So, I saw that many people hated the inclusion of Starlord because they consider him a wasted slot that should have been filled by some X-character or a Spider-Man adjacent character. I understand that from many people's point of view, Marvel is "shoehorning" him and the rest of the GOTG into their properties, and I don't think it's wrong for those people to want the "real Marvel" back, but the thing is, I like the "fake Marvel" too.

In the comics, the Guardians were disassembled over two years ago and there's no indication they'll be returning anytime soon. In animations, the only one still appearing is Rocket, because yk cute mascot. In other games, the situation isn't very encouraging either, Mystic Mayhem was shut down before any Guardian besides Angela was introduced. In Rivals, the only Guardian added after launch was Angela, and although the base roster had a good number of Guardians, it's quite likely that this was already set before Marvel moved on from the GOTG brand. Heavens, even Starlord is probably only in Tokon because the game has been in development for a long time and it would be a waste to simply thrown him off.

Starlord is one of my favorite Marvel characters, and finally seeing him adapted into a popular game where his elemental guns actually fire elements instead of just bullets or lasers (shame on you, Rivals) I couldn't be happier. Like, we already have four X-Characters and two Spider-Man Adjacent Characters and we'll probably get one of each in Doom's team, not to mention the DLCs that will certainly add more to both groups. Only one single Guardian isn't bloat, if it wasn't for him, the GOTG representation in Tokon would be restricted to just lobby pets, since, as I said before, Marvel doesn't seem interested in the GOTG brand so a DLC focused on them isn't really guaranted.

I know the Guardians were only promoted because Marvel didn't own the rights to some of its most famous characters, but they deserved to have their place secured within the franchise even after that. Maybe I'm being pessimistic and the future actually holds great things for them.

I'm so happy he made it to the base roster