Nothing gives a movie momentum like a mysterious MacGuffin for all of the characters - both good and bad - to chase around, and James Gunn's upcoming sci-fi adventureGuardians of the Galaxy definitely has one of those in hand. In thevery first trailer for the movie, space outlaw Peter Jason Quill AKA Star-Lord was seen stealing a mystical orb, only to be caught by Korath the Pursuer and forced to make a hasty escape.

Peter didn't come up with the scheme to steal the orb all by himself, however, but instead hatched the plan together with his surrogate father and fellow outlaw Yondu Udonta, who is played byThe Walking Dead star Michael Rooker. During the film's early marketing Yondu was largely absent, but Marvel fans were recently given a decent look at the character inan extended trailer forGuardians of the Galaxy. Those who are familiar with the comics may notice that hisflamboyant red fin has been toned down into a modest mohawk.

Speaking in an interview withUSA Today, Rooker offered a little more insight into Yondu and how his relationship with Peter began when the young human boy was taken from Earth by a strange blue-skinned alien.

"[Peter is] feeling lost, vulnerable, defeated, emotionally drained and hurt, and here is Yondu in this light coming down and brings him up into the spacecraft and takes him away. It might have been pretty horrific, but also a bit cool."

The new images of Yondu featured in theUSA Today article definitely make him look like the kind of lovable crook that was common in Joss Whedon's showFirefly (whichGuardians of the Galaxyhas been compared to). As with the film's motley crew of heroes, Rooker says that Yondu is, "not a good guy, not a bad guy... It's not so black and white — I should say blue and white."

Also pictured above is Yondu's first mate, Kraglin, played by the director's brother, Sean Gunn. He actually did a lot of motion capture and stand-in work on set in addition to playing Kraglin, most notably the body and facial work for Rocket Raccoon. In aFacebook post last month, J. Gunn described Kraglin as "Peter Quill's lifelong frenemy," so expect to hear quite a bit of banter between the two of them.

Yondu, Peter and Kraglin are all members of the Ravagers: a kind of outer-space biker gang who can usually be found doing things that they're not supposed to do. What's particularly interesting is that the Guardians all appear to end up wearing an approximation of the Ravagers' maroon leather outfits (except for Groot, who doesn't do clothes).

Between the Guardians themselves, Korath, Nebula, Thanos and the Nova Corps, there are a lot of different players on the board inGuardians of the Galaxy, and things are probably going to get pretty messy when they all collide.

Guardians of the Galaxy arrives in theaters on August 1st, 2014.

Source:USA Today