When I entered the theatre an hour before midnight on Thursday, July 31, I didn’t know what to expect.

My friend and I were the first in line. We waited outside of the theatre, looking at our Guardians of the Galaxy comic books and talking about the characters with the couple next to us. But honestly, I was nervous for the movie. I never really liked any of the Marvel movies except for the X-Men franchise, and I was afraid that this one would be similar to the sub-par Avengers movie. Though the Guardians of the Galaxy had a good cast, I didn’t know how they would perform. We waited for about an hour, and finally, the screen lit up. Previews came and went, but I was getting very excited. I was a little doubtful that the movie would be as good as the trailer, but I pushed away that thought when the movie came on. I wasn’t going to be biased and I was going to judge the movie on its content and character development.

I was not disappointed.

The movie, who stars Peter Quill also known as “Starlord” (Chris Pratt), is about a human criminal that scavenges the universe to find trouble. But when he finds an orb, he doesn’t realize how much trouble he would eventually get into. Starlord then gets into a fight with Gamora (Zoe Saldana), who is sent by the infamous killer Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace). During the fight, the genetically deformed Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper) and his tree sidekick Groot (Vin Diesel) intervene to try to collect the bounty on Starlord’s head. They all get sent to jail, and that’s when the group gets together to form the Guardians of the Galaxy.

I was glad that this wasn’t just another Avengers movie, and unlike the dull group of New York City, the Guardians of the Galaxy had a perfect balance of comedy and action. Each of the unknown characters were well-developed despite only being introduced in the two-hour movie. This movie is something both kids and adults would like, and it is different than any other superhero movie. Even for someone who would not usually like superhero movies, they would most likely enjoy this one.

Overall, this movie is probably the best stand-alone Marvel movie, and I am very excited for the sequel to come out.