A group of interstellar outlaws team up to save the galaxy from a villain who seeks ultimate power in this comic book space adventure from Marvel Studios and director James Gunn (SLITHER, SUPER). Peter Quill was just a young boy when, devastated by his mother's death, he sprinted out of the hospital and was swept into the stars by Yondu (Michael Rooker), the leader of an eclectic band of space scavengers known as The Ravagers. Twenty-six years later, Quill has adopted the nickname Star Lord (Chris Pratt). He's broken away from The Ravagers in an attempt to track down an ancient orb that is also coveted by the evil Ronan (Lee Pace), who is in league with the dreaded Thanos, and who dispatches his top assassin Gamora (Zoe Saldana) to retrieve it from Star Lord. In the process of doing so, Gamora also gets drawn into a fight with furry bounty hunter Rocket (voice of Bradley Cooper) and his tree-like, humanoid companion Groot (voice of Vin Diesel). Subsequently thrown into prison, this unlikely quartet quickly makes the acquaintance of fearsome warrior Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista), who seeks bitter revenge for the slaughter of his entire family at the hands of Ronan.

In the process of making a daring prison break, Star Lord, Gamora, Rocket, Groot, and Drax recover the orb, and transport it to The Collector (Benecio Del Toro), who reveals that it houses an Infinity Gem - one of six precious stones that harbors incredible powers that could pose a dire threat should they fall into the wrong hands. Later, Ronan acquires the Infinity Gem and plots to use its power to destroy The Nova Corps home-world of Xandar, The Guardians of the Galaxy must race through the stars to recover it before Ronan can carry out his genocidal plan.