When the Marvel Cinematic Universe introduced fans to the Guardians of the Galaxy, it was not only bringing a lesser-known comic book property to the big screen but it introduced them to casual comic book fans. Thanks to the team not being a mainstream popular team, it allowed James Gunn to create what he wanted with little worry that comic fans would object.
This has caused many people to assume the Guardians of the Galaxy from the movies are comic canon. However, that is far from the truth. The Guardians of the Galaxy, for most of their existence, look nothing like the team in the movies, and what most people think is true about these space-traveling heroes is very different from canon.
The Movie's Team Was The Original Guardians
The version of the team in the MCU movies is not even the team in the comics until 2007, meaning they never existed in this form until seven years before the movies. Not one single member on the team from the movies was a member in the comics.
The original Guardians of the Galaxy actually featured characters who have appeared in the movies. Yondu was actually a member of the original team, as was Martinex, Charlie-27, Vance Astro, and more. Many of these heroes had small roles in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.
Yondu Originally Existed In This Guardians' Timeline
Yondu was an original member of the first Guardians of the Galaxy team to appear in Marvel Comics. In the movies, Yondu was an antihero who raised Peter Quill from childhood and had him working with the Ravagers. Peter finally broke away from them and started the Guardians of the Galaxy.
While Yondu and Peter's relationship in the movies was special, he was not even in the same universe as this team. Instead, Yondu was from Earth-691, an original Guardians member who had an alternate version show up in the comics to meet Star-Lord in his universe.
Yondu Kidnapped Peter Quill From Earth
In the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie, Peter Quill watched his mother die after battling cancer. He ran into a field where a spacecraft came down and kidnapped him. This was Yondu and his band of Ravagers who grabbed Quill for Ego, the Living Planet.
However, this is only from the movies and had nothing to do with the comics. In the comics, aliens showed up on Earth and killed Peter's mother, saying they were there to kill her son too, but he survived and swore to find out what this was about, leading to him voluntarily going to space to find his dad.
The Ravagers Existed In The Comics
The Ravagers were James Gunn's creation in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies. Not only was Yondu originally an original Guardians member that did not exist in the same universe as the current team, but his Ravagers also didn't exist in either universe.
However, Marvel Comics has brought them into the comics and had them working with the new alternate version of Yondu that showed up in this timeline. While the team is now starting to look more like they did in the movies, it didn't start in the comics and wasn't canon until recently.
Peter Quill's Dad Was A Celestial
Making Peter Quill's dad Ego the Living Planet was an invention to create a villain for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. In reality, his dad was not a godlike being, but a man named J'son, the Apartax Emperor. Instead of his father being a living planet who wanted to take over the world, his dad was a political figure, which is why the aliens showed up to kill Peter.
There were some similarities. K'son wanted to demand that Peter him and take his role as the future emperor, but Peter refused and chose to take on the role of Star-Lord, a hero.
The Guardians Of The Galaxy Started As Bandits
The Guardians of the Galaxy were misfits who met up when they were all trying to cash in, Peter and Gamora trying to get one of the Infinity Stones, and Rocket & Groot trying to cash in on a bounty on Peter's head. They then met Drax in a Nova Corps prison.
Instead, Star-Lord and Nova formed the Guardians of the Galaxy to act as heroes from the start during the Annihilation War when he met Drax and Gamora, who helped in the battle. The Guardians were a necessary force to help defend the Kree and the universe in general.
Drax Is An Alien
Drax had a complicated story in the comics, but at the end of the day, he was originally a human named Arthur Douglas. Instead of being an alien who wanted to kill Ronan the Acc for killing his wife and child, he sought vengeance against Thanos for the death of his wife and daughter.
In the comics, this happened on Earth when Thanos was there and killed them when they saw him in order to hide his arrival. Arthur and his wife died, but his daughter survived and was raised on Titan with Thanos's family and eventually became the hero Moondragon. Arthur's spirit was then sent into the Destroyer and became a tool of vengeance.
Rocket Was Genetically Engineered
One of the biggest things for James Gunn was Rocket's story. While he looked like a raccoon, in the movies, he had no idea what that was. Instead, Rocket mentioned he was created and genetically engineered and tortured for years before he finally escaped. There is no known origin outside of those comments.
However, in the canon of Marvel Comics, Rocket is a walking, talking, anthropomorphic animal from a world full of them called Halfworld. Rocket is a raccoon in the comics, although he hates being called that in both the movies and comics.
Mantis Is Not A Fighter
When Mantis was first introduced in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, she was an alien who helped Ego, the Living Planet. She was an empath and mostly helped Ego, and while she helped fight Thanos in the battle on Earth, she was never seen as a fighter and was mostly used to subdue her enemies.
However, in the comics, Mantis was very different. She was born on Earth, a Vietnamese daughter of a supervillain. She was an empath, but she was also trained to be a fierce fighter, an expert martial artist who has gone head-to-head with Captain American and Thor, and she held her own.
Groot Could Only Say 'I Am Groot'
All Groot can say in the movies is "I am Groot," although he also said "We are Groot" at one time. However, the words mean different things and only Rocket could understand them until he was with the Guardians for long enough that other could translate as well.
In the comics, Groot has only been able to say that since after the Annihilation event, which was when the Guardians formed in the lineup they have now. However, Groot first showed up in 1960 and had been around for decades and until Annihilation, he could speak like everyone else around him.
