Marvel Studios' latest film release, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and the ongoing first season of the studio's ABC TV series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. deal with the peace-keeping deeds of ordinary government operatives (as well as the super serum-enhanced variety of soldiers) on planet Earth, but later this year Marvel will take a trip to the stars in James Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy movie.

The first trailer for Guardians sells Gunn's comic book adaptation as being a self-aware (and loopier) Star Wars movie, complete with an eclectic roster of (anti-)heroes composed of archetypes that would feel at home in a Dungeons & Dragons tabletop RPG campaign. A newly-released sneak peek for the film adapts something of a less jokey tone with its pitch. (Well, it's as serious as a preview that features Rocket Raccoon can get, anyway.)

Said Guardians featurette, which premiered during last night's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. episode "Providence", is mostly a mashup of previously-released trailer shots with behind the scenes footage that was already available online for viewing in still image form. However, between the familiar material and new cast interviews, this preview effectively outlines what makes Gunn's film a change of pace for Marvel Studios.

Guardians of the Galaxy preview

Saldana's comment about the Guardians team being "the thieves, the bounty hunters, and the neglected" - combined with Pratt noting that the eponymous characters start out as rather "selfish" - ties into how Gunn has previously described the film's over-arching narrative: a story about a bunch of criminals who realize that "giving a s**t" is actually a good thing. There's strong potential in that premise, not least of all because it lends itself to a Marvel Studio release that manages to satisfy as a standalone feature (and not just as part of a larger shared film universe).

That said, Guardians will still very much be interconnected with other Marvel releases, despite taking place in (literally) a different part of outer space. You might recall that Thor: The Dark World's mid-credit scene introduced one of the shadier characters in Guardians, while the additional villain types in Gunn's movie have connections to the big baddie Thanos (who's expected to emerge fully from the shadows by The Avengers 3).

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Guardians of the Galaxy was directed by James Gunn, having drawn from a script that he wrote based on an earlier draft by Nicole Perlman. The cast includes Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Lee Pace, Karen Gillan, Benecio Del Toro, Djimon Hounsou, John C. Reilly, Glenn Close, Michael Rooker, and the voices of Vin Diesel and Bradley Cooper.

Look for Guardians of the Galaxy to open in U.S. theaters on August 1st, 2014.

Source: Yahoo! Movies