Guardians was a 2004 Marvel Comics miniseries by Marc Sumerak and Casey Jones.
Many years ago, five children - Vince and Nick Armstrong, Charlie Preston, Jimmy Yon, and Martin Roosevelt - had an encounter with an alien visitor, Dre'kk, who bequeathed upon them a strange stone. Years later, only Vince still insists that the encounter happened, and as his former friends increasingly distance themselves from him, he's ended up on a self-destructive spiral. Everything changes when the alien suddenly reappears, seeking their aid, forcing Vince to get his friends back together.
This series contains examples of:
- Asian and Nerdy: Jimmy, the token Asian works as a video game tester. He had hoped to go into the army like the rest of the men in his family, but his bad leg prevents that.
- Bittersweet Ending: The Guardians manage to pull off their heist, but are now wanted by the Alliance, forcing them to go on the run and preventing them from returning to Earth.
- Black and Nerdy: Martin Roosevelt is a black med-school student.
- Covers Always Lie: The cover for the first issue suggests that the triangular stone is going to be important to the plot. Vince accidentally destroys it at the end of the first issue.
- Deconstruction: Of the alien crashing to Earth and getting aid from some plucky kids to fend of the evil empire type of stories. It's suggested that Dre'kk isn't on the up and up, that he's recruiting the kids for entirely selfish if not delusional motives, basically duping them into a terrorist scheme. It also takes him so long to come back that everyone grows up and is convinced he was just a shared fantasy.
- Dream-Crushing Handicap: Jimmy's bad leg prevented him from joining the army like the rest of the men in his family. His dad still gives him crap about it.
- Formerly Fat: Nick was overweight as a kid. A strict diet and exercise regime has made him much skinnier as an adult.
- I Just Want to Be Normal: Charlie just wants to fit in.
- Oh, Crap!: This is Charlie's reaction to hearing Dre'kk's ship roaring overhead. She's spent years willing herself to forget her encounter with Dre'kk so that she could have a "normal" life.
- Powered Armor: In the fourth issue, Jimmy steals a suit of powered armor. After years of being the slowest and weakest member of the gang because of his bad leg, he is delighted to suddenly become the strongest.
- Putting the Band Back Together: Dre'kk's return forces Vince to get his childhood friends back together again. This is complicated by the fact that they've all grown up and have lives of their own, and they all think Vince is crazy.
- Refusing the Call: Nick declines to return to the Guardians. Considering that he's got a wife and son to worry about, his friends completely understand.
- Tomboy: When she was younger, Charlie hung out with Vince and the other boys. As a young adult, her desire for adventure has seriously waned.
- Unwitting Pawn: It's heavily implied that Dre'kk is not being entirely honest with the Guardians about the mission he recruited them for. He may just be a delusional terrorist.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Dre'kk is constantly guilting the Guardians over the fact that they lied to him about who they are as children. Though it's implicit he was delusional to ever believe them in the first place, taking them entirely at their word completely oblivious to the fact that they're children.
