Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

***Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2*** is a 2017 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics superhero team Guardians of the Galaxy, produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It is the sequel to Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) and the 15th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). It premiered in Tokyo on April 10, 2017, and was released in the United States on May 5, 2017, as part of Phase Three of the MCU. The sequel, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, was released on May 5, 2023.

## Plot

In 2014, Peter Quill, Gamora, Drax, Rocket, and Baby Groot are renowned as the Guardians of the Galaxy. Ayesha, leader of the Sovereign race, has the Guardians protect valuable batteries from an Abilisk, an inter-dimensional monster, in exchange for Gamora's estranged sister Nebula, who was caught attempting to steal the batteries. After Rocket steals the batteries for himself, the Sovereign attacks the Guardians' ship with a fleet of drones. A mysterious figure destroys the drones and the Guardians crash-land on a nearby planet. The figure reveals himself as Quill's father, Ego, and he is joined by Mantis, his naïve empath servant. Ego invites Quill, Gamora, and Drax to his home planet, while Rocket and Groot remain behind to repair the ship and watch Nebula.

Ayesha hires Yondu Udonta and his crew, who have been exiled from the greater Ravager community for child trafficking, to recapture the Guardians. They capture Rocket, but when Yondu hesitates to turn over Quill, whom he raised, his lieutenant Kraglin Obfonteri questions his objectivity, and another lieutenant, Taserface, leads a mutiny, aided by Nebula. Taserface imprisons Rocket and Yondu aboard Yondu's ship and executes his loyalists. Nebula leaves to find and kill Gamora, whom she blames for the torture inflicted on her by their adoptive father, Thanos. Groot and Kraglin, who is remorseful and never intended for a mutiny, free Rocket and Yondu. Using Yondu's arrow, the group destroys the ship and its crew while escaping. Taserface warns the Sovereign before dying.

Ego, a god-like Celestial that manipulated the matter around his consciousness to form his "home" planet, explains that he projected a humanoid guise to travel the universe and discover a purpose, eventually falling in love with Quill's mother Meredith. Ego hired Yondu to collect the young Quill after Meredith's death, but the boy was never delivered, and Ego has been searching for him ever since. He teaches Quill to manipulate his inherited Celestial power, while Mantis grows close to Drax and tries to warn him of Ego's plans. Nebula arrives at Ego's planet and tries to kill Gamora, but the pair reconcile and reach an uneasy alliance, soon discovering a cavern filled with skeletal remains. Ego brainwashes Quill and reveals that in his travels, he planted seedlings on thousands of worlds that can terraform into new extensions of himself, but only the power of two Celestials can activate them. To that end, he impregnated countless women and hired Yondu to collect their offspring, but killed them all when they failed to inherit his Celestial power. Quill fights off Ego's influence when Ego reveals that he gave Meredith the brain tumor that killed her; after Quill violently attacks Ego, Ego parasitically draws Quill's energy to activate the seedlings, which begin to consume the worlds they're on.

Rocket, Yondu, Groot, and Kraglin arrive, and together with Mantis, Drax, Nebula and Gamora, they rescue Quill. The reunited Guardians travel to Ego's brain at the planet's core, where Yondu reveals that he kept Quill to spare him from Ego. As the Soverign's drones return and attack, Rocket makes a bomb using the stolen batteries, which Groot plants on Ego's brain. Quill uses his newfound Celestial powers to fight Ego, distracting him long enough for the other Guardians and Mantis to escape. The bomb explodes, killing Ego and disintegrating the planet, which drains Quill of his Celestial powers. Yondu sacrifices himself to save Quill and dies in the vacuum of space. Despite having reconciled with Gamora, Nebula chooses to leave and resume her quest to kill Thanos. The Guardians, with Mantis as a new member, hold a funeral for Yondu. Rocket and Kraglin are elated as dozens of Ravager ships arrive, acknowledging Yondu's sacrifice and accepting him as a Ravager again.

In a series of mid-and post-credit scenes, Kraglin takes up Yondu's telekinetic arrow and control-fin; Ravager leader Stakar Ogord reunites with his ex-teammates; Ayesha creates Adam, a new artificial being with whom she plans to destroy the Guardians; and Groot grows into a teenager.

## Why The Guardians of the Galaxy Will Return

1. Like the previous movie, it has great blend of comedy and action.
2. Cool soundtrack. Just like the first movie, the classic songs often fit the situation and blend well into the narrative.
3. While mostly comedic, the movie still has intense and emotional moments with a general theme about the importance of family and parenthood.
4. The Sovereign are funny antagonists.
5. Just like in the last film, the acting is tremendous, particularly from Kurt Russell and Chris Pratt, the latter of whom delivers possibly his best performance as Quill in the MCU to date.
6. Mantis is introduced as a new member of the Guardians of the Galaxy, while Yondu and Nebula served as temporary members, the former of whom being portrayed by Pom Klementieff. She is also adorable.
	* Nebula later rejoins the team in *Avengers: Infinity War*.
7. The scene where Drax says to Mantis "When you're ugly and someone loves you, you know the love who you are" This scene alone is a message for those who are not human beings like disabilities, color of their skin or/and even ugly faces who are not injuries during birth, are better and be themselves.
8. Yondu has a much more prominent role than in the prequel. His scene with the Yaka arrow is very memorable.
9. This version of Ego the Living Planet is one the most creative villains the Marvel Cinematic Universe has come up with.
	* Plus, considering his actor Kurt Russell usually portrays heroes or anti-heroes, it only makes his reveal as the main villain all the more surprising and heartbreaking.
10. Yondu's death was unexpected and his funeral was very emotional. The death scene itself was made even more heartwrenching by Quill's cries of anguish, delivered brilliantly by Chris Pratt.
11. Baby Groot is very cutely designed and funny. He also serves as a surrogate son for most characters in the movie, which fits well with the movie's overall theme.
12. Perfect casting for Kurt Russell as Chris Pratt’s dad, which also matches the 80's theme (e.g. *Escape from New York* and *The Thing*).
13. Awesome and gorgeous cinematography, just like the first movie.
14. It confirms that Stan Lee indeed always portrays the same character in every MCU movie. He's an informer for "The Watchers", which explains how he keeps appearing as different people in different time periods and even different planets.
15. The members of the original Guardians of the Galaxy make a cameo appearance.
16. Adam Warlock gets teased in a post credits scene.
17. ***"Mantis, look out!"***, and **“Alright I know that sounds bad”** are quite memorable lines in the movie
18. Taserface is a funny and laughable word and name of a villain who everyone laughing contagioulsy.
19. Great direction by James Gunn, like the previous movie.

## Bad Qualities

1. Nebula was flanderized because she never became a heroine in the comics, though this is intentional. Thankfully, she changes and becomes unflanderized later in the film.
	* Gamora was also flanderized into a neat freak, jealous, and naggy in this sequel, when she yelled at Peter and Rocket for being a reckless (though it is understandable, but her characterization was completely backfired), being jealous to Peter for no reason, and wanting them furiously to save Peter in danger. Until she redeemed herself in the end of the film.
2. The film sometimes has pacing issues or else other parts feel a bit rushed.
3. It changed much of Star-Lord's father (J'son), who is replaced with a living planet, Ego.
4. Unlike the previous film, there is a lot more pop culture references.