In 1977, at the age of 8, I sat in a theater and experienced the awe and wonder that was Star Wars. At the time, no one had any idea what kind of cultural significance it would have or what it would mean for cinema in general and science-fiction films in particular. Though there have been many books, essays and college theses that have attempted to quantify and examine those impacts over the years, at age 8 I didn’t really care about such things.

If I’m being completely honest I should admit that I still don’t, I just remember sitting in the darkened theater being completely pulled into a new and completely realized new universe of awe and wonder and being completely captivated and immeasurably entertained by it. Thanks to James Gunn and Guardians of the Galaxy, that feeling has returned 37 years later.

A select few saw, and most only heard about, the first peek at Guardians of the Galaxy when it was given at Comic-Con and part of the cast appeared on stage including Dave Bautista, Chris Pratt and a recently shaved headed Karen Gillan. But even though Drax, Starlord and Nebula were represented, there were a few characters vital to the Guardians of the Galaxy roster that were not present, notably Rocket Raccoon and Groot. Now while we weren’ t expecting to see a walking and talking raccoon and tree combo take the stage, it was possible that their voice actors could have shown up, but that wasn’t the case.

Yesterday, the internet nerd community went crazy with rumors of Vin Diesel getting the role of Groot. While it has been known that Diesel had spoken to Kevin Feige, it was said that Disney and Marvel might not be using him any time soon. Well this didn’t mean anything to the internet after Vin Diesel briefly changed his Facebook cover image to that of Groot for a few minutes before changing it back to an image of himself shortly after.

(On a side note, can someone tell Vin how douchey it looks that half of the images he has used for cover images on Facebook were pictures of himself featuring his own quotes?)

If you were looking for someone to fitting take on the role of a character whose last name is “The Destroyer”, it isn’t a shock to see that former WWE Champion Batista will be filling the boots of Drax in the Guardians of the Galaxy movie. Late yesterday, the Hollywood Reporter leaked the announcement that Dave Bautista would be taking on this role in Marvel’s 2014 Summer Blockbuster.

Alongside Chris Pratt who will be playing the part of Star Lord, Dave Bautista will be filling the shoes of a team of cosmic heroes fairly unknown to the audience outside of the comic book world. Though having success in the better half of the last decade, the Guardians of the Galaxy are only known to the mainstream audience because of Marvel’s announcements tying them in to the greater Avengers Marvel Studios film universe.

Of all the ‘Phase 2’ movies Marvel is pushing out in the next few years, none is as risky as the Guardians of the Galaxy film. Not only is it the most exotic of any Marvel film yet produced, it also has to set a cosmic tone that The Avengers 2 will likely launch from.

So Marvel Studios really needs to get this one right, and according to The Hollywood Reporter, they have tapped a hot-shot new writer to take a crack at the script:

Chris McCoy is being tapped to rewrite Guardians of the Galaxy, Marvel Studios’ space adventure movie… McCoy is considered to have a lot of heat as a writer. The scribe has had three of his specs land on the Black List: Get Back in 2007,Good Looking in 2009 and Good Kids in 2011. His scripts have been praised for their quirky comedic bent.

Sounds like the right angle for a script that features a bad ass talking tree and raccoon. Speaking of, the Hollywood Reporter also added some clarity to the team that Marvel is putting together for this version of the Guardians.

Aside from the already alluded to Groot and Rocket Raccoon, the team will also include Drax The Destroyer, Star Lord and Gamora. Phase 2 ‘big bad’ Thanos is also likely to play a big part in this film in advance of him menacing The Avengers in their own blockbuster sequel.

We at The Flickcast will keep you updated on all the various ‘Phase 2’ projects as they progress forward.