History YMMV / GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2

* HeartwarmingInHindsight: At the end Gamora offers Nebula a chance to stay and fight alongside the Guardians, helping out little girls who've been through the same things they have. Nebula turns her down and leaves to hunt Thanos, but still ends the movie on better terms with her sister than before. Takes [[Film/AvengersEndgame a few years but]] [[spoiler: she then [[HeelFaceTurn well and truly mellows out]] and not only joins the Avengers in their efforts to undo [[Film/AvengersInfinityWar the Snap]] but finally takes Gamora's place among the Guardians (and a loving surrogate family like the Guardians is pretty much all she ever wanted), and even manages to convince an alternate version of Gamora to betray Thanos.]]

* CriticalDissonance: While both critics and the audience liked the movie, how it compares to the original seems to have caused a split between the two. Critics widely agree that ''Guardians 2'' is inferior to the original, but the audience either tends to view it as more of a EvenBetterSequel, with surprisingly strong character arcs and dramatic moments to balance out the wackiness, or as a ContestedSequel that's enjoyable but being weaker than the first movie and bogged down by retreading a lot of the first film. In general, however, it ''is'' agreed that this film is one of the better MCU sequels and that it averts the usual SophomoreSlump, with the film even being VindicatedByHistory, to an extent, following its release.

** Early in the film, Star-Lord comments that Nebula is a BadLiar, but it never comes up again. [[Film/AvengersInfinityWar A few films later]], this becomes a much harsher thing to watch, because of [[spoiler: Thanos]] saying the same thing about [[spoiler: Gamora, which led directly to his victory.]]

* CompleteMonster: [[spoiler:[[Characters/MCUEgo Ego the Living Planet]], [[Characters/PeterQuill Peter "Star-Lord" Quill's]] [[ArchnemesisDad father]], is an immortal Celestial, who once traveled the universe seeking companionship, but found that other life utterly disappointed him and lost any interest in them. Ego instead decided upon a plan of [[AssimilationPlot assimilating all creation into himself]] in what he termed "The Expansion". Lacking the power to do so on his own, he sired countless children, hoping they would inherit his Celestial powers, [[OffingTheOffspring killing them]] out of disappointment when they didn't. Traveling to Earth, Ego met Meredith Quill, whom he developed genuine feelings for. Unwilling to deviate from The Expansion, Ego [[KickTheMoralityPet gave her the brain tumor that killed her]] to ensure nothing held him back from his self-appointed purpose. After learning Peter might carry the Celestial gene, Ego tracked him down, playing the good father to him before revealing the true purpose of The Expansion, revealing his true nature when he believed Peter wouldn't care. When Peter turns on Ego, Ego enslaves him to his own power to use Peter [[LivingBattery as a battery]] for the next thousand years before kicking off The Expansion to consume every living thing in the universe, [[KickTheDog spitefully destroying Peter's Walkman]] which was a gift from Meredith and his last link to his mother. When Peter attempts to stop Ego, Ego tries to murder Peter's friends as well with no care]].

* SalvagedStory: Yondu gains a giant fin, to appease viewers who thought his fin in ''Vol. 1'' looked too small.

* SalvagedStory:
** Yondu gains a giant fin, to appease viewers who thought his fin in ''Vol. 1'' looked too small.
** Many people have criticized the MCU films thus far for mostly featuring predictable, and forgettable [[GenericDoomsdayVillain doomsday villains]] with little personality and unclear or boring motives. [[spoiler:Ego was highly praised for being a legitimately menacing yet complex bad guy who is [[JerkWithAHeartOfJerk evil to the core]] but [[AGodAmI thinks he's on a level so beyond humankind]] that he [[ItsAllAboutMe refuses to even understand the cruelty of his own actions]], not to mention Creator/KurtRussell PlayingAgainstType in an utterly chilling fashion.]]

* CompleteMonster: [[spoiler:[[Characters/MCUEgo Ego the Living Planet]], Peter "[[Characters/MCUPeterQuill Star-Lord]]" Quill's [[ArchnemesisDad father]], is an immortal Celestial, who once traveled the universe seeking companionship, but found that other life utterly disappointed him and lost any interest in them. Ego instead decided upon a plan of [[AssimilationPlot assimilating all creation into himself]] in what he termed "The Expansion". Lacking the power to do so on his own, he sired countless children, hoping they would inherit his Celestial powers, [[OffingTheOffspring killing them]] out of disappointment when they didn't. Traveling to Earth, Ego met Meredith Quill, whom he developed genuine feelings for. Unwilling to deviate from The Expansion, Ego [[KickTheMoralityPet gave her the brain tumor that killed her]] to ensure nothing held him back from his self-appointed purpose. After learning Peter might carry the Celestial gene, Ego tracked him down, playing the good father to him before revealing the true purpose of The Expansion, revealing his true nature when he believed Peter wouldn't care. When Peter turns on Ego, Ego enslaves him to his own power to use Peter [[LivingBattery as a battery]] for the next thousand years before kicking off The Expansion to consume every living thing in the universe, [[KickTheDog spitefully destroying Peter's Walkman]] which was a gift from Meredith and his last link to his mother. When Peter attempts to stop Ego, Ego tries to murder Peter's friends as well with no care]].

* CompleteMonster: [[spoiler:[[Characters/MCUEgo Ego the Living Planet]], Peter "[[Characters/MCUStarLord Star-Lord]]" Quill's [[ArchnemesisDad father]], is an immortal Celestial, who once traveled the universe seeking companionship, but found that other life utterly disappointed him and lost any interest in them. Ego instead decided upon a plan of [[AssimilationPlot assimilating all creation into himself]] in what he termed "The Expansion". Lacking the power to do so on his own, he sired countless children, hoping they would inherit his Celestial powers, [[OffingTheOffspring killing them]] out of disappointment when they didn't. Traveling to Earth, Ego met Meredith Quill, whom he developed genuine feelings for. Unwilling to deviate from The Expansion, Ego [[KickTheMoralityPet gave her the brain tumor that killed her]] to ensure nothing held him back from his self-appointed purpose. After learning Peter might carry the Celestial gene, Ego tracked him down, playing the good father to him before revealing the true purpose of The Expansion, revealing his true nature when he believed Peter wouldn't care. When Peter turns on Ego, Ego enslaves him to his own power to use Peter [[LivingBattery as a battery]] for the next thousand years before kicking off The Expansion to consume every living thing in the universe, [[KickTheDog spitefully destroying Peter's Walkman]] which was a gift from Meredith and his last link to his mother. When Peter attempts to stop Ego, Ego tries to murder Peter's friends as well with no care]].

* CompleteMonster: [[spoiler:[[Characters/MCUEgoTheLivingPlanet Ego the Living Planet]], Peter "[[Characters/MCUStarLord Star-Lord]]" Quill's [[ArchnemesisDad father]], is an immortal Celestial, who once traveled the universe seeking companionship, but found that other life utterly disappointed him and lost any interest in them. Ego instead decided upon a plan of [[AssimilationPlot assimilating all creation into himself]] in what he termed "The Expansion". Lacking the power to do so on his own, he sired countless children, hoping they would inherit his Celestial powers, [[OffingTheOffspring killing them]] out of disappointment when they didn't. Traveling to Earth, Ego met Meredith Quill, whom he developed genuine feelings for. Unwilling to deviate from The Expansion, Ego [[KickTheMoralityPet gave her the brain tumor that killed her]] to ensure nothing held him back from his self-appointed purpose. After learning Peter might carry the Celestial gene, Ego tracked him down, playing the good father to him before revealing the true purpose of The Expansion, revealing his true nature when he believed Peter wouldn't care. When Peter turns on Ego, Ego enslaves him to his own power to use Peter [[LivingBattery as a battery]] for the next thousand years before kicking off The Expansion to consume every living thing in the universe, [[KickTheDog spitefully destroying Peter's Walkman]] which was a gift from Meredith and his last link to his mother. When Peter attempts to stop Ego, Ego tries to murder Peter's friends as well with no care]].

** Groot Jr. falls into this trope pretty frequently, such as when he's dancing happily to the Jackson 5 in the opening scene of the film... only to freeze when Drax turns and sees him. And then starting to dance again as soon as Drax looks away.

** The opening sequence sees Drax jumping into the mouth of the monster they are fighting to "cut it from the inside". The other Guardians see this as a particularly stupid act because it's the same skin from both sides. However, it's very likely that Drax didn't mean "cut it Chestburster style" but rather "cause massive damage to it's internal organs". When we see him inside the monster, he is happily stabbing at the inside rather than try and make any effort to get out. Taking credit for killing the monster may have been him being a {{CloudCuckooLander}}, but for all he knew, Gamora might have sliced the beast open ''after'' it died to get him out.

*** Come ''Film/{{Eternals}}'', we are introduced to the other Celestials. Unlike Ego, they are more-or-less comic-accurate and contradict Ego's statement of being alone in the universe, throwing some doubt into whether Ego actually is a Celestial. Him assuming he was simply because he was powerful and heard Celestials were powerful is in character for a megalomaniac like him.

** Creator/MichaelRooker's fantastic portrayal of Yondu lead fans, critics and even Creator/JamesGunn to feel he deserved an Oscar nod (i.e., as Best Supporting Actor or another similar role). [[spoiler:Rooker and Gunn's refusal to bring Yondu back solidifies their respect for his {{Heroic Sacrifice}}, but also means Rooker will sadly never have another chance to get this character his award]].

* EnsembleDarkhorse:

** Rocket watching [[spoiler: Yondu sacrifice himself for his surrogate son]] was already tragic enough as is, but it's even '''more''' depressing with the knowledge that Baby Groot is actually the ''son'' of the previous Groot, not the same character, and Rocket [[spoiler: has to watch Groot, his own surrogate son, [[ForcedToWatch disintegrate before his eyes]] in ''[[Film/AvengersInfinityWar Infinity War]]'' and Creator/JamesGunn confirmed that the translation of Teen Groot's last line is him desperately calling to Rocket, ''"Dad!"'' [[TearJerker Yeesh.]]]]

** The characterization of Ego is that of [[spoiler: a godlike powerful being hurting people out of his own twisted sense of love, unable to comprehend the harm he's causing. This exact same kind of person would kill Gamora soon after.]]

** Gamora questioning how "a little one-inch man" saved the Guardians from the Sovereign. Fast forward to ''Film/AvengersEndgame'' and [[spoiler: [[Film/AvengersInfinityWar in the wake of half the universe - including Gamora and the rest of the Guardians barring Rocket and Nebula - being killed by Thanos]], an actual one-inch man is now joining the surviving heroes to possibly bring back those who fell.]] This becomes even worse by ''Endgame'', in which [[spoiler: the main timeline's Gamora is still dead by the end, with the Gamora from 2014 who never even met the Guardians taking her place in the present.]]

** Creator/ChrisPratt already received this response in buckets after the first film, but his character's emotional moments are turned up to eleven in this film. In particular, his breakdown when [[spoiler:Yondu is dying holding Quill]] is utterly devastating to watch.
*** The latter is quite possibly a case of RealitySubtext: Chris Pratt's dad died from multiple sclerosis in 2014, and Pratt has said that ''Vol. 2'' helped him cope with his grief.

* AuthorsSavingThrow:
** Several fans, and Creator/JamesGunn himself, felt that Nebula was underused in the previous film, which slightly upset fans who saw her as one of the most interesting and [[JerkassWoobie surprisingly sympathetic characters]], as well as being played by a [[Creator/KarenGillan fairly popular actress]]. As a result, not only does she have more screen time in ''Vol. 2'', she also ([[HeelFaceRevolvingDoor temporarily]]) allies with the team. By ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'', [[spoiler: she's part of the team for real]].
** Yondu gains a giant fin, to appease viewers who thought his fin in ''Vol. 1'' looked too small.
** Many people have criticized the MCU films thus far for mostly featuring predictable, and forgettable [[GenericDoomsdayVillain doomsday villains]] with little personality and unclear or boring motives. [[spoiler:Ego was highly praised for being a legitimately menacing yet complex bad guy who is [[JerkWithAHeartOfJerk evil to the core]] but [[AGodAmI thinks he's on a level so beyond humankind]] that he [[ItsAllAboutMe refuses to even understand the cruelty of his own actions]], not to mention Creator/KurtRussell PlayingAgainstType in an utterly chilling fashion.]]

* VindicatedByHistory: To an extent; While the film wasn't exactly ''hated'' when it was first released, most critics felt that ''Vol. 2'' was inferior to its predecessor and audiences were more mixed to positive regarding it (as seen by how this very page describes it as ''both'' a ContestedSequel and EvenBetterSequel). However, as more time as gone on, ''Vol. 2'' has garnered a more positive critical reappraisal for its surprisingly complex themes and character arcs[[labelnote:Examples]]Contrast WebVideo/MovieBob's initial [[https://www.geek.com/movies/moviebob-reviews-guardians-of-the-galaxy-vol-2-1698363/ review]] with his ''Film/AlienCovenant'' [[https://screenrant.com/guardians-galaxy-2-vs-alien-covenant/ compare/contrast]], David Ehrlich's initial [[https://letterboxd.com/davidehrlich/film/guardians-of-the-galaxy-vol-2/ review]] versus his [[http://www.indiewire.com/2017/05/guardians-of-the-galaxy-2-ego-best-marvel-villain-kurt-russell-avengers-1201813832/ follow-up]], and Creator/LindsayEllis' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VulkN5OLEM video essay]] on the film[[/labelnote]]. Nowadays, ''Vol. 2'' is increasingly seen as one of the best films out of the entire [=MCU=][[note]]right alongside ''Film/IronMan1'', ''Film/TheAvengers2012'', ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'', ''Film/ThorRagnarok'', ''Film/BlackPanther2018'', and the ''[[Film/AvengersInfinityWar Infinity War]]''-''[[Film/AvengersEndgame Endgame]]'' duology[[/note]].

** At one point during Rocket and Star-Lord's bickering over who's the better pilot, Quill threatens to shave Rocket if he puts a turd in his pillowcase. In a DeletedScene in ''Film/AvengersEndgame'', Tony Stark actually ''does'' shave Rocket's head in response to him cackling at the revelation of the Avengers fighting the Chitauri for three hours.

** Rocket watching [[spoiler: Yondu sacrifice himself for his surrogate son]] was already tragic enough as is, but it's even '''[[UpToEleven more]]''' depressing with the knowledge that Baby Groot is actually the ''son'' of the previous Groot, not the same character, and Rocket [[spoiler: has to watch Groot, his own surrogate son, [[ForcedToWatch disintegrate before his eyes]] in ''[[Film/AvengersInfinityWar Infinity War]]'' and Creator/JamesGunn confirmed that the translation of Teen Groot's last line is him desperately calling to Rocket, ''"Dad!"'' [[TearJerker Yeesh.]]]]

** Creator/ChrisPratt already received this response in buckets after the first film, but his character's emotional moments are turned UpToEleven in this film. In particular, his breakdown when [[spoiler:Yondu is dying holding Quill]] is utterly devastating to watch.

** On top of that, Peter's HairTriggerTemper BerserkButton moment where [[spoiler:he immediately turns on Ego and attacks him after the living planet admits to murdering his mother is a SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome here.]] In ''Infinity War'' he has the ''exact same reaction'' when [[spoiler:it becomes clear that Thanos killed Gamora. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Not so awesome in that case.]]]]

** [[RuleOfThree Drax]] ([[RunningGag sensing a pattern here?]]) telling Mantis that she's hideously disgusting once is rather [[KickTheDog cruel]] (even if [[UncannyValley somewhat]] [[UglyCute apt]]) the ''first'' time he says it. It stops feeling so wrong when he's telling her this ''every time they talk''.

* UncannyValley:
** Mantis can fall into this for some people. There is something wrong about her eyes that seem almost ''too'' glassy.
** There's also Yondu's electric-blue tongue and mouth, a noticeable contrast from his appearance in the first film with a normal-looking mouth.
** A brand-new CGI model was used for Rocket in this film, and while designers took great care to keep his appearance as close as possible to the original while applying newer animation and rendering technologies, there are still several subtle differences between his old and new looks that, combined, can be jarring to some viewers, especially when watching both films in close succession.

* {{Adorkable}}: Groot Jr. frequently, for example when he's dancing happily to the Jackson 5, only to freeze when Drax turns and sees him. And then starting to dance again as soon as Drax looks away.

** Ego: [[spoiler:Did he truly love Peter and his mother? Did he truly want to get to know his son as a father? Did he kill Meredith because he was scared of his love for her causing him to lose what made him special? ''OR'' did he simply see them as a means to an end? Did he only see Meredith as an Earthling incubator for his progeny to dispose of once he got what he needed? Did he just manipulate Peter to get him to achieve his goals while feeling nothing for him?]] There's enough ambiguity between his actions and his words to give credence to any one of these interpretations. Perhaps one of the biggest is [[spoiler:the moment Ego crushes Peter's Walkman, the last memory he has of his mother, while quietly singing the refrain to "Brandy, You're a Fine Girl" one last time. Was it a KickTheDog moment that firmly booted Ego over the MoralEventHorizon as a showcase of his utter lack of morality, or was it (in his own [[LackOfEmpathy twisted]] way) a genuine effort to try and make Peter let go of his attachments to his mortal life and join him in godhood, as the only other being in existence who could eventually understand him? Or maybe both?]]

** Mantis' comment that she "[doesn't] even like the type of thing" Drax is; some fans take it as a sign that she doesn't find members of his species attractive, while others have taken it as a sign that she's AmbiguouslyGay.

** Creator/MichaelRooker's fantastic portrayal of Yondu lead fans, critics and even Creator/JamesGunn to feel he deserved an Oscar nod. [[spoiler:Rooker and Gunn's refusal to bring Yondu back solidifies their respect for his {{Heroic Sacrifice}}, but also means Rooker will sadly never have another chance to get this character his award]].
** Music/TylerBates was allegedly considered for more awards and missed out due to the soundtrack having too many unoriginal tracks. Nonetheless many fans were outraged, believing this to be one of the MCU's more powerful scores. Gunn himself prefers vol.2's soundtrack.

** Less "character" and more concept here, but the point still stands with regard to Baby Groot. He's either a refreshing way of handling the character after the first movie or a cynical move by Marvel [[MerchandiseDriven to sell merchandise of the character]]. [[spoiler:Teen Groot gets this same treatment.]]
** Either you like the inclusion of Mantis as a funny, endearing, PragmaticAdaptation for a new TokenGoodTeammate who bucks stereotypes by avoiding the AsianAndNerdy trope and showing that SlapstickKnowsNoGender, or she's yet another demure female Asian stereotype that doesn't get a shred of her comic counterpart's badassery.
* BrokenBase:
** The Taserface gag. For some it is '''the''' funniest joke in the entire movie, with many loving it for Bradley Cooper's infectious delivery and the rest of the cast's hysterical reaction to it. For others, it is a forced, unfunny joke that gets dragged out and overplayed.

** Yondu massacring his treacherous crew with his psychic arrow -- extremely violent. Doing the aforementioned massacring set to "Come a Little Bit Closer"? Extremely violent and utterly glorious.

* EvilIsCool: Kurt Russell's Ego was very well received as a rather unique villain in terms of powers, motivation, and mentality, and he's considered an exception to Marvel's usual run of having weak villains. Russell's performance as Ego maintaining an affability that becomes a mask for coldness, especially in his nonchalance at the horrible brutality and violence of his actions, was considered quite compelling and disturbing.

** Rocket watching [[spoiler: Yondu sacrifice himself for his surrogate son]] was already tragic enough as is, but it's even ''[[UpToEleven MORE]]'' depressing with the knowledge that Baby Groot is actually the ''son'' of the previous Groot, not the same character, and Rocket [[spoiler: has to watch Groot, his own surrogate son, [[ForcedToWatch disintegrate before his eyes]] in ''[[Film/AvengersInfinityWar Infinity War]]'' and Creator/JamesGunn confirmed that the translation of Teen Groot's last line is him desperately calling to Rocket, ''"Dad!"'' [[TearJerker Ouch.]]]]

** Gamora questioning how "a little one-inch man" saved the Guardians from the Sovereign. Fast forward to ''Film/AvengersEndgame'' and [[spoiler: [[Film/AvengersInfinityWar in the wake of half the universe -- including Gamora and the rest of the Guardians barring Rocket and Nebula -- being killed by Thanos,]] an actual one-inch man is now joining the surviving heroes to possibly bring back those who fell.]] This becomes even worse by ''Endgame'', in which [[spoiler: the main timeline's Gamora is still dead by the end, with the Gamora from 2014 who never even met the Guardians taking her place in the present.]]
* HeartwarmingInHindsight: At the end Gamora offers Nebula a chance to stay and fight alongside the Guardians, helping out little girls who've been through the same things they have. Nebula turns her down and leaves to hunt Thanos, but still ends the movie on better terms with her sister than before. Takes [[Film/AvengersEndgame a few years but]] [[spoiler: she then [[HeelFaceTurn well and truly mellows out]] and not only joins the Avengers in their efforts to undo [[Film/AvengersInfinityWar the Snap]] but finally takes Gamora's place among the Guardians like she wanted, and convinces an alternate version of Gamora to betray Thanos.]]
** Drax's comments on how Mantis is basically Ego's "pet". At first, this is played for laughs until it's revealed Ego doesn't give a damn about mortal life forms and the sole reason he doesn't just kill Mantis is because she can help him sleep.
** The moment where Mantis gets whaled by a piece of flying debris was in the trailers: it was funny at the time because the Guardians are all standing around striking a heroic pose, including Mantis's three-point crouch, when the tension is broken by Mantis being knocked out. In the film itself, however, Mantis was crouching because she was fully occupied in keeping the omnicidal monster contained, and her being knocked out of this duty is ''much'' less funny and more disastrous.

** Creator/DaveBautista is only involved in one fight scene in the entire film (specifically, the opening credits). He spends all his other screen time being the comedy relief, displaying surprising and impressive versatility as a thespian. And when the scene requires it, he's fully capable of playing Drax's serious emotional beats with complete sincerity.

** Ego's entire reason for going through with his expansion plan in this movie is because he believed himself to be the LastOfHisKind, and so decided that assimilating other planets, including Earth was the only reason for his existence. ''Film/{{Eternals}}'' reveals that not only do other Celestials exist, but their ultimate objective is to help humanity thrive as a species, the exact opposite of what Ego's objective is. [[spoiler:Although like Ego, the Celestial Arishem's ultimate goal for Earth ultimately ends in the destruction of Earth and its inhabitants, albeit for a more WellIntentionedExtremist cause than Ego's was.]]

* ObviousJudas: [[spoiler:Ego being evil doesn't come as much of a surprise given Yondu called him a "jackass" in the previous film, the lack of screentime of the advertised villains compared to Ego and the fact that his name is well... Ego. Though HOW evil Ego is can come as a shock.]]

* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap: While certainly not ''hated'', Gamora was considered by many to be the blandest of the Guardians in the first movie because of her role as the OnlySaneMan and TheChick in the team. This movie warms up fans's reception toward her by revealing that she is just as flawed as everyone else in the team (most notably her relationship with Nebula) while her role as TheHeart is handled much better and more integrated into the story.

** And of course, [[spoiler:I'm Mary Poppins, Y'all]].

** The Taserface gag. For some it is '''the''' best joke in the entire movie. For others, it is an overblown, unfunny joke that gets too dragged out and overplayed.

** [[BlackComedy Straddling the line between this]] and FunnyAneurysmMoment, Gamora questioning how "a little one-inch man" saved the Guardians from the Sovereign. Fast forward to ''Film/AvengersEndgame'' and [[spoiler: [[Film/AvengersInfinityWar in the wake of half the universe -- including Gamora and the rest of the Guardians barring Rocket and Nebula -- being killed by Thanos,]] an actual one-inch man is now joining the surviving heroes to possibly bring back those who fell.]] Sadly this inches a bit more towards FunnyAneurysmMoment as of ''Endgame'', in which [[spoiler: the main timeline's Gamora is still dead by the end, with the Gamora from 2014 who never even met the Guardians taking her place in the present.]]

* WhatAnIdiot:
** The film begins with the Guardians battling a massive space monster. The team eventually notice that the monster's skin is too tough to cut, and so Drax allows himself to be swallowed by it in order to...\\
'''You'd Expect:''' ...target the monster's internal organs.\\
'''Instead:''' He tries to cut the monster's skin from the inside. As pointed out by Peter and Gamora moments later, [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome the skin's just as thick on one side as it is the other]].\\
'''Result:''' Drax is left fruitlessly hacking away at the monster's skin, before Peter and Gamora kill the monster without any help from him.
** After the exchange is made for Nebula's life, Rocket nearly gets the team killed by insulting the Sovereign. They walk out, lucky to have avoided a fight.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' Once the job's done, the Guardians would just take Nebula and leave, right?\\
'''Instead:''' Rocket decides to steal some very valuable anulax batteries from the Sovereign, simply to get back at them for their snobbery, and because he felt like it. This after he called Drax out for siccing Ronan on the Guardians for the sake of his personal revenge in the last movie.\\
'''Result:''' Rocket's pointless idiocy does nothing but cause massive problems for him and his friends. The Sovereign are incredibly offended by the theft, and respond by sending ''an entire fleet'' after the Guardians. In the resultant chase, the Guardians crash land on a random planet. The Sovereign then hire Yondu and his Ravagers to go after the Guardians, and thanks to the busted ship, he manages to capture both Rocket and Groot. The only reason the other Guardians aren't captured is because they all left with Ego earlier. And while Yondu has no intentions of handing the Guardians over to the Sovereign, his reveal of this leads to a mutiny within his crew, in which Yondu is overthrown, his loyalists are all executed, and the new leadership has no intention of being nice towards the Guardians. And as a [[SarcasmMode bonus]], the Sovereign show up during the final battle and nearly screw things up for the Guardians and as a result of their attack, Peter's mask is damaged and Yondu has to sacrifice his life to save him when Ego is destroyed. They also indirectly contribute to the deaths of thousands when the Sovereign attack delays their destruction of Ego's brain, allowing the expansion to continue.
** After their successful mutiny and takeover of Yondu's ship, the Ravagers lock him and Rocket together in the brig. Yondu's crest is damaged, so he can't use his arrow against the mutineers. However, he does still have a prototype crest in his quarters as a backup. The Ravagers not only know about the crest, but also know exactly where Yondu keeps it.\\
'''You'd Think:''' The Ravagers would have destroyed that crest, too.\\
'''Instead:''' They don't. Fortunately, they do raise the alarm immediately upon waking up and finding it missing.\\
'''Result:''' By that point, the crest has already been installed on Yondu's head, and "Come A Little Bit Closer" has started to play over the ship's PA system. Cue mass slaughter.
** At the end of the movie, after they've had time to reconcile and battle out their frustrations, [[spoiler:Nebula tells Gamora that she intends to go and kill their father. Gamora tells her that Nebula could stay and become part of the team, to build a new family the way that Drax has]].\\
'''You'd Expect''': [[spoiler:Nebula to take the offer. While she thinks that the boys spend all their time competing makes them ridiculous and shortsighted, they all just survived an apocalypse. Also, if they do have to face Thanos, they will face him as a team so that Nebula won't be alone.]].\\
'''Instead''': [[spoiler:Nebula turns down the offer. Gamora reluctantly lets her go, after hugging her and promising they will always be sisters.]]\\
'''The Result''': In ''Infinity War'', [[spoiler:Thanos reveals that he has taken Nebula hostage after she sneaked onto his ship in a bid to assassinate him. He tortures Nebula in front of a captive Gamora, to get Gamora to reveal the location of the Soul Stone. Gamora, who feels guilty that she didn't protect Nebula from the forced cybernetic upgrades when they were children, can't bear to see her sister ripped limb from limb and leads Thanos to the right location. It ultimately means that Gamora dies instead of Nebula, who when she finds out has a MyGodWhatHaveIDone expression]].

* FunnyAneurysmMoment:
** Drax's comments on how Mantis is basically Ego's "pet". At first, this is played for laughs until it's revealed Ego doesn't give a damn about mortal life forms and the sole reason he doesn't just kill Mantis is because she can help him sleep.
** The moment where Mantis gets whaled by a piece of flying debris was in the trailers: it was funny at the time because the Guardians are all standing around striking a heroic pose, including Mantis's three-point crouch, when the tension is broken by Mantis being knocked out. In the film itself, however, Mantis was crouching because she was fully occupied in keeping the omnicidal monster contained, and her being knocked out of this duty is ''much'' less funny and more disastrous.