Comic-Con 2013: GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY

Marvel Studios president and producer Kevin Feige and many surprise guests provide an inside look at the ever-expanding Marvel cinematic universe at this year's Comic-Con.

Guardians of the Galaxy

Present at the press conference after an entertaining panel at Hall H were actors

Chris Pratt (Star-Lord Peter Quill), Zoe Saldana (Gamora), Dave Bautista (Drax the Destroyer), Lee Pace (Ronan the Accuser), Michael Rooker (Yondu), Benicio del Toro (The Collector), Djimon Hounsou (Korath), Karan Gilan (Nebula) and director James Gunn .

Since shooting of the film has just started, many of the details that the cast and director could reveal were limited. On the basic premise of the film, director Gunn said: " Guardians of the Galaxy is about a family coming together, a group of individuals who haven't only acted as such their whole lives and learning something about themselves to become heroes."

With the current films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe featuring characters that are well-known in pop culture, the cast asked if it was intimidating to step into lesser known roles.

"I'm cautious to use the word intimidated," said Zoe Saldana. "I feel very excited to join the Marvel family of heroes." In terms of the characters in the film in comparison to others from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, she added humorously: "We have bigger powers and I feel that if we came across Captain America, we would take him down."

"I don't think the reason that all the Marvel movies have been received so well thus far because they were so well known," Pratt added. "Iron Man is Iron Man now because of the movie. It's all good story telling. Marvel knows what they're doing, they know how to tell a story. I don't feel intimidated."

In terms of how Guardians of the Galaxy fits into the continuity of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Gunn said: We have Thanos. He's what will connect this film to the rest of the universe because of last three seconds in Avengers."

When asked what their favorite characters was, Djimon Hounsou recalled a personal memory: "My son loves superheroes and he said to me one day that he wanted to be light-skinned so that he could be like Spider-Man, so I'm very proud to be in the Marvel Universe to represent diversity."

"It's the anti-hero hero movie.," said Saldana. "These characters are rebels and assassins and they're going to be learning very big lessons. Because this is a James Gunn movie, the levity will be abundant and that's why this is going to be awesome."

Fans can look forward to Guardians of the Galaxy hitting the big screen on August 1, 2014.