--- ---  # See _Guardians of the Galaxy's_ Most Amazing Makeup Transformations by [Joseph C. Lin](https://time.com/author/joseph-c-lin/) ## Joseph C. Lin Jul 31, 2014 10:03 PM UTC  Marvel's Guardians Of The Galaxy Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista) Ph: Film Frame ©Marvel 2014 Marvel's Guardians Of The Galaxy Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista) Ph: Film Frame ©Marvel 2014Marvel by [Joseph C. Lin](https://time.com/author/joseph-c-lin/) ## Joseph C. Lin Jul 31, 2014 10:03 PM UTC While some characters in _Guardians of the Galaxy,_ like Groot and Rocket, were rendered with computer graphics, the majority of the movie’s aliens were transformed by makeup. Over the course of filming, the movie’s team of 50 makeup artists applied approximately 1,250 prosthetics between the principal cast and alien extras. _Guardians of the Galaxy_ comes out in theaters on August 1, 2014.  Zoe Saldana trades her Na'vi blue for Gamora green in Guardians of the Galaxy. The artists didn't want the green to put people off, and chose the shade to show vibrance and youthfulness. The makeup and prosthetics took five hours every morning. Stuart Wilson—WireImage/Getty Images; Marvel  Former WWE heavyweight champ Dave Bautista plays Drax the Destroyer. His 18 prostheses took a team of five makeup artists four hours to apply. Samir Hussein—WireImage/Getty Images; Marvel  Michael Rooker plays the blue-skinned bandit Yondu, who has a "mohawk" that lights up from front to back. Frazer Harrison—Getty Images; Marvel  Benicio Del Toro's hair and eyebrows were bleached for his role as The Collector. Lester Cohen—Getty Images; Marvel  Karen Gillan had to shave off all her hair to attain the sleek look of Nebula, a cybernetically enhanced alien. Jason Merritt—Getty Images; Marvel  Having played the Elven king Thranduil in the Hobbit trilogy, Lee Pace is no stranger to makeup and prosthetics. In Guardians, he's painted in blue for his role as Ronan the Accuser. Dimitrios Kambouris—Getty Images; Marvel See Guardians of the Galaxy's Most Amazing Makeup Transformations ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3066694/guardians-of-the-galaxys-makeup-before-after/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3066694/guardians-of-the-galaxys-makeup-before-after/"},"headline":"See Guardians of the Galaxy's Most Amazing Makeup Transformations","datePublished":"2014-07-31T22:03:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:07:57.991Z","description":"Zoe Saldana goes green; Benicio Del Toro gets the platinum treatment","url":"https://time.com/3066694/guardians-of-the-galaxys-makeup-before-after/","keywords":["movies","Marvel","photography","zoe saldana","guardians of the galaxy"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt609d5a37f9e481eb/69869e0c55a8590231a82058/guardians_of_the_galaxy_nk_finalcc_grd26_ft_dom_t2_v25rev_wt6-088363.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Joseph C. Lin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/joseph-c-lin/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt609d5a37f9e481eb/69869e0c55a8590231a82058/guardians_of_the_galaxy_nk_finalcc_grd26_ft_dom_t2_v25rev_wt6-088363.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Guardians_Of_The_Galaxy_NK_FINALCC_GRD26_ft_dom_t2_v25rev_wt6.088363","caption":"Marvel's Guardians Of The GalaxyDrax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista)Ph: Film Frame©Marvel 2014","creditText":"Marvel","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3066694/guardians-of-the-galaxys-makeup-before-after/","name":"See Guardians of the Galaxy's Most Amazing Makeup Transformations"}}]}] ```