Warning: Spoilers for Guardians of the Galaxy #5
Summary
- The latest issue of Guardians of the Galaxy finally addresses a plot hole involving the Collector’s gallery of artifacts.
- The Collector, as part of his negotiation tactics, uses common species as bait to add to his collection of rare items.
- He manipulates other species to do his dirty work for him, offering them the opportunity to trade their belongings or find valuable items on his behalf.
A previously unchecked MCU plot hole involving the Collector is finally addressed in the most recent issue of Guardians of the Galaxy. While the Collector’s gallery of artifacts is filled with numerous fun easter eggs, it is also comprised of many common things in the universe, and it doesn’t often include any truly rare items. As it turns out, the common goods are there for a reason.
The Collector makes a cameo to set the stage for Marvel’s upcoming G.O.D.S. series in Guardians of the Galaxy #5 by Collin Kelly, Jackson Lanzing, Kev Walker, Matt Hollingworth, and Travis Lanham. The Collector meets with a familiar face from the first issue of Guardians of the Galaxy regarding his family.
The Collector finds himself negotiating with this man for a clock. The alien himself is of the same species that the Guardians run into on the Manifold Territories in the first issue of the series. The Collector is holding captive the man’s wife and children. After searching for six years for something to trade, he gives the Collector a clock. He’s successfully able to negotiate the clock for his children, but he insists the Collector keeps his wife.
The Collector Needs All Kinds of Species to Gain What He Wants
It isn’t specified if this clock is something of actual story significance or if it is just a rare clock, but this is clearly something that the Collector wants — and something he’s willing to negotiate for. The Collector in the past has been seen to house the likes of Chitauri, Kree, Frost Giants, and even cockroaches. These make for fun callbacks and easter eggs, but in-story don’t make much sense. For a collector of rare items, he owns several easily attainable species that can be found throughout the galaxy.
This new panel recontextualizes such moments. Common species are not housed by the Collector as part of his collection but instead are being used as bait to add to his collection as part of his larger negotiation tactics. The Collector has no interest in this alien’s family, but he has every interest in what the alien has to offer to regain that family. It can be assumed that the Collector does this with other species as well. Even more so, it can be inferred that this makes for the easiest way for the Collector to get other people to do his dirty work for him.
Rather than go out and collect rare artifacts himself, the Collector can get free labor out of aliens willing to either trade their belongings or seek out something of value on his behalf. It’s an opportunistic and arguably vile move, but, at this moment at least, it proves effective as the Collector reaps the rewards — just as it closes a truly annoying MCU plot hole.
Guardians of the Galaxy #5 is available now from Marvel Comics.