Predicting Marvel's New Guardians Of The Galaxy
Drax, Rocket and Gamora out... what's next for Marvel's cosmic team?
Guardians Of The Galaxy will be getting a new line-up when it launches again on January 23rd, and Marvel has gradually teased the eleven candidates in the running for the six slots in the final team.
Most notably, Rocket Raccoon, Mantis, Drax The Destroyer and Gamora are not part of the eleven possibilities and therefore will definitely not be in the new squad. However, Guardians mainstays Star-Lord, Groot and Adam Warlock are in with a chance, along with some other characters that have teamed up with the team on occasions since their 2008 reboot.
There are no bad candidates here, with some fans dismayed at the fact that Marvel is going to drop five of them. An eleven strong Guardians of the Galaxy would be impressive, but with so many huge personalities to juggle at once, we wouldn't see much development or interaction - hence why there has to be six.
The other heroes are Cosmic Ghost Rider, Silver Surfer, Nova, Moondragon, Beta Ray Bill, Phyla-Vell, Gladiator and Darkhawk, but who will make the cut?
6. Cosmic Ghost Rider
The Guardians Of The Galaxy teaser image has been revealed gradually, with Silver Surfer, Groot, Star-Lord and Adam Warlock recently completing the 11-strong lineup. However, back when the teaser was first teased at New York Comic Con, there was a single figure in the centre with the rest of the potential Guardians blacked out.
That figure was Cosmic Ghost Rider, a reimagining of Frank Castle, a man most famously known as the Punisher. You have to think he'll make the final cut after having such an obvious spotlight shone upon him. There's been a wickedly dark sense of humour to Cosmic Ghost Rider's recent appearances, with some sequences so vantablack they rival Deadpool.
More important, however, is that he definitely has the style to take the Guardians to exciting new places, and would provide a refreshing change to the older crew.
In Cosmic Ghost Rider #3, Castle murders all of the Guardians. When they're replaced, he kills all of the new ones too. Having Cosmic Ghost Rider on the roster isn't so much as 'if you can't beat them, join them' as it is 'when you've killed them all, you may as well join them'.