even then during a bad future.
• Eldritch Abomination:
  • They're trying to get through the negative space wedgies. From Adam's wording, the ones doing this by accident are the nicer ones.
  • The Dragon of the Moon is one. It just happens to come in the form of a giant dragon.
• Exposed to the Elements: Neither Drax or Gamora seem bothered by the cold when they visit a frozen planet.
• Fandisservice: Gamora is played as the Ms. Fanservice for most of the run, but when she gets burned alive by a Dyson Sphere and suffers Clothing Damage, she is not played for fanservice. Notably, she mostly keeps herself covered In the Hood during the next few issues while her body heals from the burns.
• Fate Worse than Death: Drax the Destroyer is one the receiving end of one.
  Matriarch Benzia: ...And I believe you will now feel all the pain you have ever inflicted.
  • Subverted when it turns out that said "Fate Worse than Death" actually helps him reconnect with his humanity. Accidental Warrior Therapist anyone?
• Flirting Under Fire: Gamora flirts with Vance while they're both fighting the Matriarch, much to his confusion.
• Foreshadowing:
  • A rather straightforward example can be found in the very first issue, where Mantis (who can see the future) states that within nine months a member of the team will betray the others. In the following issues, there are hints pointing towards several of the protagonists as the traitor, until we finally find out it's Warlock. Though technically he didn't betray anyone, he was simply forced to let Magus, his evil side, take over him.
  • Also from issue #1, Drax mentions he sees himself as a liability. Sure enough, Drax's presence does bring trouble on the team, first during Secret Invasion, and again during The Thanos Imperative.
  • From issue #7, while on a planet of soothsayers, Drax and Phyla are approached by one who asks them if they want to know about the "War between kings", or the death of the future tense. Having not been present for Starhawk's arrival, and therefore not knowing what that means, they ignore it.
• Forgot I Could Fly: Hollywood, an elderly version of Wonder Man in a Bad Future, is so old he's done this. Seeing the Guardians in action jolts his memory.
• For Want Of A Nail: According to Mantis, the team splitting up early wasn't meant to happen at all, and something (implied to be Starhawk) caused everything to change dramatically.
• From Bad to Worse: The situation with the blob monstrosity in issue #3. That would be bad enough, if some Cardinals didn't get involved and take out Adam, become getting absorbed by the thing themselves. Unfortunately, this just makes the blob stronger, so the team resort to Kill It with Fire. Except doing so will also kill them. No problem, until they realize they can't just bug out, thanks to Starhawk and Major Victory's brawl damaging Knowhere's teleportation systems.
• Full-Frontal Assault: Thanos is fully nude during the Final Battle against him, due to him being Naked on Revival and in a feral rage. Censor Shadow, Scenery Censor, and being only seen from the waist up keep his bits hidden.

• Gender Bender:
  • Starhawk re-reappears (after his first attack on Major Victory) as a "she". Later on, she explains it's because time is falling apart at the seams. Just winding up with a different gender is the least of Stakar's problems.
  • The final issue has gender-bent versions of Charlie, Nikki and Firelord appearing among the other versions of the Guardians.
• Genius Bruiser: Groot, apparently. Though the person who claims this is Maximus the Mad, so take with a grain of salt.
• Giant Corpse World: The team are based in Knowhere, a Celestial skull at the edge of spacetime where a city had been built to observe the end of the universe.
• Good Thing You Can Heal: Stuck in a Dyson Sphere with no protection from the sunlight, and the teleportation systems down, with the means to restore the shielding a good distance from their location, Gamora points out she has a Healing Factor. She succeeds, but gets badly burnt in the process. It takes several issues for her skin to heal, with a few issues more for her hair.
• Great Offscreen War: The final issue mentions that the Guardians of All Galaxies, every potential version of the original Guardians of the Galaxy, fought in a war to prevent the multiverse falling apart because of The Error.
• Green-Skinned Space Babe: Gamora and Mantis. Bug would be the male version of this trope, being VERY handsome under the helmet.
• Guns Akimbo: "Hi. I'm Star-Lord. I'm with the Guardians of the Galaxy. I'd flash you my business card, but my hands are too full of guns."
• Hero of Another Story: The Luminals, Xarth's Mightiest Heroes. They don't get on with the Guardians, which isn't helped by the fact that their boss Cynosure is a Jerkass.
• Heroic Dog: Cosmos, a telepathic Russian dog who under circumstances never explained gained telepathic powers, operates as the head of security for Knowhere, and is therefore a friend of the Guardians (except Rocket Racoon).
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: Rocket Raccoon and Groot.
• He Who Must Not Be Seen: The Badoon refuse to show their faces to the Guardians. Apparently no-one is 'fit to look upon the beauty of the Badoon'.
• History Repeats: Discussed when the team finds Major Victory frozen in a block of ice, noting that this sounds uncannily like the Avengers finding Captain America. According to Adam Warlock, it doesn't, but it has been known to rhyme.
• How We Got Here: The story begins with the guardians already fighting in their first mission, with each character getting a panel and a flashback where they explain how they got involved and ended up becoming part of the guardians.
• Human Popsicle: Again, Major Victory, only this time to travel backwards in time. And through dimensions.
• I'm Having Soul Pains: Moondragon says her soul 'aches' after her latest resurrection.
• Informed Ability: Rocket Raccoon is supposedly a tactical genius. Most of his plans seem to revolve on plastering the enemy with bullets.
• Jekyll & Hyde: The Magus for Adam Warlock.
• Join or Die: Operational credo of the Universal Church of Truth. And with several planet's worth of armies, they will follow through on the latter, as Gamora can attest.
• Lethal Joke Character: Cosmo may look like a golden retriever in a Russian space suit (for a dog), but he has incredibly powerful telepathic and telekinetic powers. Examples of his powers include taking on Adam Warlock one-on-one, disabling all the rioting denizens of Knowhere single-handedly, and taking out the Cancer-verse Hulk with a single stroke. As in he gave the Hulk a stroke/brain aneurysm. He's also very intelligent, wise, and decisive. There's a reason why he's Knowhere's Chief of Security.
  • Many folks might crack a joke or two about the genetically enhanced Raccoon standing under them issuing threats, but that all changes when he pulls out his infeasibly huge guns.
• Let's You and Him Fight: When some of the "Modern" Guardians are thrown forward in time and meet the "Original" Guardians.
• Mook Horror Show: A group of Shi'ar goons, having been tricked into shooting the Imperial Guardsman that was with them, are left in a dark, cramped corridor with the Magus. Violent dismemberment ensues.
• More Dakka: Rocket Raccoon's real superpower.

• Murder Is the Best Solution: Facing a collapse in space-time, with all the evidence pointing straight to the modern-day Guardians, Starhawk decides that their best option is to kill the team. She does eventually admit this might not have been the greatest idea ever, but only after she learns what's happening isn't their fault.
• My Rules Are Not Your Rules: The Quantum Bands leave Phyla because she's slightly dead, yet Maelstrom has no problem using them, despite being much less alive than her. Possible Fridge Brilliance when you realize that the entire encounter occurred in Oblivion's realm. Considering what Oblivion was trying to get Phyla to do, it makes a lot more sense to separate her from the Quantum Bands first.
• Mythology Gag:
  • In the second issue, the team find Vance Astro frozen in a block of ice. They even remark on the similarity, leading to Rocket Racoon's quote at the top of this section.
  • While going through dozens of bad futures, there is a brief glimpse of a version of the Guardians fighting an army based on the Avengers, as happened in Avengers Forever, and another fighting Korvac.
• Naked People Are Funny: Peter, after being thrown into the Negative Zone by Ronan, is found by the forces of Blastaar, who remove his uniform on sending him into the 42 prison. He eventually gets it back, but not before his helmet's been "used".
• Navel-Deep Neckline: Gamora's outfit in this run has a v-shaped neckline that goes down to her waist, with only two straps of fabric covering her breasts. Notably, it has a red trim to fit in line with the rest of the team's uniform, meaning it's her official team outfit.
• Near-Death Experience: Happens to Drax when their first mission together goes wrong.
  Drax: We almost died. I saw a bright light. There was nobody in it I wanted to see.
  • And again to Drax and Phyla in issues #12/13. They're Only Mostly Dead, but it's close enough as makes no difference.
• Negative Space Wedgie: The rips in the fabric of the universe that keep showing up. There's a really, really big one (which they manage to actually stabilize) by the time the War of Kings story is over.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
  • Major Victory's fight with Starhawk in issue #2 breaks the Cortex Continuum, stranding the team on a Dyson Sphere for several hours, with no way to leave.
  • Attempts to stop the War of Kings weren't going well anyway, but Martyr taking Crystal hostage made things so much worse for everyone.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain:
  • Ultron killing Moondragon turns out to be this, since her turning into a dragon was the work of the Dragon of the Moon, which was taking possession of her again. A few more weeks and it would've been able to manifest fully.
  • Maelstrom luring Phyla and Drax to Oblivion's realm turns into a twin case of this. He needed Moondragon to actually be there in order for the trap to work, allowing Phyla to free her. And then, Phyla's relinquishing her Quantum Bands means Quasar is free to give them to Richard Rider, allowing him to save the Nova Corps.
• No Kill like Overkill: Cardinal Raker of the Universal Church of Truth reckons that it would taken one hundred Cardinals to "purify" the Guardians quickly. Bear in mind, just a handful were enough to overwhelm them the first time around.
• No-Sell:
  • Nothing the team has slows the Magus down for very long, on account of him being a Nigh-Invulnerable magical psychopath, and none of the team being cosmic heavy-hitters. Not even Drax tearing his heart out gets more than a flippant remark out of him.
  • It gets worse with Thanos, who manages to kill an entire planet before they can stop him.
  • Subverted when the two Guardian teams meet. Charlie-27 claims he doesn't feel Jack Flag's punch, but later on it turns out to have broken several of his ribs.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • A Played for Laughs version. "Can someone help? Drax has gone existential on me."
  • When Cosmos tries reading Starhawk's mind in issue #7, and is startled when he finds nothing. It's an Oh, Crap! moment for Starhawk as well, as she realises that means time is catching up to her.
  • Also from issue #7, Rocket's reaction on seeing the massive Badoon war factory, which from the scale is at least a mile high, and mobile.
  • Issue #11, when Drax realises Phyla's Quantum Bands have left her, meaning they actually are dead.
  • Phyla's reaction on seeing Maelstrom has managed to find the Quantum Bands.
  • The worst possible kind, in one of the bad futures, when the team find the Badoon have enslaved the Celestials.
• Omnicidal Maniac: Maelstrom is very much this. He'd like you to believe he's a beyond good and evil force of nature. Really he's middle management for Oblivion and a loud mouthed sociopath to boot.
• Orifice Invasion: In one pair of issues, Moondragon has an Eldritch Abomination stuff itself up her nose to incubate inside her. Thankfully we don't see the process, but the other guardians describe it as horryfying.
• Our Zombies Are Different: The Zoms return, but they're much more dangerous and much more disturbing, looking like hideous fusions of corpses and machinery. The Monsters look even worse, and at one point the team encounter a Zom tank.
• Outside-Context Problem: Everyone thinks the Badoon are just another bunch of would-be conquerors in a universe full of them. Then they see the Zoms.
• Path of Inspiration: The Universal Church of Truth would like you to think they're this. Just ignore the fact that their worship tends to bring down vast quantities of horrible, blasphemous things no sane mind was ever meant to see.
• Plant Aliens: Again, Groot.
• Plant Person: Mantis, thanks to having married and mated with a Plant Alien.
• Pokémon Speak: Groot. Apparently, some of his chants translate to extremely complex Techno Babble.
  • In a backup story in the Annihilators, we discover his entire species talk like this.
• Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: Definitely. So much so that Peter had Mantis use her telepathy to get everyone to work together.
  • It also costs them when they ask Black Bolt to call off the war with the Shi'ar, because a group of self-appointed heroes, no matter how skilled they are, can't just march in and tell an empire to stop a war. It also gets them into trouble in other instances as well, because even if they weren't self-appointed, most of the team don't get along, several of them have at some point or another been imprisoned, and two of them are known mass-murderers, which makes trusting them a serious risk.
  • Safe to say, this trope gets heavily deconstructed throughout the series.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Cosmo is the head of security for Knowhere, and is pleasant and supportive toward the team. Except where Rocket Racoon is concerned.
• Religion of Evil: The Universal Church of Truth, who operate by the motto "convert or die". Founded due to time-travel shenanigans, they've been steadily expanding across the universe over the last few decades. The actual practices don't seem to be evil on the whole, since the Truth they preach is just life itself, but they have conquered whole worlds, and as Gamora can attest, they're not above genocide. Played utterly straight after War Of Kings, when we meet the founder of the Church: The Magus, who uses the Church as a vehicle to summon the Many-Angled Ones to this universe.
• Retraux: A flashback in an early issue shows the Badoon invasion of Earth, with the Zoms and Badoon dressed like they were in the original Guardian's timeline.
• Riddle for the Ages: We never do find out why Major Victory was frozen, or what reality he comes from. Or why the block of ice had chunk of Avengers Mansion in it. Or if he’s even Vance Astro. At the end of the run, the original Guardians discuss this, and decide it doesn't matter where he came from. Incidentally, this version of the Major hasn't been seen since.
• Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: Starhawk has a version of this, something that comes up repeatedly. They're the only one of the original Guardians aware that time is falling apart at the seams.
• Running Gag:
  • Jack Flagg hates Cosmic $#*^. Rocket Raccoon comes to echo his sentiments, despite being a friggin' anthropomorphic raccoon.
  • Bug's complaining about not being picked first for the team.
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: What Groot is really saying part of the time when he says "I AM GROOT!". Also Techno Babble.
• Ship Tease: Peter and Mantis get a lot of hints, but nothing ever comes of it before The Thanos Imperative.
• Shout-Out:
  • The name of the bar on Knowhere is named Starlin's, a reference to Jim Starlin, the godfather of Marvel Cosmic.
  • In the first issue, the team infiltrates a massive ship that looks like a giant cathedral which is flying into a Negative Space Wedgie. These are obvious references to Warhammer 40,000, which features creator Dan Abnett's most celebrated work. The flying cathedral-ship is also named the Tancred, which was the name of a Space Marine-turned-Dreadnought in an Abnett-penned 40K comic.
  • In issue #22, there's talk of having "a cunning plan" as Star-Lord and Rocket go to rescue Moondragon from the Church.
• Skewed Priorities: In the middle of a big fight which isn't going well, on a ship heading toward a Negative Space Wedgie, surrounded on all sides, Rocket insists the team needs a name.
• Space Base: They're headquartered in Knowhere, the severed head of a Celestial on the literal edge of the universe.
• Space "X": A variation:
  Jack Flag: It's a time-door!
  Bug: Yeah? Full of Time-Energy? and Time-Swirlies? Jack, just because you put the word "time" in it doesn't — tik — make it any clearer!
• Squick: In-Universe, when an Eldritch Abomination forces itself into Moondragon's body via the face.
• Stop Worshipping Me: Adam and the Universal Church of Truth. They consider him their messiah, he finds them an unpleasant reminder of Magus. That said, he's not above using them when the need arises.
• Stripperiffic: While Gamora's classic outfit already has a plunging neckline, now her outfit resembles more of a skimpy barbarian garb, being just a V-strip of fabric that just covers her genitals and nipples, with the amount of Sideboob making it clear Vapor Wear is also at play. It's probably a miracle of space-age future science that her clothing manages to stay on her as reliably as it does, as there's no way the front part would stay in place without some strong adhesive on her breasts.
• Superdickery: Drax and Phyla go to see Mentor, Moondragons' Parental Substitute, about a way to revive her. Unfortunately, they need her soul, which they can't get to without dying. Mentor instantly kills both of them. It gets them where they need to go, but they're still angry about it when they're revived.
• Superheroes in Space: The heroes mainly stay off-world.
• Superpowered Evil Side: Magus to Adam Warlock.
• Taking the Bullet: Moondragon takes the alien Eldritch Abomination inside her own body in order to save Cynosure.
• Taking You with Me: Starhawk in issue #16, to some Badoon and their zoms, in order to buy everyone else a chance to flee. Complete with Badass Boast.
  Starhawk: Attention, Badoon! None of you will survive the next few seconds. Believe me, I am One Who Knows!
• Tastes Like Purple: According to Cosmo, Mantis' thoughts smell like flowers.
• Tempting Fate:
  • When the subject of the Magus comes up, Adam Warlock is incredibly insistent he prevented that reality from happening, causing Rocket to ask if their mission is going to become 'one of those time-travel things'. Fortunately, it doesn't. But then, at the end of the issue, we see a figure frozen in a block of ice, a familiar shield just visible underneath the surface. Capped off by what Quill says over this.
  Star-Lord: That kind of stuff always ends in pain, heartbreak and tears before bedtime. Sure glad we dodged that bullet.
  • In issue #2, as the team are standing on an iceberg made of frozen time, Quill declares he doesn't want any horrible surprises. At which point things start bursting free of the ice. And Major Victory.
  • The very last line of the series as well. Just after fighting an insane Thanos, Quill and Rocket share a drink, and talk about tomorrow. Quill actually asks what's the worst that would probably happen.
• Time Crash: The series has a running plot around one, called The Error, which is what causes Starhawk to travel back in time. Later on, she mentions that time itself is falling apart at the seams. As it turns out the cause is Thanos' resurrection.
• Timey-Wimey Ball: In particular, the Guardians Of All Galaxys (the 30th century team, and all alternates thereof) live Meanwhile, in the Future…, operate on San Dimas Time, and have Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory. So they only know about things happening in 2010 "after" they've happened.
• Took a Level in Badass: The Badoon are in the middle of this in the series. When the team faces off against some zoms, Rocket doesn't believe the Badoon could be capable of such things. Vance Astro claims that in just a few years, they're going to be even more dangerous.
• Verbal Tic: Bug. His tic is literally 'tik'.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: Drax never wears a shirt in the entire run.
• Wham Line: In issue #1, Mantis is talking about her role as a seer, and how it means she can't tell the team they'll decide on their name in a few hours. Without missing a beat, she adds "Just as I cannot tell them that in nine months they will be betrayed and killed by one of their own."
• Wham Shot:
  • During War of Kings, Adam goes up against Vulcan. In the middle of the fight, his face suddenly turns purple...
  • During an escape attempt from the Church of Universal Truth, Maelstrom leads Phyla to a cocoon hidden in one of the Church's bases. She starts to open it, thinking Adam Warlock is inside. It's not. It's Thanos.
• "What Now?" Ending: After The Thanos Imperative, the group disbanded with no leader.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Most of the team is pretty unhappy with Peter when they find out he had Mantis mess with their heads to make them more willing to join the guardians.
• When Trees Attack: Groot's kind of like a space Ent. Who can grow back if you smash him apart.
• Worthy Adversary: Played with. The Magus doesn't have a high opinion of the Guardians, constantly mocking their efforts, but he does at least acknowledge that they almost managed to stop him, and that he respects that.
• You Are Too Late: After a desperate attempt to get back to the twenty-first century and stop the return of the Magus, it turns out that Adam Warlock can't be saved. He's been the Magus for months.

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