Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
The surprise hit of 2014, Guardians of the Galaxy introduced a barely known comic book team into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. With the action taking place outside of Earth, the Universe expanded even further, while also introducing the new superheroes: Star Lord, Gamora, Drax the Destroyer, Rocket Raccoon and Groot.
This is also the third Marvel Cinematic Universe installment which explicitly reveals an Infinity Stone, while also presenting the history of these powerful artifacts. Thanos also makes an appearance, as the puppeteer behind the main villain Ronan the Accuser. Nebula, his second step-daughter, is also introduced, with her whereabouts being unknown by the end of the movie.
The Collector also makes an appearance, with his intention of gathering all the Infinity Stones for himself – though it isn’t clear yet whether or not he works for Thanos (most likely, he has other plans than the Mad Titan).
The Nova Corps are also introduced, thus hinting at the appearance of another superhero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, sometime in the near future.
With Guardians of the Galaxy, Marvel has shown that it has indeed amassed a great number of fans, since the movie about the barely known team is now the 4th highest grossing installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, behind only the Avengers films and Iron Man 3.
