Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2: 10 Reasons It's Better Than The Original

The original Guardians of the Galaxy was a great film, there is absolutely no doubt about that. However, one of the legitimate criticisms it did receive was the fact that the movie's main villain, Ronan the Accuser, was underplayed, disposable and ultimately inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. Moreover, nothing about him, save for perhaps his design, was particularly memorable.

Meanwhile, Vol. 2 introduced us to Peter's father, Ego, who posed a far more significant threat than Ronan could have ever dreamed of. Living up to his name, Ego is a ruthless narcissist of a villain with a quite literal God-complex. His goal is essentially to recreate the universe in his own image and he really doesn't care what he has to do to achieve this, even if it means destroying his own flesh and blood.

Plus, as if it wasn't easy enough to hate the guy, it's also revealed he was the cause of Peter's mother's brain cancer. And he hides all of this perfectly behind an incredible amount of charm and charisma. In other words, he is the perfect psychopath.

Moreover, his parental relationship to Star-Lord makes it far easier for him to not only get into the latter's head, but also bend the rest of the Guardians to his mercy. This, fitting, also plays greatly to film's overarching theme of finding one's true family.

To put it another way, he's a much more interesting bad guy than some hyper-aggressive alien trying way too hard to impress his boss.