Yondu (Michael Rooker, center), his first mate Kraglin (Sean Gunn) and the rest of the Ravagers chase after a mystical orb in “Guardians Of The Galaxy.”(Photo: Marvel)

We got our first look at Michael Rooker’s character Yondu in the extended trailer for GOTG. Now we get two new stills and more details about Yondu and his relationship with Star-Lord (Chris Pratt). 

Yondu took Quill after he endured a tragedy on Earth. Yondu becomes Quill’s surrogate father and raises him alongside the Ravagers, who are described as an outer space biker gang.

In an interview with USA Today, Rooker describes Yondu’s first encounter with Peter Quill, “He’s feeling lost, vulnerable, defeated, emotionally drained and hurt, and here is Yondu in this light coming down and brings him up into the spacecraft and takes him away. It might have been pretty horrific, but also a bit cool.”

Rooker goes on to say, “Yondu has “some interesting issues — not a good guy, not a bad guy. There’s hope and there’s a heart inside Yondu.”

“It’s not so black and white — I should say blue and white. And I enjoy roles that are like that, even if they’re not in some galaxy somewhere other than ours.”

Director James Gunn had Rooker in mind for the part, saying “He’s very good at playing hard-asses you also feel something for.” 

Make sure to read the rest of the interview on USA Today.

Yondu (Michael Rooker) is a surrogate father figure to Chris Pratt’s Star-Lord in “Guardians Of The Galaxy.” (Photo: Marvel)

Official synopsis:

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 Peter 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. Marvel’s ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ is presented by Marvel Studios. The film releases August 1, 2014, and is distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.

Directed by James Gunn. Stars Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Bradley Cooper, Vin Diesel, Michael Rooker, Benicio Del Toro, Lee Pace, Djimon Hounsou, John C. Reilly and Glenn Close.

‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ opens in theaters on August 1st.

[Via USA Today]