Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2: Five Best Moments From the New Trailer

Ayesha's Motivation

While details about the film's main antagonist, Ayesha, are still relatively under wraps, this trailer provided the clearest look of her yet, as she was shown for only a split second in the previous trailers.

In addition, it gave fans insight into what exactly Ayesha (Elizabeth Debicki) and her army are attempting to do, and why this brings them at odds with the Guardians.

According to Ayesha herself, her goal is to rid the galaxy of emotions that are seen as 'weaknesses', such as fear and jealousy. Considering the fact that our rag-tag bunch of heroes certainly has a lot of these emotions, it makes sense why the two groups would get into some sort of conflict.

Baby Groot

The pint-sized Guardians member has been a prominent part of the film's marketing campaign, with Baby Groot merchandise already popping up on store shelves. While the character's scenes were only sprinkled throughout the trailer, the moments we saw were pretty darn cute.

Between him eating candy while The Milano was trying to take off, and waving at Gamora during the team's fight scene with the Abilisk, it's pretty clear that whatever we end up seeing of Groot in the film is sure to enduce squees.

SDCC Payoff

Fans have been eagerly anticipating footage for the film ever since it was first shown at last year's San Diego Comic Con. While the trailer shown at SDCC was never released, with elements of it making their way into the trailers we have seen, we did get a hint at one of the biggest moments that was shown on the panel.

In a standalone scene that was showed to the SDCC audience, Rocket, Groot, and Yondu break free from a Ravager prison. Part of the description of the scene gives us some context to a split-second of footage that was shown.

"[Yondu] uses his whistle arrow power. The song is being piped over the speakers. They're terrified he has the fin. 'Come a Little Bit Closer' plays, and Yondu, baby Groot, and Rocket walk confidently to the Ravagers. Yondu kills about 20 of them with one whistle. Holy crap.. They keep walking through this huge Ravager base, the arrow flying and bodies falling all around them. Groot is riding Yondu's shoulder now. He runs after someone screaming, grabs him with vines and tosses him off a balcony. Huge pop."

The shot, which you can see above, appears to be the moment after Yondu kills the twenty guards with one whistle. While it's not the full scene that fans have been waiting for almost half a year to see, it's still an awesome moment that is sure to have a big payoff in the full context of the film.

We're a Family

A big part of why the first Guardians film was so received was simply the dynamic between the team members. While they disagree or get at each other's throats sometimes, they're now joined together to fight for a good cause. After Nebula teased that she doesn't understand how the group is friends, Drax reassured her that they're not just friends - they're family.

This quote is sure to tug at the heartstrings of Guardians fans, and also indicates the more complex dynamic that the team has developed in the time between the two films.

Ego The Living Planet

And, of course, we can't not mention the most surprise appearance of all - Kurt Russell's character Ego the Living Planet. While fans have gotten some indication of what he will look like in the film, thanks to various toys that have been released, this trailer provided the first, clearest look at the highly anticipated character.

In addition, the trailer gave away one of the biggest answers from the questions raised by the first Guardians, that Ego is officially Peter Quill's father. Many fans had suspected or known this already, but hearing it actually confirmed - with two months to go until the film is actually released - is an interesting strategy. It also indicates that the film itself will most likely do way more to explore the Ego/Peter dynamic beyond just the initial reveal, which is welcome news for fans of both characters.