#212 – Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 — Why Yondu’s Sacrifice Still Hurts

Welcome back to Marvel Maniac and MCU after show. This is your host, Eric Cicada, aka Mr. Honest. Back with you for part two, volume two of Guardians of the Galaxy. I had such a great time watching the first one again. I thought, might as well dive right into the second. Their stories are contained in within their own place in the mcu, so you could technically watch these two exact movies right before Avengers, Infinity War, after Thor, Ragnarok, and it would make sense. However, I couldn't wait that long. And I still don't have my machete cut of what the MCU should be with the Guardians of the Galaxy. You know, I think there's probably plenty of those online, so I figured I'd just watch the movie again and see what I I thought about it after a few years. So this is not really just a recap episode. This is why this movie matters. Episode Guardians of the Galaxy, Volume 2 is one of the most emotionally honest films the MCU has ever made. And it hits harder on a rewatch, especially as you get older. This movie isn't about saving the galaxy. It's about family. The kind you're born into. The kind you choose. And I need to say this right up front because it matters. Marvel movies almost never make me cry. This one wrecked me. I was full sobbing when I watched this the other day. That reaction, it's not embarrassing to me. It's the exact point. I first saw this movie in theaters years ago. Whenever it came out, I've. I liked it, I appreciated it, and I moved on. We were waiting for Infinity War. Any sign of Thanos. I couldn't wait. So maybe I overlooked the plot of this one. Overlook the character beats. But re watching it now, something's changed. Part of that is nostalgia, sure, but that's not really why it hit. It hit because I finally understood why Yondu's sacrifice matters. I wasn't crying because he died. I was crying because of where he chose to die and what that choice meant. Once I saw that, clearly, this movie stopped being a sequel and became a reckoning. Which gives me chills to this very moment. So here's the Truth of Guardians Volume 2. The movie believes people can change, even late, even after a lifetime of mistakes. And that mercy doesn't require a clean past. Or put simply, Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 is about imperfect people choosing love late. And that choice, still counting the belief runs through every relationship in this film. Yondu, for example, his arc is not bad guy becomes good. It's harder than that. Yandu Made one catastrophic mistake. And then lived with it for the rest of his life. He worked for ego. He delivered children to ego. Knowing something was wrong. Knowing that was against the Ravager code and rules what they stand by. No children. And yet he kept doing it anyway. That matters. What makes Yondu tragic isn't ignorance. It's complicity. He knows he crossed the line. And instead of fixing it, he exiles himself from the Ravagers. From respect. And from himself overall. Yondu spends years punishing himself by becoming the man everyone expects him to be. Cruel, sharp and distant. Not because that's who he is, but because he doesn't believe he deserves to be anything else. The place Ego brings Peter to at the end of the movie is the same place Yondu brought all those other kids. I mean, they spend a lot of the movie on ego. I'd say majority of the movie they're on ego. But those kids that Yondu brought died. That's not metaphor. That's just history. So when Yondu goes back there, he isn't just going there to save Peter. He's returning to the site of his greatest shame. Choosing protection instead of delivery and breaking a cycle that he helped create. He goes back to the place where children died. And makes sure one finally lives. That's why sacrifice hurts. Not because Yondu dies, but because he finally chooses differently. One of the best quotes of the movie of all time. He may have been your father, boy, but he wasn't your daddy. That line isn't a mic drop, it's a mission statement. Ego is power, legacy and control. Yondu is presence, protection and staying. Peter doesn't choose perfection. He chooses imperfect love. Chosen family. Someone who hurt him, but showed up when it mattered. That choice defines the Guardians. Let's talk a little bit about Rockin and Groot in this movie. Chosen Parenthood. I mean, who doesn't love little Groot? I have a stained glass displate of him. Along with three other stained glass displates. They're not real stained glass, they're displates. Thanos, Iron Man, Captain America and Baby Group. Little adorable Groot. And he does get things done in this movie. He does plant the bomb. He does play his part. Rocket pushes people away before they can leave. He turns pain into a weapon. So abandonment feels like something he chose. And Yondu, when they're together, he sees that immediately. And he doesn't judge Rocket. He recognizes him. He puts him on his level. He relates. And here's what matters. Rocket Becomes something Yondu never thought he could be. A protector. Who stays Groot isn't Rocket's responsibility. By accident. Rocket raises him and teaches him and protects him. Rocket chooses differently. And that's why this movie quietly sets up something devastating later. When Rocket loses Groot, he doesn't lose a teammate, he loses a son. Talking about Avengers, Infinity War and Volume 2 is the movie that makes that grief real. Now, how about Gamora and Nebula? They're sisters, reclaimed in this movie. And Gamora and Nebula, they aren't rivals. They're survivors of the same abuse, processed differently. Nebula isn't angry because Gamora won. She's angry because losing meant literal torture. Thanos didn't favor Gamora. He punished Nebula for failing. This is the kind of stuff that makes Infinity War and the team up movies mean something. And I hope that there's similar things, a lot of similar things in Avengers Doomsday, that kind of tie back to moments like this through the Multiverse saga and connect to the main Avengers storyline. Because that's what fuels such a great story. And that's what makes Infinity War great. It wasn't about this big action movie with a bunch of superheroes fighting one big awesome boss. Even though, yes, in a way it was. But there's a lot of character lead up and build up to completely back up what each character is doing, what they're acting on, and why they're acting on it. In Infinity War, Guardians Volume 2 Lets Nebula say the quiet truth out loud that her pain came from trying to survive. When Nebula saves Gamora from falling, that moment locks something in. They're not enemies anymore. They're sisters again. That choice is what makes Nebula's later redemption believable. This movie earns it. Now, how about Mantis and Drax? Little bit of protection. Without romance, Mantis enters the Guardians quietly. She's empathy without power, truth without ego. In more than one way. Her bond with Drax isn't romantic. And that's why it matters. I mean, Drax is kind of mean to her, which is really funny. But at times, and at the right times, he's there for her. Drax protects her not because she's strong, but because she's vulnerable. And she has a very special power of putting ego to sleep. A very big role of getting that bomb planted and just becoming a part of this found family. That's family. And Drax, despite the name Destroyer, is just a father whose love never shut off. You could see it when he holds Groot at the end of the movie. When he comforts instead of fights, that instinct doesn't disappear and it finds a new place to land. Now, Yondu believed no one would come to his funeral when he passed Sylvester Stallone. What whatever his character's name is tells him you'll never get the Ravager funeral. You broke our code and you broke our hearts. Pretty much what he tells him. Towards the beginning of the movie and Yondu's journey, he believed he burned every bridge because of that moment. And then they all do show up. The lights, the stillness, the recognition, the music. Father and Son by Kent Stevens yanks on the heart. The MCU stops everything to say this life mattered. That's when I broke. Why this movie lasts. This movie ages very well. Because life does. You understand regret more. You understand late realization. You understand that sometimes all you get is one right choice. And sometimes, just sometimes, that's enough. Peter having that catch with his dad, it meant the world to him. Something that he felt like he never had. But across the movie, especially up at the end, during that great sacrifice Yondu makes for Peter, he realizes that that guy that he just killed was not his father. He was pure evil. And Yondu. We have flashbacks of Peter and Yondu having moments and family. And there's just one hilarious shot of Peter flying in the air with rocket. Like, is that a memory? Is that really happened? What. What's going on there? I really like that. And the movie does a great job of mixing comedy and light heartedness with some really heavy stuff that we just talked about. So Guardians of the Galaxy, Volume 2. It reminds me why I fell in love with the MCU in the first place. Not because it's perfect, but because it believes broken people can still choose love. And that choice, even late, still counts. And, you know, before we wrap it up, we have to talk about the action in the movie. It's special, it's cinematic, it's colorful. It's James Gunn. From the very start of this movie, Mr. Blue sky starts to play. Groot sets up the ox cable. And while they're fighting this giant monster, which definitely, usually in every single case of any other superhero movie, would be the main aspect of that moment. The fight with the giant monster trying to take their batteries. The Sovereign. And honestly, having it, the decision to make Groot the main focus, dancing around the fight, it brings such a tone to the movie that it's just, oh, we're back. Feeling like, oh, man, these guys are great. This is exactly what the Guardians is in essence. Action over music and family overall, and stealing batteries that you don't need, AKA Rocket, causing the Sovereign to chase the Guardians across said galaxy. This causes a rivalry that actually brings us all the way through into Guardians Volume 3, many years later, which we'll talk about sooner than later. We're gonna have to go through the Guardian story in Infinity War. It may be a separate story. I tell, like Guardians in Infinity War, their story through that movie, what it means in the scope of their story, what it means going forth into their next appearances, that means a lot to me because there is a through line, and Guardians is right at the center of it. Thanos. Just Thanos. You want to know about Thanos in this movie? That's all I could think about going in. I'm like, are we gonna get to see him again? Because we saw him in the first movie. No, we don't. But we get to know him a little bit better through his two daughters, who he ruined in ways, who he completely, savagely took apart and put back together. Nebula is a special, complex character. She starts off as a villain in this movie and ends being a part of that family. And she doesn't spend every single waking moment with the Guardians. You know, when they pick up an Infinity War, they're not with her, but they're at least on good terms. And her and Gamora are on good terms. And that is a union that's actually very powerful and maybe a little bit underestimated in our new Discord. We'll talk about making extra episodes. We'll discuss new movies as they come out, and we'll just be on the same page. So go to that Discord, rate the show, write a review. You will totally be acknowledged for it and beyond thankful on my part. This has been Marvel Maniac and MCU After Show. I'm your host, Eric Cicada, aka Mr. Honest, signing off Until. Until next time, Avengers disassemble.