1. Guardians of the Galaxy, 2014.
Directed by James Gunn.
Starring Chris Pratt (Peter Quill/Star-Lord), Zoe Saldana (Gamora), Dave Bautista (Drax the Destoyer), Lee Pace (Ronan the Accuser) , Michael Rooker (Yondu Udonta), Karen Gillan (Nebula), Djimon Hounsou (Korath), Glenn Close (Nova Prime), John C. Reilly (Rhomann Dey), Josh Brolin (Thanos), Benicio Del Toro (Taneller Tivan/The Collector), Peter Serafinowicz (Denarian Saal) and featuring the voice talents of Bradley Cooper (Rocket Raccoon) and Vin Diesel (Groot).
Yes, coming in at number one in Flickering Myth’s ranking of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is James Gunn’s space opera Guardians of the Galaxy, which topped nine of our writers’ individual lists (compared to six for The Avengers and one for Iron Man).
Deemed a huge risk for Marvel given the obscure source material (and wacky characters), the penultimate film in Phase Two delves into the cosmic side of the Marvel Cinematic Universe to deliver one of the most entertaining summer blockbusters in recent memory.
Described by many as “Star Wars for a new generation”, Guardians of the Galaxy is one of the finest comic book movies of all time, and was the only film in Marvel’s back catalogue not to feature lower than third in our individual rankings, placing in the top two in all but two of our lists. Awesome indeed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B16Bo47KS2g
Read our reviews of Guardians of the Galaxy here and here.
Originally published August 13, 2014. Updated April 12, 2018.
