Although information technology was initially expected to exist Marvel Studios' kickoff box function bomb, James Gunn'southward Guardians of the Milky way concluded up beingness a game-changer for the MCU. Gunn radically reshaped the franchise with a comedic tone that doesn't take itself too seriously. The movie has the perfect combination of eye, humor, and heroism.

But every bit much as Guardians reinvented the Marvel formula, it also adhered to a few of its basic tenets, like a three-act story structure, the search for a mystical MacGuffin, and a big climactic battle sequence.

2 Sticks To The Curiosity Formula

Assembling A Squad

Ever since Nick Fury assembled the Avengers, the MCU has been heavily focused on superhero team-ups, with such organizations as the Defenders, the Revengers, and indeed the Guardians of the Galaxy joining forces to defeat a common enemy.

The foundation of the Guardians of the Milky way adheres to the MCU'southward familiar theme of "found family unit." Quill lost his mother, Gamora was raised by an calumniating adoptive father, Drax lost his married woman and girl, and Rocket and Groot never had families to brainstorm with. In lieu of functional family units, they detect a familial bond with each other.

Three-Human activity Story Structure

Storytellers have been using a three-human activity structure – broadly, a beginning, a middle, and an stop – since the primeval stories told around campfires in prehistoric times. The first act establishes the characters, the world they inhabit, and the threat to that earth; the 2nd act raises the stakes; and the third act resolves the characters' conflicts, both internal and external.

Like nigh action-take chances blockbusters, the MCU'southward entries tend to follow this structure (and the "monomyth" framework that Joseph Campbell fastened to information technology), andGuardians is no exception.

Search For A MacGuffin

From the Tesseract to the Aether to Hank Pym'south shrunken-down laboratory, most MCU movies innovate a MacGuffin that the villain wants to learn and the hero has to keep out of their easily.

In Guardians of the Galaxy, this vaguely defined cosmic weapon is chosen "The Orb." Guardians at least calls attending to its use of a tired trope when Quill says the Orb has "a existent shiny blue suitcase, Ark of the Covenant, Maltese Falcon sort of vibe," referencing iii of cinema's well-nigh iconic MacGuffins.

Final Battle

Most every MCU film culminates in a huge boxing sequence in which the heroes accept on the villains, tensions run high, and adept ultimately triumphs over evil.

Guardians of the Milky way has a large space boxing, but the climactic activity is an intimate confrontation between Ronan and the Guardians in which the Guardians' love for each other bonds them together to harness the Orb's power confronting him.

Credits Scenes

Since Tony Stark was recruited for the Avengers Initiative, every MCU picture (except for Endgame, the simply 1 with a sense of finality) has kept the audience waiting through a long list of names for an extra couple of scenes.

In the mid-credits scene of Guardians, Groot is resurrected as a babe, setting upwardly his Funko-friendly return in the sequel. In the post-credits scene, Howard the Duck sits in the Collector's museum, sipping on a drink.

1 Deviates From The Marvel Formula

Dark Humor

Almost every MCU picture has a heavy focus on comedy, but Guardians of the Galaxy turned the MCU into as much of a one-act franchise every bit a superhero activeness-take chances franchise. But most of the gags in Marvel movies are harmless and lighthearted.

From the "Jackson Pollock painting" line to Rocket insisting he needs a boyfriend inmate's prosthetic limb for the jailbreak, Guardians exhibits plenty of Gunn's signature dark humor.

Sympathetic Villain

Ronan is the main villain of Guardians of the Galaxy, but the secondary villain is much more memorable, engaging, and surprisingly sympathetic. Ronan is a generic, one-note catholic overlord type, but Nebula has a relatable motivation.

Nebula is then drastic for Thanos' approving that she's determined to kill her sis to show she's the better fighter. In moments like Nebula reacting with horror when she thinks she might have succeeded, Karen Gillan brings plenty of depth to the graphic symbol.

No Bathos

Despite setting the comedic tone that led to the MCU'south much-criticized focus on too-cool-for-school "bathos," Guardians is one of the exceptions to this franchise tendency. It's a total-blown comedy, merely Gunn treats the characters with the same sincerity as Patty Jenkins' Wonder Woman.

Unlike many other Marvel movies, Guardians has enough of 18-carat heart. The emotional moments go to be emotional. Scenes like Quill flying out into space to revive Gamora or Groot sacrificing himself to salvage his new friends and saying, "We are Groot," are never undercut by a joke.

Diegetic Soundtrack

Most Marvel movies have an original score in the John Williams tradition, but in the Guardians movies, Gunn has shaken up the franchise's musical identity.

Tyler Bates provides an original score, but the Walkman "Awesome Mix" introduced diegetic music that the characters tin actually hear in the scene. Quill'south mixtape paved the style for Gunn to drop the needle on late-'60s and early-'70s classics from his record drove.

Antiheroes

Curiosity movies unremarkably have articulate-cutting heroes, simply there are no traditional protagonists in Guardians of the Milky way. Every Guardian is a morally grey antihero with both likable qualities and imperfections.

By the end of the movie, the Guardians take found a dainty centre footing with their ethics. Quill asks his fellow Guardians, "And so, what should we practice adjacent? Something good? Something bad? A fleck of both?" Gamora tells him, "We'll follow your lead, Star-Lord," and Quill quips dorsum, "Flake of both!"

NEXT: 5 Ways Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness Sticks To The Marvel Formula (& 5 Ways It Deviates From It)

Next seven Places Blackness Commodities Tin Show Up Next In The MCU

About The Author

Ben Sherlock (3563 Articles Published)

Ben Sherlock is a writer, comedian, independent filmmaker, and Burt Reynolds enthusiast. He writes lists for Screen Rant and features and reviews for Game Bluster. He's currently in pre-product on his first characteristic (and has been for a while, considering filmmaking is expensive). You tin can catch him performing standup at odd pubs effectually the U.k. that volition give him phase time. Previously, he wrote for Taste of Cinema, Comic Book Resources, and BabbleTop.

More From Ben Sherlock