‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2’: A Few Questions About the New Teaser

With little fanfare, Marvel Entertainment released the first poster and footage from next year’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 this morning — but if the so-called “sneak peek” didn’t lay out the storyline of James Gunn’s second installment of the space superhero series, it did offer a few clues about what to expect — here are five questions in particular to consider.

Is Yondu a Guardian Now?

It’s not just that Michael Rooker’s character appears on the teaser poster for the movie alongside the other members of the team (as well as Karen Gillen’s Nebula, interestingly) — Yondu is also seen in the sneak peek footage, walking alongside Rocket. As the stand-in father figure of Chris Pratt’s Star Lord, he already has a reason to help out the team, and in a movie where Star Lord’s actual father shows up, it only makes sense he’d be involved. But will he actually join the team itself? The comic book Yondu was one of the first Guardians, after all…

What’s Going on With Nebula?

Also appearing with the team on the poster, Nebula makes a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it appearance in the sneak peek, apparently captured by forces unseen — she’s on the floor in front of some stairs that look not dissimilar to the set Gamora is running across earlier in the footage; are the two half-sisters forced together again for reasons unknown? If so, who, or what, could want to bring two former proteges of Thanos together, and for what reason?

Just How Small Is Baby Groot (And Will He Stay That Way All Movie)?

You might have missed Groot on the poster, because he’s actually smaller than he appeared in the end credits of the first Guardians — he’s down by Star Lord’s left foot, if you haven’t found him yet — and he shows up, briefly, in the sneak peek, on the shoulder of Rocket (A reversal of their positions in the first movie, in a cute move). The change in Groot since the first movie has been one of the most commonly discussed elements of the second movie — but how long will it last? In the first Guardians, Groot demonstrated the ability to grow when necessary, so what’s to stop him turning back into the big old Groot we knew and loved?

Has Drax Changed the Most Out of the Entire Team?

The big joke of the sneak peek footage is Drax (Dave Bautista) providing emotional support in the worst possible way to Star Lord — but there’s something to be said for the scene, which shows the most development of any of the characters in either the poster or the footage. The “old” Drax was incapable of emotion, but apparently things have changed for this second go-round — even as other things, such as Star Lord’s unrequited affection for Gamora (Zoe Saldana), remain constant.

Just How Many Trees Does an Ego Have?

The sneak peek footage features multiple shots of the Guardians wandering around surprisingly pastoral surroundings. Given that we know that Ego the Living Planet will be a character in the movie — played by Kurt Russell, no less — what are the chances that the Guardians are actually wandering around on Ego in these scenes?

More will be revealed as Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 gets closer to its May 5, 2017, release.

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