2. It's Space
New York, London, helicarriers and planes are all well and good, but they don't hold the visual flavour that locations like Asgard provides. The fact Guardians is set in space means two things: 1. If Hollywood has taught us anything, it's that the deeper the space, the more danger you face. We're talking big stakes here - not just one city on the brink of destruction, this has planetary/universal potential. 2. The visual diversity of space in the Marvel Universe is brimming with pregnant possibility of other alien races, planets, cultures and scenery. We could visit any number of Marvel worlds, be it Skrull, Kree, Shi'ar, Xandarian... who knows? We do know the alien race "the Kree" will feature because Lee Pace has been cast as Ronan The Accuser. For those who don't know Ronan, he is the answer to that age-old question "what if Judge Dredd had the power of Thor?" Since the Guardians are a rag tag bunch of motley heroes, not too dissimilar from Whedon's Firefly, it's not implausible to assume they will ruffle the wrong feathers and get into their fair share of space scrapes. For the Guardians, it's not always a simple case of getting the bad guy - there are politics to consider, and the wrong move could be considered an act of terrorism or even a declaration of war on another species, planet or solar system.