Guardians of the Galaxy
In 1988, following his mother's death, the child Peter Quill is abducted from Earth by the Ravagers, a group of alien thieves and smugglers led by Yondu Udonta. In 2014, on the abandoned planet Morag, Quill steals a mysterious Orb but is attacked by henchmen of the fanatical Kree renegade Ronan the Accuser, led by Korath. Although Quill escapes with the Orb, Yondu discovers his theft and issues a bounty for his capture, while Ronan sends the assassin Gamora after the Orb.
When Quill attempts to sell the Orb on Xandar, the capital of the Nova Empire, Gamora ambushes him and steals it. A fight ensues, drawing in a pair of bounty hunters: the genetically and cybernetically modified raccoon Rocket and the tree-like humanoid Groot. Nova Corps officers capture the four, detaining them in the Kyln prison. An inmate, Drax the Destroyer, attempts to kill Gamora due to her association with Ronan, who killed his wife and daughter. Quill convinces Drax that Gamora can bring Ronan to him, though Gamora reveals that she has betrayed Ronan, unwilling to let him use the Orb's power. Learning that Gamora intends to sell the Orb to the Collector Taneleer Tivan, Quill, Rocket, Groot, and Drax work together to escape the Kyln in Quill's ship, the Milano.
Ronan meets with Gamora's adoptive father, Thanos, to discuss her betrayal. Quill's group flees to Knowhere. A drunken Drax summons Ronan while the rest of the group meets Tivan. Tivan opens the Orb, revealing an Infinity Stone, an item of immeasurable power that destroys all but the most powerful beings who wield it. Tivan's slave, Carina, grabs the Stone, triggering an explosion that engulfs Tivan's collection. Ronan arrives and easily defeats Drax, while the others flee by ship, pursued by Ronan's followers, including Gamora's adoptive sister Nebula. Nebula destroys Gamora's ship, leaving her floating in space, and Ronan's fighters capture the Orb.
Quill contacts Yondu before following Gamora into space, giving her his helmet to survive; Yondu arrives and retrieves the pair. Rocket, Drax, and Groot threaten to attack Yondu's ship to rescue them, but Quill negotiates a truce, promising the Orb to Yondu. Quill's group agrees that facing Ronan means certain death but that they cannot let him use the Infinity Stone to destroy the galaxy. On Ronan's flagship, the Dark Aster, Ronan embeds the Stone in his warhammer, taking its power for himself. He contacts Thanos, threatening to kill him after first destroying Xandar. Hateful of her adoptive father, Nebula allies with Ronan.
The Ravagers and Quill's group join the Nova Corps to confront the Dark Aster at Xandar, with Quill's group breaching the warship with the Milano. Ronan uses his empowered warhammer to destroy the Nova Corps fleet. Drax kills Korath, and Gamora defeats Nebula, who escapes. However, the group finds themselves outmatched by Ronan's power. Rocket crashes a Ravager ship through the Dark Aster. The damaged Dark Aster crash-lands on Xandar, with Groot sacrificing himself to shield the group. Ronan emerges from the wreck and prepares to destroy Xandar, but Quill distracts him, allowing Drax and Rocket to destroy Ronan's warhammer. Quill grabs the freed Stone, and with Gamora, Drax, and Rocket sharing its burden, uses it to vaporize Ronan.
