The Guardians of the Galaxy were introduced as a five-person squad in their first solo movie, but the team gained a couple of new members in Vol. 2. When they met Mantis, played by Pom Klementieff, she was working as a loyal servant to Ego the Living Planet, Peter Quill’s biological father, aware of his evil plan to rebuild the universe in his own image.
Meeting the Guardians inspired her to become a hero, so she came clean, helped them defeat Ego, and joined the team. Klementieff has always played Mantis’ scenes hilariously. So, here are Mantis’ 10 Funniest Moments In The MCU, Ranked.
“I Am Certainly Grateful To Be Ugly!”
Since Drax takes everything literally, he says everything literally, too. This means that he’s brutally honest with people without even realizing it. When he first meets Mantis, he makes no secret of the fact that he finds her repulsive.
But he also finds a way to spin this around to be a positive thing: “When you’re ugly and someone loves you, you know they love you for who you are. Beautiful people never know who to trust.” Mantis takes this positive outlook onboard and says, “Well, then I am certainly grateful to be ugly!”
The Chick With The Antenna
This moment doesn’t explicitly feature Mantis, but it does give us a window into her relationship with Rocket. She joined the Guardians of the Galaxy in 2014, got turned to dust in 2018, and in 2023, Rocket still didn’t know her name.
During the “Time Heist,” when Rocket headed to Asgard circa 2013 with Thor to collect the Reality Stone, he told the God of Thunder, “I lost the only family I ever had. Quill, Groot, Drax, the chick with the antenna! All gone!”
“Please Don’t Put Your Eggs In Me!”
Spider-Man’s plan to save Doctor Strange from Ebony Maw on the Q-Ship headed to Titan involved a reference to Alien — although he erroneously called it Aliens, much to the chagrin of sci-fi buffs who idolize the dorky Peter Parker — and when he arrived on his first foreign planet, he expected to find extraterrestrials waiting to impregnate him with a baby xenomorph.
That didn’t happen when they got to Titan, but they were ambushed by the Guardians of the Galaxy. Spidey was met by Mantis, prompting him to cry out, “Please don’t put your eggs in me!”
Petting Rocket
As Mantis talks to Drax, sitting around a campfire and getting to know the Guardians, she asks him, “Can I pet your puppy? It is adorable.” Drax realizes she’s talking about Rocket and thinks it’ll be funny to see what happens if she tries to pet him, so he agrees. She strokes Rocket’s head and he flips out.
Drax bursts into a fit of laughter and tells her, “That’s called a practical joke.” Despite the fact that Rocket mauled her because of it, Mantis says, “I liked it very much!” This is the beginning of a wonderful friendship between Mantis and Drax. It’s marked by the occasional insult, but there’s a lot of love there.
“Oh, Yes! Please Use Knives!”
At the end of Avengers: Endgame, when Thor comes onboard the Benatar and threatens Peter Quill’s leadership, the rest of the Guardians suggest that they fight each other for the top position on the team.
Rocket says that if they don’t want to use blasters, they could use knives. Mantis’ eyes light up what she hears this and says, “Oh, yes! Please use knives!” She might be an empath, but she also borders on sociopathy from time to time.
“They Are Not For Feeling Doorways!”
When the Guardians first meet Mantis, their first question is what her antenna are for. Quill and Drax have a bet: Drax thinks they’re for feeling doorways to ensure she doesn’t get decapitated by one, and if her antenna are for anything other than that, Quill wins the bet.
Unsurprisingly, Mantis tells them, “They are not for feeling doorways!,” and Drax is devastated to have lost the bet. Then, she explains that her antenna are the source of her empathic abilities.
Laughing At Quill With Drax
When Mantis first shows off her empathic powers on the journey to Ego’s planet, she starts with Quill and finds love in his heart. She reveals that Quill has a crush on Gamora. Naturally, this embarrasses Quill, and it’s only made worse by the fact that Drax erupts into hysterical laughter.
Then, Mantis places a hand on Drax to tap into his emotions and starts laughing along with him. She cries out, “I have never known such humor!” Humiliated, Quill says, “So unbelievably uncool.”
“He’s So Cute, I’m Gonna Die!”
Despite the fact that Rocket can’t seem to remember Mantis’ name, she really likes him. He might have some rough edges and an acid wit, but he’s also adorable and furry. Mantis looks past his gruff demeanor to see the cuddly furball within, and often cries out, “He’s so cute, I’m gonna die!,” whenever she sees him.
Even when Rocket showing up on a crumbling planet to save their lives, she points out how cute he is. While Quill erroneously calls Rocket a raccoon, Mantis calls him a dog.
Her Smile
When Mantis joins Drax sitting on Ego’s planet and watching the landscapes that remind him of his home planet, she shoots him a very unnerving smile. She tells Drax that she’s heard smiling is the way to get people to like you, but Drax informs her, “Not if you do it like that.”
Mantis grew up alone on Ego’s planet, so she’s not used to interacting with other people, and this is the source of a lot of her character’s humor. The same goes for Drax taking everything literally and Groot only speaking in one phrase.
“Kick Names, Take A**!”
When Tony Stark tries to explain his plan to take down Thanos to Peter Quill, Quill tells him that following a plan isn’t exactly the Guardians’ M.O., and they’re better at winging it.
Peter Parker looks over to see Drax and Mantis standing around, minding their own business, and asks, “What is it exactly that they’re doing?” Mantis hilariously replies, “Kick names, take ass!”