Somebody might have been watching some Marvel.
The U.S. Space Force, a 1-year-old branch of the armed forces, rolled out a new name for its members on Friday: “Guardians.”
Vice President Mike Pence announced the name in a news conference celebrating the service’s anniversary. “Soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and Guardians will be defending our nation for generations to come,” he said.
The new moniker evokes the “Guardians of the Galaxy” superhero film franchise from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But the U.S. Space Force pointed elsewhere in a statement that described the roots of the moniker.
“The opportunity to name a force is a momentous responsibility,” said the statement. “Guardians is a name with a long history in space operations, tracing back to the original command motto of Air Force Space Command in 1983, ‘Guardians of the High Frontier.’”
The Space Force said in the statement that the name was selected after “a yearlong process that produced hundreds of submissions and research involving space professionals and members of the general public.”
