The New Guardians Of The Galaxy Team Might Be The Strongest Superteam In The MCU
Contains spoilers for "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3"
The Guardians of the Galaxy are dead — long live the Guardians of the Galaxy! Though everyone in the team somehow makes it to the end of "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" alive, their mission is far from easy, and pretty much everyone ends the movie as a changed person. As a result, the original team effectively disbands and the majority of them wander off to do their own things.
However, the galaxy still needs its protectors, and as the freshly appointed leader of what remains of the team, Rocket (Bradley Cooper) assembles a new squad that's a healthy combination of old hands and fresh faces. Along with him and Groot (Vin Diesel), the new Guardians of the Galaxy are Kraglin Obfonteri (Sean Gunn), Cosmo the Spacedog (Maria Bakalova), Adam Warlock (Will Poulter), Phyla (Kai Zen), and quite possibly Warlock's adopted pet Blurp.
It's not just a good team, but a strong one. When it comes to pure power, Rocket's new Guardians of the Galaxy blows the old lineup out of the water with ease, and could very well stand among the very strongest MCU superteams.
The new Guardians of the Galaxy are far more powerful than the original team
Rocket is now playing the Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) role, but he's obviously much smarter and has access to far superior gear. He's finally dealt with his trauma and emotional baggage, and as he proves in "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2," he's also an astute tactical mind — and therefore a definite improvement over his faceoff-prone predecessor. Groot is still Groot, but he's grown into a supersized form that's far bigger and more powerful-looking than anything we've seen before. Kraglin is now in full command of Yondu's (Michael Rooker) arrow, giving him his former chief's power set to go with his vastly greater interpersonal skills. Cosmo, of course, is a massively powerful telekinetic and a very good dog. The MCU version's telepathic abilities remain largely unexplored, but if the Spacedog's comic book incarnation is anything to go by, she's no helpless pup on that front, either.
And then there are the new recruits. There's Adam Warlock, who enters the Marvel Cinematic Universe by beating multiple Guardians with ease. The fact that he's still basically a toddler implies that his powers are still developing ... which seems likely, considering that the comics version of Warlock is a Thanos-level powerhouse. As for young Phyla, the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji) rattles off a fairly impressive array of her physical and mental powers during her introduction, and she seems to have acquired some energy beam gadgets to go with her innate power set. If she's meant to be the MCU version of Phyla-Vell, she might turn out to be the most powerful Guardian yet, too. After all, her comics incarnation has operated as Captain Marvel, Quasar, and a living embodiment of Death itself. No biggie.
The combination of this new team's powers and abilities is impressive, and individually, they're no slouches, either. It's probably no coincidence that their introductory scene features Kraglin — arguably the weakest member of the crew — casually noting that he's fully capable of taking care of the approaching alien horde himself.
How would the new Guardians fare against other superhero teams?
It's clear that individual members of other superhero teams would smoke individual Guardians in a fight. After all, arrow or not, it's not like Kraglin stands much of a chance against someone with adequate dodging skills or a healing factor. However, as a team, they're a powerful, highly cooperative unit led by one of the greatest minds in the entire MCU. As such, it's hard to come up with another superteam that could touch them at the moment ... or, for that matter, in the history of the MCU.
Cosmo alone could float the original Avengers helplessly above ground while the rest of her team points and laughs. The Eternals might seem to have a fighting chance, but honestly? They barely manage to guard planets, while even Guardians 1.0 have vanquished far bigger threats than anything the Eternals have ever had to battle. Illuminati? The new Guardians have a pretty decent combination of muscle, skill, and equipment to match their physical prowess, and good luck to Professor X (Patrick Stewart) trying to wrap his brain around a sentient tree, a psionic canine, and an artificial superbeing. Really, only magical characters like Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) or Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) might be able to score a moderately easy win over the Guardians ... but then again, that's an MCU-wide issue that affects just about every non-magical character.
So, are the new Guardians overpowered? Thanks to the team's historical penchant for falling apart due to interpersonal bickering and the abundance of absurdly powerful threats in the galaxy, probably not. Besides, they're almost certainly going to feature in the future of the MCU in some shape, form, or way. With the whole multiverse becoming a bigger and more dangerous place by the second, the Guardians of the Galaxy will probably need every ounce of their strength going forward.