Marvel Confirms Guardians of the Galaxy Return, Officially Names New Leader

Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy have a new leader, as Marvel launches a fresh era for the space-faring team of heroic miscreants. Here’s everything you need to know about the new, streamlined Guardians – and who exactly will lead them.

It’s been a tough few years for the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise. In the MCU, Chris Pratt’s team split in 2023’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, and haven’t been seen since. Meanwhile, in the comics, the team split up in 2024 and have been relegated to background roles in different titles.

It’s been a long time since Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax, Rocket and Groot flew through space together saving lives and committing crimes. Thankfully, a new era is on its way…

The ‘Imperial Guardians’ Era Is Officially Over

Marvel recently concluded its short-lived Imperial Guardians series with issue 5, from Dan Abnett, Marcelo Ferreira, Ray Leisten, Rachelle Rosenberg and Cory Petit This pivotal issue not only introduced a whole new roster of Guardians, but also set up a new era with a new three-person team.

Recent issues of Imperial Guardians have followed the unusual team of Captain Marvel, Darkhawk, Gamora, Amadeus Cho’s Iron Hulk and Cosmic Ghost Rider carrying out black ops missions for the Inhuman villain Maximus the Mad. In the series’ concluding issue, they run up against a rival roster of ‘Imperial Guardians’ led by the android bounty hunter Death’s Head.

Death’s Head’s Imperial Guardians Roster
Hero	Home Planet	Powers	First Appearance	Created by
Death’s Head	Styrakos	Mechanical physiology including enhanced strength, jet flight and built-in weaponry	1987’s Transformers #113	Simon Furman and Geoff Senior
Knightwatch (aka Ikon)	Galador	Wears Plandanium armor which grants her teleportation, energy blasts, flight and an enhanced physique	2011’s Thanos Imperative: Devastation #1	Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning and Miguel Sepulveda
U.S.Agent (John Walker)	Earth	Enhanced ‘Super Soldier’ physique, near-unbreakable shield	1986’s Captain America #323	Mark Gruenwald and Paul Neary
Quasar (Wendell Vaughn)	Earth	Wears the Quantum Bands, which grant him immense speed and strength, control over most forms of energy, and energy blasts in excess of 99% of superhumans	1977’s Captain America #217	Don Glut, Roy Thomas and John Buscema
Century	Memoriam (moon of Hodomur)	Bonded to the superweapon Parallax, which empowers him with teleportation, levitation, superhuman tracking and an enhanced physique	1994’s Force Works #1	Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning and Tom Tenney

The issue reveals that Maximus was running not just two, but twenty teams, each of which believed itself to be the one and only Guardians. Knowing that Captain Marvel and Death’s Head were losing trust in him, Maximus tricked their teams into conflict, hoping they’d eliminate one another.

This revelation breaks up the Imperial Guardians, with Gamora forming a new team to hunt down Maximus, who it’s now clear is a threat to the safety of the galaxy.

Gamora Is Recruiting a New Guardians Roster

While the Imperial Guardians are done, not all of the team disband. Darkhawk and Cosmic Ghost Rider stick with Gamora, forming a three-person unit to hunt down Maximus and stop his schemes.

This is the birth of a new Guardians of the Galaxy roster, with each of the heroes either having served on the team in the past or been a recurring ally. The trio are under Gamora’s command, as she hints they’ll recruit more “friends” while chasing Maximus.

Gamora’s New Guardians Roster
Hero	Home Planet	Powers	First Appearance	Created by
Gamora Zen Whoberi Ben Titan	Zen-Whoberi	Enhanced physiology including healing factor	1975’s Strange Tales #180	Jim Starlin
Darkhawk (Christopher Powell)	Earth (Darkhawk android from Shi’ar Empire)	Amulet transfers Chris’ mind into robotic body with enhanced strength and durability, weapons-based shapeshifitng, self-healing tech and energy manipulation. Chris has limited precognitive visions.	1991’s Darkhawk #1	Tom DeFalco, Danny Fingeroth and Mike Manley
Cosmic Ghost Rider (Frank Castle)	Alternate Earth ruled by Thanos	Traditional superpowers of both Ghost Rider and Silver Surfer, including Hellfire generation, time travel, energy blasts etc.	2017’s Thanos #2	Donny Cates and Geoff Shaw

Hopefully, this reveal will be followed by a new ongoing series starring Gamora’s Guardians of the Galaxy – potentially one that brings some familiar faces back into the fold.

What Happened to the Classic Guardians of the Galaxy?

Back in 2020, the Guardians were riding high, as Al Ewing’s acclaimed run turned them into the Avengers of space, with an expanded roster, matching uniforms, and a galaxy-wide remit. In a surprise move, 2023’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 8 tore all that down, breaking the team apart and giving Groot an apparent villain era (ultimately, of course, he was exonerated.)

2025’s massive Imperial event followed soon after, establishing a new galactic order – one in which Star-Lord became a major power player as leader of the new Galactic Union, becoming a pseudo-villain who took part in framing the Skrulls and turning them into universal pariahs.

As part of the event, Marvel announced a slate of new series, with the classic Guardians spread across them, acting as supporting characters. Star-Lord appeared in Nova: Centurian, Gamora led the Imperial Guardians, and Rocket was slated for the never-published Exiles.

For the last few years, the classic Guardians have been off on their own solo adventures, exploring different corners of the universe. However, with all of the Imperial spin-offs now canceled, the classic Guardians are left drifting in the solar winds. It’s essentially inevitable that Marvel will announce a new Guardians of the Galaxy series soon, and the Imperial Guardians creative team give them the perfect springboard for doing so.

With Gamora hunting Maximus, the launch of a new series basically writes itself – especially because Star-Lord is leading the very group that Maximus has dedicated himself to manipulating. Hopefully, Marvel picks up where Imperial Guardians leaves off, using Gamora’s three-person team as a foundation on which to build a new era for Guardians of the Galaxy.

Imperial Guardians #5 is available now from Marvel Comics.

Cast

Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Michael Rooker, Sean Gunn, Lee Pace, Sylvester Stallone, Kurt Russell, Elizabeth Debicki, Will Poulter, Chukwudi Iwuji

Created by

Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning