After teasing us mercilessly over the weekend, Marvel Studios has unveiled the latest trailer for their upcoming late summer sci-fi adventure Guardians of the Galaxy as part of a live Facebook Q&A with director James Gunn, producer and Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige, and stars Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, and Karen Gillan held this morning.

You can watch it here below.

The first trailer that was released back in February was practically the same teaser that premiered during the Guardians panel at last year’s San Diego Comic-Con. This trailer expands on everything we’ve seen before and gives us more action, more astounding visuals (Love those dazzling spaceships and extraterrestrial landscapes!), and some welcome voice work from Diesel (as Groot) and Bradley Cooper (as Rocket Raccoon). The scale of the action set-pieces looks greater than Marvel has given us before, but this time around the studio has abandoned their Earthbound comfort zone to play in a universe rich with character and storytelling possibilities.

Here’s the official plot synopsis, courtesy of Marvel:

From Marvel, the studio that brought you the global blockbuster franchises of Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and The Avengers, comes a new team–the Guardians of the Galaxy. An action-packed, epic space adventure, Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” expands the Marvel Cinematic Universe into the cosmos, where brash adventurer Peter Quill finds himself the object of an unrelenting bounty hunt after stealing a mysterious orb coveted by Ronan, a powerful villain with ambitions that threaten the entire universe. To evade the ever-persistent Ronan, Quill is forced into an uneasy truce with a quartet of disparate misfits–Rocket, a gun-toting raccoon; Groot, a tree-like humanoid; the deadly and enigmatic Gamora; and the revenge-driven Drax the Destroyer. But when Quill discovers the true power of the orb and the menace it poses to the cosmos, he must do his best to rally his ragtag rivals for a last, desperate stand–with the galaxy’s fate in the balance.

Guardians is Marvel’s first non-sequel since 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger (The Avengers could be considered an original but since it united all of the studio’s established franchises under one banner it essentially functioned as a super sequel) and quite possibly the riskiest production they have released since the first Iron Man back in 2008. Putting the film out on the first weekend of August, where its competition will mostly appeal to different demographics if those movies managed to not bomb outright, was a smart move on the studio’s part. If Guardians hits big it will pretty much own the rest of the summer, and judging by every photo and trailer released by Marvel thus far even those of us harboring slim expectations have little reason to not be excited.

This movie looks like its going to rock hardcore. Marvel’s Phase Two release slate has powered forth since Iron Man 3 hit theaters over a year ago, setting opening weekend records and amazing fans and detractors alike with its improved storytelling and increased sense of fun and excitement. Guardians is the only original feature of this phase and the last Marvel movie before next summer’s highly anticipated The Avengers: Age of Ultron. It took great confidence for the studio to take their shared universe mega-franchise into the cosmos on a scale to rival any of the Star Wars movies and in less than three months we’ll see for ourselves if the gamble paid off. Now and forever, make mine Marvel.

Guardians of the Galaxy also stars Zoe Saldana, Lee Pace, Michael Rooker, Djimon Hounsou, John C. Reilly, Glenn Close, and Benicio del Toro, and will open in theaters on August 1, 2014. In the words of Rocket Raccoon, “Oh yeah!”

Trailer

[Source: Guardians of the Galaxy Facebook]