Written and directed by James Gunn, the film stars an ensemble cast featuring Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldaña, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Sylvester Stallone, and Kurt Russell.

Principal photography began in February 2016 at Pinewood Atlanta Studios in Fayette County, Georgia, with many crew changes from the first film due to other commitments.

Ego, a god-like Celestial that manipulated the matter around his consciousness to form his "home" planet, explains that he projected a humanoid guise to travel the universe and discover a purpose, eventually falling in love with Quill's mother Meredith.

Nebula arrives at Ego's planet and tries to kill Gamora, but the pair reconcile and reach an uneasy alliance, soon discovering a cavern filled with skeletal remains.

In a series of mid-and post-credit scenes, Kraglin takes up Yondu's telekinetic arrow and control-fin; Ogord reunites with his ex-teammates and fellow Ravager captains; Ayesha creates Adam, a new artificial being with whom she plans to destroy the Guardians;[a] and Groot grows into a teenager.

[b] Elizabeth Debicki appears as Ayesha, the golden High Priestess and the leader of the Sovereign people,[48][57][58] a genetically engineered race who are "gold and perfect and wanting to be physically and mentally impeccable".

"[36][62] Additionally, reprising their roles from the first film are Laura Haddock as Meredith Quill, Gregg Henry as her father, Seth Green as the voice of Howard the Duck, and canine actor Fred as Cosmo.

[56][63][64] Members of Yondu's Ravager crew appearing in the film include Evan Jones as Retch, Jimmy Urine as Half-Nut, Stephen Blackehart as Brahl,[58] Steve Agee as Gef,[58][65] Mike Escamilla as Scrote,[66] Joe Fria as Oblo, Terence Rosemore as Narblik,[58] and Tommy Flanagan as Tullk,[58][67][68] as well as Charred Walls of the Damned drummer and Howard Stern Show personality Richard Christy in a cameo appearance.

[69] The other members of Stakar and Yondu's old team, based on the comic's original incarnation of the Guardians of the Galaxy, include Michael Rosenbaum as Martinex, Ving Rhames as Charlie-27, and Michelle Yeoh as Aleta Ogord.

[85] The next month, producer Kevin Feige said there are "places we can take [the franchise] and we have ideas of where we'd like to go" based on the wide array of characters, worlds and storylines from the comics.

[86] In July 2014, Guardians of the Galaxy co-screenwriter Nicole Perlman confirmed a sequel, saying it was "going to happen" due to the positive internal response to the first film at Disney, and that Gunn would write and direct.

[113] By early February 2015, Gunn was "a few short weeks" away from submitting a full story treatment to Marvel, and said that when he first presented his idea for the sequel to the company they thought it was "risky".

[127] In December, Gunn said that he was corresponding with John C. Reilly about him reprising his role as Nova Corpsman Rhomann Dey,[128] while Kurt Russell entered early talks to play Quill's father.

[36] Pre-shooting began on February 11, 2016,[135] at Pinewood Atlanta Studios in Fayette County, Georgia,[136] under the working title Level Up,[98] with Henry Braham serving as cinematographer and Scott Chambliss as production designer.

Sets constructed for the film included several for the Sovereign planet, for which Chambliss used a "1950s pulp fiction variation on 1930s art deco design aesthetic"; the Ravager's main ship in the film, the Eclector, which was constructed in sections to provide a complete 360-degree view of the ship as well as the ability to move sections around and portray different areas of the ship; and the Iron Lotus establishment on the "pleasure planet" of Contraxia, which Chambliss wanted to feel like it had been put together from "a whole yard of repurposed junk where old spaceships are cast away and industrial materials that aren't of use anymore are just left to rot", creating a "kind of neon jungle in its own way and covered in ice and snow".

[140] For the sequence where Rocket and Yondu escape from the Ravagers, a Phantom Camera was used to film scenes up to 2,000 frames per second, with the footage able to be moved from slow-motion to high-speed within a single shot.

The team at Animal Logic were initially brought on to the film to work on the story vignettes that were used to explain the backstory, which started as oil paintings before evolving to falling sand, and eventually the final plastic sculptures that were used.

To make Rocket shedding a tear convincing, Method used in-house footage of Animation Supervisor Keith Roberts "performing the scene for reference, studying the macro facial movements like minor eye darts or blinks, in addition to what was filmed on set and in the sound booth by" Cooper.

They also used a younger stand in, Aaron Schwartz, since he had "big broad jaw, chin, and most importantly the way the laugh lines move[d] and crease[d] as he talk[ed]", similar to Russell's.

[172] Paul Gitter, senior vice president of licensing at Disney Consumer Products, said they intended to build Guardians of the Galaxy into a tentpole franchise.

The custom bags were available to purchase on Amazon.com, with Doritos also hosting Rock Out Loud pop-up recording booths in New York and Los Angeles where fans could sing the songs from Awesome Mix Vol.

"[174] In July 2016, Gunn, Pratt and other members of the cast attended San Diego Comic-Con to promote the film,[175] showing footage and revealing additional character information.

[201] The digital and Blu-ray releases include behind-the-scenes featurettes, audio commentary, deleted scenes, a blooper reel, and a music video for the song "Guardians Inferno".

The digital release also exclusively features the breakdown of three scenes, from their initial ideas to their completed versions, and a behind-the-scenes look at the Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: Breakout!, an accelerated drop tower dark ride attraction at Disney California Adventure.

[210] Deadline Hollywood calculated the film's net profit as $157 million, accounting for production budgets, marketing, talent participations, and other costs; box office grosses and home media revenues placed it ninth on their list of 2017's "Most Valuable Blockbusters".

2 remained at number two in its fourth weekend, this time behind Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, and crossed $337.6 million, surpassing the domestic gross of the first film.

[229] Chicago Sun-Times' Richard Roeper also gave the film three stars, calling it not "quite as much fun, not quite as clever, not quite as fresh as the original—but it still packs a bright and shiny and sweet punch."

[230] In his review for RogerEbert.com, Brian Tallerico gave the film three stars out of four, describing it as "a thoroughly enjoyable summer blockbuster" that does not take itself seriously, avoiding "many of the flaws of the first movie, and [doing] several things notably better.

"[233] For The Atlantic, Christopher Orr felt the film did not live up to the original, particularly due to its heavier themes and feeling that Russell was "badly miscast", but the rest of the cast, soundtrack, and humor were enough for him to give an overall positive review.

[258][259] Pratt, Saldaña, Bautista, Diesel, Cooper,[260] Gillan,[261] Klementieff,[262] and Sean Gunn reprise their roles in the film,[263] and are joined by Will Poulter as Adam Warlock.