First Official Image from Marvel's 'Guardians of the Galaxy'

Just how dominant was Marvel Studios in 2013? They not only took over the small screen with Agents of SHIELD, but they released Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World to the tune of over $1.8B is ticket sales. Guh. In the case of the former it was not only the year's top-grossing film but also one of the most pirated, which sorta means people were willing to risk jail to see it more than once. And now as the page turns into 2014 Marvel is already looking forward by releasing the first official still from their offbeat team-up, Guardians of the Galaxy.

The images gives us a solid look at Chris Pratt as team leader Peter Quill aka Star-Lord, Zoe Saldana as Gamora, Dave Bautista as Drax the Destroyer, and the CG-animated Rocket Raccoon and tree creature Groot voiced by Vin Diesel and Bradley Cooper respectively. If the image looks familiar it's because we've seen it before as concept art. This scene also figured prominently in the teaser that played at Comic-Con last year, which I can confirm is absolutely hilarious and has a space-Western vibe similar to Firefly. Hopefully soon we'll start getting some images of Benecio Del Toro, Lee Pace, Glenn Close, John C. Reilly, and the rest of this oddball cast.

This is usually the sign that a trailer is around the corner so stay tuned. Directed by James Gunn, Guardians of the Galaxy opens August 1st 2014.