Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is a 2017 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics superhero team Guardians of the Galaxy, produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It is the sequel to Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) and the 15th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Written and directed by James Gunn, the film stars an ensemble cast featuring Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldaña, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Sylvester Stallone, and Kurt Russell. In the film, the Guardians travel throughout the cosmos as they help Peter Quill (Pratt) learn more about his mysterious parentage.
The film was officially announced at the 2014 San Diego Comic-Con before the theatrical release of the first film, along with Gunn's return as writer and director from the first film, with the title of the sequel revealed a year later in June 2015. Principal photography began in February 2016 at Pinewood Atlanta Studios in Fayette County, Georgia, with many crew changes from the first film due to other commitments. Filming concluded in June 2016. Gunn chose to set the sequel shortly after the first film to explore the characters' new roles as the Guardians, and to follow the storyline of Quill's father established throughout that previous film. Russell was confirmed as Quill's father in July 2016, portraying Ego, a departure from Quill's comic father.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 premiered in Tokyo on April 10, 2017, and was released in the United States on May 5, 2017, as part of Phase Three of the MCU. It grossed more than $869 million worldwide, making it the eighth-highest-grossing film of 2017, while also outgrossing its predecessor. The film received praise for its visuals, direction, soundtrack, action sequences, humor, and performances, though some critics deemed it inferior to the original. It received a nomination for Best Visual Effects at the 90th Academy Awards. A sequel, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, was released on May 5, 2023, preceded by the Disney+ special The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special in November 2022.
Plot
In 2014, Peter Quill, Gamora, Drax, Rocket, and Baby Groot are renowned as the Guardians of the Galaxy. High Priestess Ayesha of the Sovereign race has the Guardians protect valuable Anulax batteries from an Abilisk, an inter-dimensional monster, in exchange for Nebula, Gamora's estranged sister, who was caught attempting to steal the batteries. After Rocket steals the batteries for himself, the Sovereign attacks the Guardians' ship with a fleet of drones. A mysterious figure destroys the drones and the Guardians crash-land on nearby planet Berhert. The figure reveals himself as Ego, Quill's father, and he introduces Mantis, his naïve empath servant. Ego invites Quill, Gamora, and Drax to his home planet, while Rocket and Groot remain behind to repair the ship and watch Nebula.
Ayesha hires Yondu Udonta and his crew, who have been exiled from the greater Ravager community by Ravager leader Stakar Ogord for child trafficking, to recapture the Guardians. They capture Rocket, but when Yondu hesitates to turn over Quill, whom he raised, his lieutenant Kraglin Obfonteri questions his objectivity, and Taserface, another lieutenant, leads a mutiny, aided by Nebula, who shoots Yondu. Taserface executes Yondu's loyalists, and imprisons him and Rocket aboard Yondu's ship. Nebula leaves to find and kill Gamora, whom she blames for the torture inflicted on her by Thanos, their adoptive father. Kraglin, who is remorseful and never signed up for a mutiny, helps Groot free Rocket and Yondu, and while escaping, the group set the ship to self-destruct using Yondu's arrow. Taserface informs the Sovereign before being killed by the explosion.
Ego, a god-like Celestial that manipulated the matter around his consciousness to form his "home" planet, explains that he projected a humanoid guise to travel the universe and discover a purpose, eventually falling in love with Quill's mother Meredith. Ego hired Yondu to collect the young Quill after Meredith's death, but the boy was never delivered, and Ego has been searching for him ever since. He teaches Quill to manipulate his inherited Celestial power, while Mantis grows close to Drax and tries to warn him of Ego's plans. Nebula arrives at Ego's planet and tries to kill Gamora, but the pair reconcile and reach an uneasy alliance, soon discovering a cavern filled with skeletal remains. Ego brainwashes Quill and reveals that in his travels, he planted seedlings on thousands of worlds that can xenoform them into new extensions of himself, but only the power of two Celestials can activate them. He adds that he impregnated countless women and hired Yondu to collect their offspring but killed them all when they failed to inherit his Celestial power. When Ego admits that he gave Meredith the brain tumor that killed her, an infuriated Quill breaks out of his brainwashing and violently attacks him. Ego then parasitically draws Quill's energy to activate the seedlings, which begin to consume the worlds on which they are planted.
Rocket, Yondu, Groot, and Kraglin arrive, and together with Mantis, Drax, Nebula and Gamora, they rescue Quill. The reunited Guardians travel to Ego's brain at the planet's core, where Yondu reveals that he kept Quill to spare him from Ego. As the Sovereign's drones return and attack, Rocket makes a bomb using the stolen batteries, which Groot plants on Ego's brain. Quill uses his newfound Celestial powers to fight Ego, distracting him long enough for the other Guardians and Mantis to escape. The bomb explodes, killing Ego and disintegrating the planet, but also draining Quill of his Celestial powers. Yondu sacrifices himself to save Quill by letting himself die in the vacuum of space. Despite having reconciled with Gamora, Nebula chooses to leave and resume her quest to kill Thanos. The Guardians, with Mantis as a new member, hold a funeral for Yondu as dozens of Ravager ships arrive, having heard of Yondu's sacrifice and they accept him as a Ravager again.
In a series of mid-and post-credit scenes, Kraglin takes up Yondu's telekinetic arrow and control-fin; Stakar reunites with his ex-teammates and fellow Ravager captains; Ayesha creates Adam, a new artificial being with whom she plans to destroy the Guardians; and Groot grows into a teenager.
Cast
Chris Pratt as Peter Quill / Star-Lord:The half-human, half-Celestial leader of the Guardians of the Galaxy who was abducted from Earth as a child and raised by a group of alien thieves and smugglers called the Ravagers. Pratt, who returns as part of a multi-film contract with Marvel, said Quill is now famous throughout "the galaxy for having saved so many people... He feels like he's part of this group, a leader of this group. He's a little more responsible and trying to stay out of trouble, but not necessarily doing the best job." Pratt stated that working on the film forced him to come to terms with the death of his own father. Wyatt Oleff once again portrays a young Quill. Zoe Saldaña as Gamora:A member of the Guardians and an orphan from an alien world who seeks redemption for her past crimes. She was trained by Thanos to be his personal assassin. Saldaña described Gamora's role in the team as "the voice of reason", saying, "She's surrounded by all these dudes who are so stupid half the time," and added that she is the "Mom" of the team, saying that she is "just a meticulous, detailed, professional individual." Regarding Gamora's relationship with Nebula, Saldaña described it as "volatile" and added, "we're starting somewhere very crazy but appropriate given where we had ended things off in the first installment". Dave Bautista as Drax the Destroyer:A member of the Guardians and highly skilled warrior. Bautista waited for the final version of the script to not take "away from the magic", which he felt had happened when he read early drafts of the first film. He added that "I wasn't crazy about my part [in Vol. 2, initially]. It went a different direction than what I thought they were going to go with Drax," noting he did not "think Drax was that significant in the film". The part "clicked" for Bautista after the table read with the other cast. Bautista called Drax "more funny, driven" than in the first film, and having "a sense of innocence and heartbreak about him", despite "most people's first perception of Drax [that] he's just a big, muscly brute". Bautista's makeup took only 90 minutes to apply, down from four hours for the first film. He would have to sit in a sauna at the end of the day to get the makeup off, after his makeup test was found to be too "abrasive". Vin Diesel as Baby Groot:A member of the Guardians who is a tree-like humanoid and the accomplice of Rocket. The character began growing from a sapling at the end of the first film, with James Gunn intending for him to be fully grown by the sequel. Gunn eventually decided to keep him as "Baby Groot", which was one of the reasons the film is set only a few months after the first. Gunn described Baby Groot as the son of Groot from the first film, with Diesel explaining that "we're going to see this goofy, adorable, baby Groot [just] kinda learning as he goes." Prop master Russell Bobbitt created a 1:1 scale model of the Baby Groot for filming, to use as a lighting reference and sometimes as a puppet for the actors to interact with. As Groot only communicates with the phrase "I am Groot" in different inflections, Gunn created a "Groot Version" of the script for himself and Diesel, which contains each of Groot's lines in English. Diesel used a higher register of his voice for Baby Groot, which was pitched up by seven to nine semitones depending on the take. He also delivered lines slowly to avoid any time stretching issues. Diesel recorded Groot's voice for sixteen foreign-language releases of the film (up from six in the first film). Sean Gunn provided on-set reference for adolescent Groot in the post-credit sequence. Bradley Cooper as Rocket:A member of the Guardians who is a genetically engineered raccoon-based bounty hunter, mercenary, and master of weapons and battle tactics. Sean Gunn once again served as the stand-in for the character during filming, with Cooper's performance also referenced. Sean Gunn said that "Rocket has the same sort of crisis of faith [that he had in the first film] about whether or not he belongs in this family", with James Gunn adding, "this is really about Rocket coming to terms with accepting his place within a group of people, which probably seemed like a good idea" when they were heroes together at the end of the first film, but now "he's just not very comfortable with the idea". Feige stated that the relationship between Rocket and Groot has changed, saying, "Groot was Rocket's protector in the first movie, [and now] Rocket is Groot's protector."