Guardians Of The Galaxy Easter Eggs And References
By Steve Lam
References
Rocket Raccoon’s Backstory
When Peter Quill sees Rocket Raccoon changing into his prison uniform, he notices that Rocket’s back is scarred and battered. Later, in a heartbreaking scene, an angry and drunk Rocket starts to ramble on about being torn apart and genetically experimented on. This is all in reference to Rocket’s history in the comic books. Originating from Halfworld in the Keystone Quadrant, Rocket was one of many animals that were genetically manipulated so they could become bipedal caretakers for the mentally ill.
Drax the Destroyer’s Ultimate Revenge
Drax the Destroyer in the comic books originated as Arthur Douglas — a human who, along with his family, was killed by Thanos’s attacking ship. A Titan god known as Kronos saves Douglas’s soul and inserts it into a new body, thereby making Douglas into Drax the Destroyer — a being bent on killing Thanos. Of course, nothing’s ever simple in comic books. We later find out that Douglas’s daughter, Heather, never died. Instead, she survived the attack and was adopted by Mentor — Thanos’s father. But that’s another story for another time. What’s key for Guardians of the Galaxy is that after killing Ronan, Drax talks about his revenge mission not being completed. Because Ronan served Thanos, Thanos now needed to die also. This is in direct reference to his original mission in the comic books and the purpose of why he was created.
Morag
The initial planet Peter Quill first sets foot on to steal the orb is named Morag. In Marvel comics, Morag was the name of the Kree’s first leader and also the one who led his people into an eons long war with the Skrulls known as the Kree-Skrull War.
Bereet
In Guardians of the Galaxy, right after Peter Quill makes his escape from the planet Morag, a woman named Bareet appears. She seems to be another one of his conquests as she’s wearing one of his old T-shirts. In Marvel comics, Bereet made her first appearance in January of 1977 in Rampaging Hulk #1. She was a Kylorian techno-artist who used alien technology to create films that depicted fictional adventures of herself and the Hulk. She became a sort of a movie star amongst her people. Later, traveling to Earth, Bereet became involved with the Hulk when he gained Bruce Banner’s intelligence.
Kevin Bacon
Peter Quill makes multiple references to Footloose and its protagonist, Kevin Bacon. And it’s not just because those are the only limited pop culture references he knows. Marvel Studios could’ve chosen any hit movie from the 1970s and 1980s — Terminator, Beverly Hills Cop, Lethal Weapon, the Star Wars Trilogy, etc. But they chose a Kevin Bacon film about dancing. A while back, there was an ongoing parlor game called Six Degrees of Bacon Separation. For those that don’t know, the goal of the game is to link anyone in Hollywood to Kevin Bacon within six degrees. The joke is that he has worked with everyone due to his prolific career. Could them mentioning Kevin Bacon in the galaxy be a way of placing him outside of the confines of our planet and Hollywood? Also, if you remember, Bacon also played Sebastian Shaw, the main antagonist in X-Men: First Class, which was produced by rival studio 20th Century Fox.
Yondu Udonta
Yondu Udonta appeared in the comic books as one of the original Guardians of the Galaxy back in 1969. In this incarnation, Yondu and his people fled their homeworld after an invasive colonization by humans. He later meets Vance Astro, a human astronaut. Though their initial meeting didn’t go so smoothly, the two later form an alliance to go up against the invading Badoon (more on these guys later). Yondu and Vance later meet Martinex T’Naga and Captain Charlie-27. They joined forces and became the Guardians of the Galaxy.
In the current film, Yondu’s characterization is very different even though his blue skin remains. For some reason, his mohawk has been modified to look like a metal implant. In this incarnation, he’s a junker who originally kidnapped Peter Quill in 1988 and raised him as his son. Michael Rooker, who portrays Yondu in the film, previously played Grant Grant in director James Gunn’s 2006 horror film Slither ,which also starred Nathan Fillion.
Carina
The Collector’s obedient servant wasn’t just a creation for the film. In Marvel comics, she is the Collector’s daughter, Carina Walters, and the wife of a supervillain named “The Enemy”, a.k.a Michael Korvac. It seems that in Guardians of the Galaxy, Carina won’t be walking down the aisle anytime soon because … well, you’ll just have to see the movie (then again, I might’ve already given it away in one of these pages).
The Milano
Peter Quill’s ship is named after his 1980s childhood crush — Alyssa Milano. And yes, I purposely used a picture of her from the 1980s.
Knick-Knacks
On Peter Quill’s music system, you may have noticed various miscellaneous items: puffy stickers, scratch and sniff stickers, a troll doll (Dam doll), a Garbage Pail Kids trading card, and an Alf trading card. All of these things were popular with children and pre-teens in the 1980s. The troll doll was used in the end of Guardians of the Galaxy as a deception against Yondu.
John Stamos
It’s clear that Peter Quill was a child of the 1980s. In a humorous line, Peter refers to John Stamos as an “outlaw.” This image was probably solidified in the young Quill’s mind when he grew up watching Stamos play rebellious, mullet-wearing Uncle Jesse Katsopolis (say that three times fast) on the sitcom Full House. Don’t laugh, I thought Uncle Jesse was cool too when I was growing up … okay, go ahead and laugh, because I’m laughing hysterically right now. Then again, he was married to Rebecca Romijn — Mystique from X-Men, X2, X-Men: The Last Stand, and X-Men: First Class.
Jackson Pollack and Black Lights
Peter Quill brags about how he’s bedded many women on The Milano, and he offers proof via black light. You can put the idea of a Pollack painting and black light together on your own. That’s all I’m going to say. Simmer down now, this is a family-oriented site. Although, it’s still strange how Peter, as a child, would even know who Jackson Pollack was or what a black light would show. I guess he was mature for his age.
Ranger Rick
At one point in Guardians of the Galaxy, Peter Quill jokingly refers to Rocket Raccoon as “Ranger Rick.” Ranger Rick, an anthropomorphized raccoon, was and still is the mascot for a popular children’s nature magazine which has been published since 1967. The image included for this reference was illustrated by Alton Langford who was the artist during the years of 1983 to 1999. Lorin Thompson illustrated him from 1967 to 1982. Hypothesizing Peter’s age to be ten when he was kidnapped in 1988, Langford’s depiction of Ranger Rick would probably be the one he’s most familiar with. But I can see it now: in the next movie, Peter will meet Cosmo the Spacedog. Because Cosmo is intelligent and also the Head of Security for Knowhere, Peter’s going to call him “McGruff the Crime Dog.” Boom! James Gunn, I’ll give you that one for free.
The Giving Tree
Rocket’s not the only one Jason Quill jokes about. At one point, he calls Groot “The Giving Tree.” This is in reference to the 1964 published Shel Silverstein poem, The Giving Tree, that was popular with children in the 1980s. At that time, every elementary school kid knew the poems of Shel Silverstein. The story of The Giving Tree is about a female apple tree who is able to communicate with a child she refers to as “Boy” all his life. Whenever the child needed something, the tree would offer herself to him. When the child grew up to be a man and needed a house, the tree offered to have him cut her branches off to build a house. The story eventually ends with the child grown into an old man who only wants to sit down, and the tree offers her now remaining stump for him to sit. The sacrifice Groot makes for the team virtually mirrors the acts of kindness of the tree in the poem, which makes the comparison even more deep.
Parasite Slug from Slither (2006)
One of James Gunn’s former creepy-crawlies makes an appearance in The Collector’s gallery of weird and awesomeness in Guardians of the Galaxy. If you were quick enough, you could catch one of the nasty alien parasite slugs from 2006’s Slither housed in a glass case. Could this mean that Slither is actually a Marvel Cinematic Universe movie? Are the parasitic slugs part of some larger conspiracy by an unknown alien threat? Or is it just James Gunn having some fun referencing his past film, which starred Michael Rooker and Nathan Fillion, and cameoed Lloyd Kaufman — Guardians of the Galaxy‘s Yondu Udonta, Monstrous Inmate, and Kyln Prisoner, respectively.
If you haven’t seen them, check out some more Guardians of the Galaxy Easter eggs and references: