One of the biggest treats about superhero movies these days is the fantastic concept art that tends to arise online a few weeks after a film's initial bow and Marvel's 'Guardians of the Galaxy' is no different. James Gunn's space opera has become an unlikely box office juggernaut and characters like the walking alien tree known as Groot have taken the world by storm, so of course people are going to be interested in what these characters could have looked like in an alternate version of the film.

A collection of images by concept artist Justin Sweet has popped up on his Facebook page (via Filmsketchr) and they paint a very, very different universe than the one we ultimately got to see. For starters, characters like Rocket and Groot are far less cute, with the former looking more imposing and tough while the latter looks like something out of a horror film. The Drax and Gamora pieces aren't that much different from the final designs, but they have a more fantastical edge to them, looking more like 'John Carter' than 'Star Wars.' And, as you'd expect, Star-Lord's badass armor had all different kinds of variations before settling on the final look.

However, the most stirring piece of art looks like it depicts something that never made it into the final film: the villainous Ronan bowing before some kind of, well, evil wall. Yikes.

'Guardians of the Galaxy' is currently in theaters. You've probably seen in three times now. Make sure you click on the art below to get a closer look!

Justin Sweet
Justin Sweet
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Justin Sweet
Justin Sweet
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Justin Sweet
Justin Sweet
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Justin Sweet
Justin Sweet
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Justin Sweet
Justin Sweet
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Justin Sweet
Justin Sweet
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Justin Sweet
Justin Sweet
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Justin Sweet
Justin Sweet
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Justin Sweet
Justin Sweet
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Justin Sweet
Justin Sweet
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