The next venture in the MCU takes us away from the core Avengers to a group of new and unlikely heroes known as the Guardians of the Galaxy. Even though each film in the MCU technically stands alone despite being in a franchise, Guardians of the Galaxy can be considered the standalone franchise for the MCU. Not many people knew who the GOTG were before their theatrical debut but just because they were Marvel everyone wanted to see it. GOTG introduces us to 5 new protagonistic characters-  Peter Quill aka Star-Lord; Gamora, the adopted daughter of Thanos; Drax the Destroyer, Rocket Raccoon, and Groot. These galactic misfits band together to stop two major villains in this film- Ronan the Accuser and Thanos the Mad Titan himself. 

In this film, 5 individuals are coincidentally brought together to stop Ronan from unleashing the power of the purple-coloured Power Stone which is contained inside an Orb. Thanos recruits Ronan the Accuser to obtain the Orb and in return, Thanos promises Ronan vengeance against the alien race the Xandarians. Ronan is a part of the alien race the Kree and both races have been at war for a millennium, until now that Ronan wishes to exterminate all Xandarians for good. 

Ronan deploys Gamora to obtain the Orb, but she has her own agenda and plans to betray Thanos by selling the Orb to the Collector. Simultaneously, Star-Lord is also after the Orb for a group called the Ravagers, who kidnapped and adopted him when he was a child, though he does not even know what it truly is or does, he just wants to sell it for profit. Also, because of the fact that he has a bounty on his head for betraying the Ravagers to gain profit for himself, Rocket and Groot attempt to capture him whilst also struggling with Gamora. Consequently, all four cause civil disruption on Xandar, where Quill planned to sell it, and all are captured and imprisoned inside the Kyln where they meet Drax the Destroyer. 

Initially, Drax has a vendetta against Gamora because she has ties to Ronan who murdered Drax’s family. Gamora rebuffs and claims her loyalty is no longer to Thanos or Ronan and reveals she plans to sell the Orb to a buyer (The Collector) in Knowhere, which happens to be an outpost established inside the head of a Celestial. 

In case you may be wondering, Celestials are immense beings that existed since the dawn of time and created all life in the universe but we don’t need to go into detail about them in the Infinity Arc. 

After Gamora agrees to split the share with all of them plus the fact that Groot and Rocket still wish to capture Quill for the bounty, and Drax is promised vengeance by Star-Lord, all 5 head to Knowhere to the Collector who opens it and explains that it is an Infinity Stone and there are 5 others like it. 

After they witness its destructive power and after Ronan goes after it and obtains it himself because Gamora betrayed him, Ronan pledges to destroy all of Xandar and then Thanos so that he may remain unchallenged. The Guardians thwart Ronan’s plan, he is destroyed, and the Power Stone now released from within the Orb is placed inside another container and kept on Xandar. 

The planet of Xandar is home to the Nova Corps. In the comics, the character Rhomann Dey passes his uniform and energy called the Nova Force down to a very significant character in Marvel comics named Nova who at one point joins the GOTG and makes an enemy of Garthaan Saal (Supernova).