Guardians of the Galaxy

2014

James Gunn turned a second-tier Marvel comic into one of the studio's biggest hits, following Peter Quill, a human abducted from Earth as a boy, who falls in with a green assassin, a vengeful strongman, a talking raccoon, and a walking tree to keep a powerful orb away from the fanatic Ronan. Chris Pratt stars as Star-Lord, with Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, and the voices of Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel. Its 1970s mixtape soundtrack became a best-seller on its own.