Movie Substrate · Film
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)
★ 7.6 · 22,855 ratings on TMDB
Anyone can save the galaxy once.
The Guardians must fight to keep their newfound family together as they unravel the mysteries of Peter Quill's true parentage.
DirectorJames Gunn
The emergence reading
In Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, consciousness is carried by aliens — a plane of “cosmic crew”. The story fights on E8/E9 of the E0–E14 reality ladder, compressing family, identity, power, legacy.
↷ aliensUSfamilyidentitypowerlegacy
Same rung, same subject
Films fighting at the same level of reality, about the same things.
Descendants: Wicked Wonderland (2026)E8/E9 · family, identity
Captain Marvel (2019)E8/E9 · identity, power
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)E8/E9 · identity, power
Superman Returns (2006)E8/E9 · identity, power
The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones (2013)E8/E9 · family, identity
I Am Number Four (2011)E8/E9 · identity, powerSame subject, different rung
The same preoccupations examined at another scale — one mind versus a nation.
TMNT (2007)E6/E11 · rare rung · family, identity
Arthur 3: The War of the Two Worlds (2010)E6/E11 · rare rung · identity, power
Return to Oz (1985)E10/E13 · rare rung · identity, power
The Last Legion (2007)E12/E13 · rare rung · legacy, power
X-Men: The Mutant Watch (2000)E11/E12 · rare rung · identity, powerAlso hides consciousness here
Other films that move a human interior onto the same kind of thing.
Dragon Ball: Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!! (2008)consciousness in aliens · alien banquet battlefield
Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Candace Against the Universe (2020)consciousness in aliens · Feebla‑Oot alien world
Return from Witch Mountain (1978)consciousness in aliens · alien-children on Earth
The Truthers (2026)consciousness in aliens · galactic frontier
Justice League vs. Teen Titans (2016)consciousness in aliens · superhero multiverse
Leroy & Stitch (2006)consciousness in aliens · intergalactic bureaucracySame subject, different mask
The same preoccupations carried by a different kind of thing — grief told through the dead, an animal, a machine.
The Lion King (1994)consciousness in animals · family, identity
Shazam! (2019)consciousness in abstractions · family, identity
The Nutcracker and the Four Realms (2018)consciousness in objects · family, identity
Disenchanted (2022)consciousness carried elsewhere · family, identity
Eli (2019)consciousness in monsters · family, identity
Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken (2023)consciousness in animals · family, identitySame people
Shared director or cast.
