New Photos And Details For Michael Rooker’s Yondu In Guardians Of The Galaxy

Now that the marketing for Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy is in full swing, we’re seeing a ton of new content from the film, from an extended trailer and TV spots to a host of new images. It’s impressive, then, that the studio has managed to keep details and glimpses of two major characters under wraps. First there’s Thanos, the “Big Bad” of the entire Marvel cinematic universe, who we first glimpsed in the Avengers post-credits sequence and who’ll be showing up again in Guardians (with the voice of Josh Brolin).

Then there’s Yondu, the blue-skinned father figure of Peter Quill a.k.a. Star-Lord, who’s played by The Walking Dead actor Michael Rooker. We saw a quick glimpse of Yondu in yesterday’s new trailer, but now we have a few more photos and some more detail about him courtesy of USA Today.

In the comics, Yondu is one of the founding members of the Guardians of the Galaxy, but Gunn is taking a slightly different take on the character. USA Today explains:

“Yondu is connected to the charismatic outlaw at the heart of the movie, Peter Quill (Chris Pratt). Years before he would become Star-Lord, Peter was an Earth boy who endured a tragedy and then was taken off his home planet by Yondu, the kid’s surrogate father figure.

Yondu raises Peter alongside the Ravagers, an outer-space biker gang of sorts usually up to no good, and as an adult, Peter schemes with Yondu to steal a mystical and powerful orb.

But Peter grabs it and goes off on his own, which leads to Yondu and the Ravagers chasing him and the rest of the Guardians of the Galaxy as the misfit heroes also try to keep the orb out of the mitts of space villain Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace).”

Honestly, that’s a much bigger role than I was expecting, and one that’s been completely neglected in the marketing. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great to know that much of the film’s plot has remained a mystery. I guess I’m just surprised by how well they were able to keep this particular development behind closed doors.

What do you think of these Yondu images and details? Are you excited to see Michael Rooker don the blue face makeup and prosthetic mohawk for the film? Let us know in the comments below.

Guardians of the Galaxy hits theaters in just a few short weeks, on August 1st, 2014.