The stars align for ‘Guardians of the Galaxy,’ in theaters Aug. 1

Marvel Studios continues to approach its upcoming film Guardians of the Galaxy like the roll call of odd, lesser-known characters that it is. The second trailer for the movie, released Monday, shows fans and skeptics plenty of new scenes, as well as a lot of old stuff to intrigue and confuse the masses.

Arriving in theaters Aug. 1, Guardians stars Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, and the voices of Vin Diesel and Bradley Cooper as the eponymous collection of antiheroes, joined on-screen by Lee Pace, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, Djimon Hounsou, John C. Reilly, Glenn Close and Benicio del Toro. James Gunn (Super, Slither) is directing and penned the script with Nicole Perlman (her feature debut).

Pratt plays Peter Quill/Star Lord, an American pilot who’s thrust into an intergalactic battle after stealing a powerful orb from the evil Ronan (Lee Pace). He joins forces with a green-skinned assassin Gamora (Saldana), a wrecking ball of a man named Drax the Destroyer (Bautista), a humanoid tree named Groot (voiced by Diesel) and his genetically engineered sidekick Rocket Raccoon (Cooper).

As was the case with the first teaser trailer from February, Marvel obviously realizes that the Guardians of the Galaxy are not household names like Spider-Man or The Avengers and may not have the same kind of commercial appeal at the box office. Hoping to put some context into an unconventional-looking comic book movie featuring a talking tree and trigger-happy raccoon, Marvel continues to use Guardians promotional materials to introduce and describe each of the line-up’s five key players, as well as the actors behind them. With this new trailer, fans of the comics and the uninitiated finally heard Diesel voice the lumbering brute Groot, as well as more lines from Cooper as the anthropomorphized Rocky. The trailer also continues showing explosive action against classic 70s tunes, which are odd juxtapositions to the high-tech modern special effects on display in the brief glimpses of space battles and the fully-realized CG Rocky and Groot.

But for those who are familiar, and in love, with Guardians’ pre-established cult following, whose hopes and wishes probably got the movie made in the first place, will certainly be first in theaters come the dog days of summer.