User blog comment:LoveWaffle/2014 Preview/@comment-26711120-20140115004049/@comment-1895174-20140120052140

Ronan and Nebula work together as servants of Thanos. Going by his line in the mid-credits scene to Thor 2, I wouldn't rule out the Collector as a collaborator. The Nova Corps won't be as much antagonists as they'll be the SHIELD to the Guardians' Avengers.

It's an interesting set-up, though. The villains are not their own masters. That's not something that's ever been tried before, really. The Hydra in Captain America: The First Avenger didn't have to answer to the rest of the Nazi Party, for example. But Ronan's team in GotG has to answer to Thanos. Instead of him becoming a villain that's thrown into every movie, like, for example, Luthor in the Christopher Reeve Superman movies, the MCU's building him up by throwing out a number of villains subservient to him prior to his big moment in I'm assuming Avengers 3 (subtitle Infinity?). This is the kind of set-up I hope the Fantastic Four reboots use with Doom, so I hope it works well.