Brian Michael Bendis Talks About the 'All-New All-Different' Guardians of the Galaxy

Marvel's rebooted 'All-New All-Diferent' comic book universe is going to have a brand new Guardians of the Galaxy team. With Peter Quill and Gamora absent, Rocket Raccoon is taking over as the team's de facto leader. Rocket's got some heavy hitter's on his roster too, with several established Marvel heroes and anti-heroes joining the galactic squad. In an interview with EW writer Brian Michael Bendis talks about this new look for the Guardians.

01
The 'All-New All-Different' Guardians of the Galaxy

via blastr

In late June, 45 comic book teaser covers for Marvel's rebooted 'All-New All-Different' comic book line were leaked. Amongst them was this cover for Guardians of the Galaxy. The hype train left the station, when people saw the surprises in the line-up. It's obvious the Peter Quill has left the team. Bendis says,

Right now we have Star-Lord, Peter Quill, and when we last left him, his father, who was the emperor of Peter's other home planet, ended up turning rather villainous... and the governments of the planets came to Peter and offered him to take over as president of the planet... When we open up on our new storyline, we'll see that he has been president of a planet for a while and in doing so, has abandoned the Guardians of the Galaxy. And what kind of pirate can be a president?
02
With Peter Gone, Someone's Got to Be In Charge

via EW

And Rocket thinks he knows who that should be:

Peter had to leave the group to do his thing, and Rocket just decides that means he's in charge. That doesn't mean anyone else agrees or wants to even fight with him about it, so he just keeps announcing how he's in charge and everyone's just doing whatever they want. He's really having a bit of a Napoleon Complex. Really, we're having a lot of fun with it, and he's not the greatest leader.
And the team he'll be leading will have some new, but familiar faces.
03
Ben 'The Thing' Grimm

via EW

The Fantastic Four book line has famously been cut, which most conspiracy theorsits believe is a ploy by Marvel to hamper ticket sales for Fox's upcoming movie reboot. Nevertheless, the team will individually live on in other books. For Ben Grimm, that life's in outer space.

Bendis:
I was so excited to try to put Ben on the team because his original goal of his character was to be an astronaut. Being an adventurer and a superhero and all that is really cool, but wouldn't it be cool to do that all out in space where he wanted to go in the first place? And isn't it interesting that if Ben Grimm comes out to be part of the Guardians of the Galaxy with all of the experience he has and looking the way he looks, he's not so much a monster?
04
Kitty Pryde is Taking Over as Star-Lord

via EW

When we last left Peter Quill, he was getting hot and heavy with iconic X-Men, Kitty Pryde. Kitty, who can phase through solid objects (and a host of other related abilities) appears to be borrowing his aesthetic for the time being.

Bendis:
I know that's one of those things that some die-hard fans see and their dander rises, because change is bad. But wait and see. You'll see exactly what that means. Some people feel like I'm personally going over to the house and breaking new toys, but that's not the case. We're making them vital and interesting and finding new stuff... The other cool thing is that with Kitty Pryde and Ben Grimm on the team, we have my goal of having a "Jews In Space" book which is what I pitched when I first came to Marvel.
Along with these new characters, the Guardians crew will have some returning characters.
05
Drax

via EW

Mainstream audiences got to know Drax the Destroyer last summer in James Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy movie. The rage filled fighter remains on the team along with everyone's favorite sentient tree, Groot.
06
Venom

via EW

Venom guest starred with the team a while ago, and it makes sense that the alien symbiote suit would fit right in with the space-faring team.
07
The All-New Team

via EW

The new Guardians of the Galaxy should premiere sometime in October, and even though it looks different, Bendis hopes audiences we'll respond.

What I'm trying to do in the book is give people something they're not going to get in the movies or the TV shows. We've got some really cool unique stuff that you're only going to see in the comics, and it's very big and very bold and very funny and very cute at the same time. So I'm excited to get people's feedback and see what they think about the new team and the new team dynamic. And could it be that ben Grimm and Groot are the new cutest couple in comics? It very well could be. We'll see!
What do you think? Is this a team you're interested in?