Marvel offered a first look at the upcoming “Guardians of the Galaxy” movie with a teaser image of the featured heroes. The image doesn’t reveal too much but does give us a glimpse at the make-up and special effects used on the cast. Zoe Saldana and Chris Pratt are perhaps the only openly recognizable persons, playing the roles of Gamora and Peter Quill. The raccoon Rocket is voiced by Bradley Cooper. Yes…there is a talking, pint-sized space raccoon in this film. Before you groan, apparently he’s of the trash-talking, gun-friendly variety of rodent. More visibly imposing are famed wrestling star Dave Bautista as Drax the Destroyer and Vin Diesel as Groot (who is a space tree and not a misplaced Lord of the Rings prop).

This group of new heroes has a lot of work to do. Unlike other franchises such as X-Men, Avengers or DC staples Batman and Superman, there isn’t that much public familiarity with any of these characters. Only avid comic book fans may be likely to know who they are and care enough to see the movie on screen, at least if Marvel doesn’t do enough to draw in a wider audience.

An early peek at a still from #Marvel's "Guardians of the Galaxy"! What do you think of the lineup, fans? #GotG pic.twitter.com/p52FAkw6KR

— Marvel Entertainment (@Marvel) January 1, 2014

There are a couple of things working to the movie’s advantage. New characters means fresh blood into the reboot-happy comic book movie genre. There is also the possibility of tie-ins to other Marvel movies. If done well enough, this movie could strengthen enthusiasm for additional upcoming Marvel Studios efforts.

The Disney-backed project released a synopsis for the film which opens on August 1st:

“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 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.”

Sounds interesting, but it will probably take a trailer release to accurately gauge moviegoer enthusiasm.

Image via Screen Slam