Star Lord almost looked very different in these early GOTG concept pics

After the success of GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY in 2014, and the complete emersion of the characters into the zeitgeist, it’s impossible to picture the gang of interstellar ass wipes looking any other way. Star Lord (Chris Pratt) has his red duster, Gamora (Zoe Saldana) in her leathery assassin get-up, Drax (Dave Bautista) in his ass-kicking pants and Groot (Vin Diesel) in that very in-season bark. But, you’re going to have to do your best to leave your mind open because we now have some concept art showing one character in much different light.

Who could it be?? Behold the madness below!

 

Way back in 2012 after the success of The Avengers we started working on a strange film called #GuardiansoftheGalaxy (it was strange at the time :)) This was an early pass at Starlord- space pirate scavenger #starlord @prattprattpratt #chrispratt #conceptart #design #costume #pirate #illustration #instagood #instaart #marvelstudios #marvel #aholes

A photo posted by Andy Park (@andyparkart) on Jan 28, 2017 at 4:16pm PST

 

And here's the concept illustration of the early Starlord pass I painted up in it's entirety #starlord @prattprattpratt #chrispratt #conceptart #design #costume #pirate #illustration #instagood #instaart #marvelstudios #marvel #aholes

A photo posted by Andy Park (@andyparkart) on Jan 28, 2017 at 4:16pm PST

Okay it’s not a whole lot of madness, but there is definitely a lot going on here. The concept painting from artist Andy Park (which he shared on his Instagram page) shows Lord with a lot more gear than we’ve become accustomed to seeing him with. That Ravager red is gone too, with some blue and brown taking its place. Needless to say this is Star Lord if he was a part of the MAD MAX: FURY ROAD cast, shouting from a motorcycle.

But that’s not all folks, because Park also gave the space thief a much more militarized look. The result is a space-robber-meets-samurai-meets-Knight-of-the-Round-Table look:

 

And a closer look at another early pass at Starlord I painted during the beginning of production on #GuardiansoftheGalaxy Going for a bit of a piecemealed feel #starlord @prattprattpratt #chrispratt #conceptart #design #costume #pirate #illustration #instagood #instaart #marvelstudios #marvel

A photo posted by Andy Park (@andyparkart) on Jan 29, 2017 at 5:18pm PST

 

And here's the entire look at the early pass at Starlord I painted during the beginning of production on #GuardiansoftheGalaxy Going for a bit of a piecemealed feel with this one #starlord @prattprattpratt #chrispratt #conceptart #design #costume #pirate #illustration #instagood #instaart #marvelstudios #marvel

A photo posted by Andy Park (@andyparkart) on Jan 29, 2017 at 5:19pm PST

In the end James Gunn and Co. went with a simpler approach, making Lord look like a space bandit with some Western themes. These first drafts look pretty badass in their own right, but in the end, I think the final choice was the right call. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen drastically different early versions of the characters. A few months back James Gunn posted an early draft of Yondu (Michael Rooker) looking like a vengeful Egyptian god, and again, the bandit-like get up that we saw in the movie was probably the right choice. The costumes have this simplicity to them that still have all the trimmings of a sci-fi get-up. But now all I can think about is Star Lord in a MAD MAX movie. Make it happen, Marvel.

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2 is set for May 5.