WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Guardians of the Galaxy #2 by Donny Cates, Geoff Shaw, Marte Gracia and VC's Cory Petit, on sale now.


The Marvel Universe is in turmoil. Gamora turned on the Guardians of the Galaxy and killed her father, Thanos. The location of the Infinity Stones is unknown after they were granted sentience in the finale of Infinity Wars. Finally, Thanos's brother, Starfox, assembled every major galactic character in the Marvel U to read the Mad Titan's will, which revealed the villain had actually planned for his death by secretly uploading his consciousness into another person's body.

This act rightfully has major ramifications, leaving Starfox with no choice but to decide that the prime suspect for Thanos' resurrection, Gamora, must be killed before she literally becomes her father. Before the assembled heroes can debate the merits of playing judge, jury and executioner, the meeting is crashed by the Black Order, who stormed off with Thanos' corpse and left everyone presumed dead inside a black hole.

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Luckily, Guardians of the Galaxy #2 revealed the latter not to be the case, as the Shi'ar were able to fish the survivors out of the abyss. Looking a little worse for wear, Starfox is determined to continue on with his plan by forming an evil version of the Guardians of the Galaxy to force another Marvel cosmic hero to tell them where Gamora is hiding.

The Human Bucket Is A Wanted Man

There are some surprising faces assembled among these "Dark Guardians." For starters, in the last issue Cosmic Ghost Rider stood side-by-side with Beta Ray Bill, Moondragon, Phyla-Vell, Groot and Star-Lord as a member of the new Guardians of the Galaxy. Now, he's switched to the "Anti-Gamora" team. It's a perfect example of why you shouldn't trust someone who spent their mortal life as the Punisher, then their afterlife as a Ghost Rider, Herald to Galactus and the Black Right Hand of King Thanos in the far-flung future.

In a not-too-surprising move, Gamora's sister Nebula is a part of Starfox's team as well. Since Nebula knows Gamora better than anyone, she has a good idea of how to go about finding her. "We find her through her weakness," Nebula says. "Through her heart."

What Nebula is referring to is Gamora's attachment to her friends and those she loves. The dialogue leads the reader to come to the conclusion Nebula is talking about Peter Quill, but the final page reveals Nebula is zeroing in on Richard Rider, also known as Nova.

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Rich's big moment in the Infinity Wars prequel, Infinity Countdown, came when he was reunited with his brother Robbie, who is now the leader of the Fraternity of Raptors under the guise of Talonar. The Fraternity of Raptors brainwashed Robbie to join their side, but the brothers had a family reunion in Infinity Countdown #2.

Rich's relationship with Gamora first started in 2006's Annihilation. As with most comic book romances, they had their share of rocky moments, most notably Nova's death while battling Thanos in the Cancerverse. Nova is currently busy fighting the Black Order in their self-titled miniseries.

Guardians of the Galaxy #3 should see a confrontation between Nova and the Dark Guardians. If Nova really does know where Gamora is, he won't give up the location without a fight. Outnumbered, his best hope of survival is making a distress call to Star-Lord for backup, which would pit Guardians versus Guardians with the galaxy's fate resting in the balance.

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