Guardians of the Galaxy movie billboards...

The Summer Marvel Studios are boldly going where they've not gone before, and playing with a whole new batch of weird characters that are widely unfamiliar with mainstream cinema goers in Guardians of the Galaxy.

Whereas the likes of Iron Man, Thor and Captain America had their established fan bases, this iteration of the Guardians of the Galaxy has been around in the comic universe for a relatively short time.

These are not the galactic crusaders launched in 1969 from the 31st century, this is based on the oddball team assembled during the cosmic Annihilation: Conquest 2007 comic book series, which reintroduced readers to the band of almost forgotten D-List characters like 'Star-Lord', 'Rocket Raccoon' and 'Groot'.

The next year a new on-going Guardians of the Galaxy title written by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning debuted, also featuring 'Gamora', 'Drax the Destroyer' and several other notable cosmic superheroes.

Fast-forward a few years and more recently a new comic was launched to chronicle the adventures of their soon to be big screen counterparts, written by Brian Michael Bendis.

This Summer James Gunn brings the ragtag space-based Marvel heroes to a cinema screen near you with a large dose of comedy, due in part to the casting of Parks and Recreation funny guy Chris Pratt as 'Peter Quill aka Star-Lord', the leader of this motley crew.

Also supplying from sci-fi gravitas and eye candy is Zoe Saldana, from the likes of Avatar and the rebooted Star Trek, as the 'most dangerous woman in the universe', the green-skinned assassin 'Gamora', plus there's extra menace and muscle supplied by pro-wrestler Dave Bautista as 'Drax the Destroyer'.

Probably the biggest gamble of the movie is the CGI created characters, the gun-tooting 'Rocket Raccoon', voiced by Bradley Cooper, and alien plant-creature 'Groot', voiced by Vin Diesel.

But as this cosmic adventure plays into Marvel's larger cinematic plans and ties into future Avengers movies, plus will feature the threats of 'Thanos' and 'Tanaleer Tivan aka The Collector' glimpsed in previous Marvel movies, you can bet this isn't going to be any old throw away science fiction blockbuster.

These movie billboards for Guardians of the Galaxy are truly out of this world and certainly evoke the classic Star Wars posters.

The striking special extension version was first spied along Santa Monica Boulevard at Westwood Boulevard on June 16, whilst another example was spotted along Laurel Canyon Boulevard in Studio City on June 27, 2014.

The dramatic giant-sized billboard was photographed making an impact along L.A.'s busy Sunset Strip on June 27, 2014, whilst the portrait version was snapped high over Hollywood's Sunset & Vine.

If you're a fan of super-heroes, be sure to check out these other comic book billboards, featuring films and TV shows from Marvel Comics and more besides.

"I am Groot" (which roughly translated means Guardians of the Galaxy is going to rule the box office this Summer).

UPDATED: If you're a GOTG fan, be sure to also check out these original Star-Lord and Gamora movie costumes on display.