Although Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) is based on the Marvel comic book series created by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, which began in May of 2008, the gang in the source material and the film adaptation are actually the second to operate under the name.

Created by Arnold Drake and Gene Colan, the original Guardians first appeared in Marvel Super-Heroes in January of 1969, and throughout the years were featured alongside some of Marvel’s most famous characters, such as Captain America, the Thing, Thor, and the Avengers. However, they never received their own comic until the early 90’s, which ran for only 62 issues.

The original team was active during the 31th century in an alternate timeline of the Marvel universe known as Earth-691. It comprised of Major Vance Astro, an astronaut from Earth in the 20th century; Martinex T’Naga, a crystalline being from Pluto; Captain Charlie-27, a soldier from Jupiter; and Yondu Udonta, a tribal hunter from Centauri-IV the fourth planet orbiting the star Alpha Centauri B.

Launched in 2014, shortly after the film adaptation’s release, Guardians 3000 began synication. This ongoing series stars the original team and is written by the modern Guardians co-creator Dan Abnett.