12 Guardians of the Galaxy Mashups

The new Marvel Comics movie Guardians of the Galaxy isn’t set to hit theaters until August, but it already has the internet buzzing. Comic book readers are familiar with the characters, and can’t wait to see how Walt Disney Studios treats the franchise. To the rest of us, the characters are new and intriguing. And, of course, when new characters are introduced into mainstream pop culture, the artists of the internet plunge headlong into mashing up those characters with other, more familiar worlds.

1 and 2. Parks and Recreation

The fun began when it was announced a year ago that actor Chris Pratt was cast in the role of Peter Quill, with the superhero name of Star-Lord. Pratt is also one of the main characters on the sitcom Parks and Recreation, which led illustrator Kyle Hilton to wonder what the movie would be like if they cast all the parts with actors from the TV show. The result was this movie poster at Vulture.

That was quickly followed by a trailer mashup using the music and style of the Parks and Recreation introduction over video introducing the Guardians of the Galaxy characters.

3. The Lego Movie

Since Chris Pratt was also the voice of the central character in The LEGO Movie, it, too, had to be mashed up into a movie trailer. This one mixes the audio of the Guardians of the Galaxy trailer with appropriate footage from The LEGO Movie.

4. and 5. Star Wars

Any new science fiction movie will inevitably be mashed up with the Star Wars franchise. This poster mashup that includes characters from both worlds is by artist Robert Rath.

DeviantART member BloodySamoan chose to combine the characters from the Star Wars and the GOTG universes. I love the clever names like Groo2-D2.

6. The Giving Tree

How nice of Groot to give a weapon to Rocket Raccoon! See, there is camaraderie and selflessness even in an alien plant monster. This clever mashup of Shel Silverstein’s The Giving Tree with GOTG characters was drawn by Isaac Goodhart. 

7. Batman’s Poison Ivy

DeviantArt member Nick Perks realized that Groot, being a plant, might really hit it off with Poison Ivy from the Batman universe, despite the fact that she’s a DC Comics character. After all, she’s a plant, too! This image was ready for Valentines Day. 

8. Little Golden Books

Rocket Raccoon is proving to be the breakout character of the Guardians, at least as of now. Joebot has been posting a long-running series of Little Golden Book covers with modern comic book, video game, and movie characters. Rocket Raccoon and the tiny sapling Groot have their own story. 

9. Hello Kitty

Rocket Raccoon got the cute Hello Kitty treatment for this t-shirt design by absolemstudio.

10. Venom

DeviantART member JamesWhynotInks was commissioned to create a mashup of Rocket Raccoon and the evil alien Venom from the Spider-Man comics. He doesn’t tell us how the idea came about, but the result is as wild as you would expect.

11. Mickey Mouse

Rocket Raccoon may be a furry forest creature, but he’s also a law enforcement officer and a spaceship captain. So, in the same vein as the Hello Kitty mashup, it’s funny to make him overly cute by drawing him in the style of a sweet familiar character. In this instance, that’s Mickey Mouse, for a t-shirt design by TeeKetch.

12. Space Invaders

Toronto artist Marco D'Alfonso put Rocket Raccoon into the video game world, where he seems to be comfortable doing what he does in the comics: fighting alien species. In this case, the falling Space Invaders.

Look for more of these as the year progresses. The movie Guardians of the Galaxy will be in theaters August first.