It’s the moment that Marvel fans have been waiting for ever since “Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy” originally premiered on Disney XD back in September of 2015. When Peter Quill & pals journey to Star-Lord’s home planet of Earth and then cross paths with the Avengers.
It’s worth noting here that the Marvel Cinematic Universe – through multiple motion pictures that have been released in its Phase Two & Phase Three arcs – has been building towards a similar sort of meet-up between the Guardians & Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. In fact, the movie where this fateful meeting finally happens – “Avengers: Infinity War” – is currently shooting down in Georgia at Pinewood Atlanta Studios.
The internet temporary lost its mind last month when Instagram images emerged of Robert Downey Jr., Tom Holland & Chris Pratt together on the set of “Avengers: Infinity Wars.”
The downside is … Film fans will have to wait ‘til May of 2018 to see how the Marvel Cinematic Universe version of this meeting goes down. Or – given that directors Anthony & Joe Russo have always planned on “Avengers: Infinity War” being a two-part tale – should I say May of 2019? Whereas Marvel Animation fans, they get to see what happens when the Incredible Hulk faces off against the inscrutable Groot tonight. On Disney XD. In one epic hour-long extravaganza that gets underway at 9 p.m. ET / PT.
As you might expect, a lot of advance thought went into the two episodes of “Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy” that make up tonight’s hour-long programming event. To hear Cort Lane – Marvel’s SVP of Animation & Family – talk, they knew right from the get-go that this Guardians / Avengers meet-up would translate into ratings gold.
“When we did something similar on ‘Ultimate Spider-Man’ as that animated series transitioned from Season Two to Season Three – first by having Peter Parker be invited to join the Avengers and then by having Loki & Doctor Octopus team up to take down Spidey – we were able to bring in a lot of new viewers. People who hadn’t previously watched ‘Ultimate Spider-Man,’” Lane explained. “And even though ‘Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy’ already is a successful show, it’s always nice to add new viewers. The real challenge here was to craft a story that not only services the Guardians & the Avengers but properly set the stage for the season-long storyline that this Marvel Animation production is planning on telling over Season Two.”
And Cort speaks about “servicing,” what he’s really talking about is that delicate balance that Marvel always tries to strike with its TV shows. Which is to try & be true to its incredible stable of characters and honor what can sometimes be decades worth of story & history while – at the same time – still giving the fans what they want.
“And with these two episodes of this Disney XD show, we knew that we had reached a really big moment. The Guardians meeting the Avengers,” said Harrison Wilcox, senior director of Production & Development at Marvel Television. “Which is why – as we began working on these particular shows – we gave an awful lot of thought to our character pairings.”
“Take – for example – how (WARNING! SPOILERS AHEAD) Peter Quill and Ant-man are paired in these episodes. Given that one of these characters is an outlaw while the other is a former outlaw … We thought that putting those two together to tackle a project made sense from a story point-of-view,” Wilcox continued. “Whereas Captain Marvel & Rocket, given that Carol is a cosmic character …”
“ … and that she likes to blow stuff up. Just like Rocket,” Lane interjected.
“ … we wanted to see how pairing these two would play out. And to give our writers credit, they did a really great job with the scenes that Captain Marvel & Rocket have together. First by having these characters conflict, then by placing them in direct competition with one another. I have to say that I love that friendly sort of moment towards the end of the show where you see that Carol & Rocket now really care about each other,” Harrison enthused.
But at the same time, it’s important to understand that the two episodes of “Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy” that are airing tonight aren’t just some stand-alone programming stunt. They actually pick up where Season One of this Marvel Animation production left off and then introduce plot elements that will play out over the course of the next 24 episodes of Season Two.
“At the end of last season, Thanos had been defeated. And as anyone who’s seen the movies or read the comics or watched our TV show knows, Thanos kind of rides around on this throne chair,” explained Wilcox. “Anyway, over Season Two of “Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy,’ we’re going to find that Thanos hid things inside of that throne chair. Things like that sarcophagus that Rocket hides from the other Guardians at the very end of this show.”
“And given that – as we’re planning out an entire season of a Marvel Animation series – we first break our story into four or six episode-long arcs and then make sure that each individual episode that make up those arcs have a theme, a throughline plot, and a great character story … Well, Rocket hiding that sarcophagus from the other characters is the jumping-off point for the next two or three arcs for ‘Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy,’ “
Harrison continued. “And with each arc, we’re going to explore what one of those items inside of the sarcophagus is. Is it a powerful weapon? Is it a dangerous weapon? Should it have not been opened? And we’re then going to use these weapons as a way to tie different characters from our show to the general Marvel cosmic universe but – at the same time -- always keep one of our five Guardians as the focal point of that particular story.”
So that – in a very general sense – is how Season Two of “Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy” is going to play out. But before that can happen, there’s first the matter of tonight’s meet-up between Star Lord & associates and the Avengers.
“And what’s really great about doing this particular story now is that – after coming off of those first 26 episodes of the animated ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ – the writers of this show now really know how these characters are. And what’s fun about the Guardians is that they don’t always do the squeaky-clean right thing. Sometimes they’re rascals, rapscallions and outlaws,” Wilcox concluded. “So when you put these characters in the exact same space as the Avengers, even the longtime hardcore Marvel fans will have trouble predicting how this interaction will play out. Which is what makes this pair of episodes fun.”
The fun starts tonight at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Disney XD.