The unique heroes in Guardians of the Galaxy

MANILA, Philippines - “I think Guardians of the Galaxy has one of the best ensemble casts for an origin movie that Marvel has ever had because it is so eclectic,” producer Kevin Feige says on the approach to casting the unique characters in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy. “We didn’t set out to cast a relative unknown for the lead nor movie stars for the voices of Rocket and Groot, it just evolved liked that, again, because we had the freedom to say ‘anybody’s on the table’ for this one.”

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An action-packed, epic space adventure, Guardians of the Galaxy expands the Marvel Cinematic Universe into the cosmos, where brash adventurer Peter Quill finds himself the object of an unrelenting bounty hunt after stealing a mysterious orb coveted by Ronan (Lee Pace), a powerful villain with ambitions that threaten the entire universe. To evade the ever-persistent Ronan, Quill is forced into an uneasy truce with a quartet of disparate misfits — Rocket, a gun-toting raccoon; Groot, a tree-like humanoid; the deadly and enigmatic Gamora; and the revenge-driven Drax the Destroyer. But when Quill discovers the true power of the orb and the menace it poses to the cosmos, he must do his best to rally his ragtag rivals for a last, desperate stand — with the galaxy’s fate in the balance.

The film’s main protagonist Quill is played by Chris Pratt (Zero Dark Thirty, Moneyball). He is an interstellar adventurer who was abducted from Earth at a young age. After recovering an ancient artifact, Quill must rally an unlikely team of cosmic misfits to prevent a powerful villain from destroying the galaxy.

Zoe Saldana (the Star Trek and Avatar film franchises) plays Gamora, an orphan from an alien world who was raised by the mysterious Thanos to become the perfect weapon. As Thanos’ personal assassin, Gamora has earned a reputation as a formidable warrior. Gamora now seeks redemption for her past crimes.

A physical brute, Drax is played by Filipino-American former professional wrestler Dave Bautista (Riddick). Drax has a personal vendetta against Ronan, who killed his family. Now fueled by pure rage, Drax will stop at nothing to take his revenge on the most dangerous being in the galaxy.

Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel) descends from a race of walking flora and resembles a sentient tree. Despite his strange appearance and limited communication skills, Groot proves to be a valuable ally and a loyal friend — not only to his fellow bounty hunter Rocket but to the rest of the Guardians of the Galaxy as well.

Finally, Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper) is a bounty hunter and mercenary whose mastery of weapons and battle tactics makes him a formidable warrior, despite being a genetically altered, cybernetically enhanced, talking raccoon. The result of traumatic biological experimentation, Rocket is a genuine gun-toting badass and mechanical genius who has a huge chip on his shoulder.

Guardians of the Galaxy opens July 31 in theaters nationwide.