Cosmo the Spacedog

Cosmo the Spacedog is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Cosmo, a telepathic Soviet dog, is the security chief of the space station Knowhere and a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy. The character was created by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning as a reference to Laika and first appeared in Nova vol. 4 #8 (January, 2008 issue).

Cosmo the Spacedog appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Guardians of the Galaxy.

Fictional character biography
Cosmo was a former test animal of the Soviet space program. He was launched into Earth's orbit as part of an experiment but he drifted off into space at some point during the 1960s, arriving in Knowhere and at some point being mutated by cosmic rays, he eventually came to serve as the station's security chief. Cosmo met a distraught Nova shortly after he witnessed Suspensor turn into a zombie. He tells Nova that he's on Knowhere, a city right inside the severed head of a giant Celestial. Beings from all over the universe come to Knowhere waiting for the end of the universe.

When the Luminals bring something in a big box the city's population has to go into hiding. The Xandarian Worldmind then informs Rider that he had deciphered the writing on the wall, which is a countdown to a timer.

Suspensor attacks them and Nova is forced to kill her in self-defense only to have her allies Cynosure, Crater and Discharge blame him for her death. Unable to fight the three aliens, he retreats and discovers a talking dog. However, Cosmo gained Nova’s trust and friendship, and the two set out to find the fiend responsible for all the recent deaths on Knowhere. Cosmo brought Nova up to speed on when the events started, and the Xandarian Worldmind added any data he had at his disposal. Cosmo was mainly concerned with the safety of the remaining citizens of Knowhere who were safely hidden away in a dimensional envelope he wore on his collar. It was not long before Cosmo and Nova were ambushed by more zombies including the surviving members of Suspensor's former team the Luminals and determined that the creature known as Abyss was behind the mayhem. Together, they fought off the attacks, sealed Abyss inside his prison.

Cosmo then charted a course to the birthplace of the Phalanx, the planet Kvch, in hopes that he can find a way to cure himself of the Transmode Virus that is slowly killing him. Then alarms were triggered when a murderous Gamora and Drax the Destroyer (now under the control of the Phalanx) slaughtered many residents in search of Nova. Cosmo arrived too late to stop them before they could follow the same path as Nova through the Continuum Cortex.

Peter Quill's original Guardians team operated out of Knowhere for some time, thus dragging Cosmo into many of their adventures. In one, he and other Guardians bounce around the time stream in an attempt to stop a tear in the universe, 'The Fault', from eliminating all of reality. This adventure includes Cosmo de-aging to puppy status for some time.

During The Thanos Imperative storyline, the true nature of the Fault began to reveal itself and the corrupted beings of the Cancerverse began their invasion. The Guardians of the Galaxy allied with Thanos to stop the evil Lord Mar-Vell. In the end, the team disbanded, losing Adam Warlock, Phyla-Vell, Drax and their leader Starlord. But before he died, Starlord left Cosmo with the task of trying to collect the greatest heroes in the universe to form a band of Annihilators, the team Starlord believed was what the Guardians of the Galaxy should have been. One by one Cosmo convinced The Silver Surfer, Gladiator, Beta Ray Bill, Quasar and Ronan the Accuser to team up and protect the universe together, as was Starlord's final wish.

Cosmo was seen injured after Captain Skaarn's takeover of Knowhere. Skaarn had poisoned Cosmo and shot him with something that dampened Cosmo's psychic telepathy. Using the Nova Force, the young Nova tried to push the poison out of his body. In the process, he found the foreign body inside of the psychic dog that disrupted his powers and thus, saved Cosmo's life.

Cosmo is seen with several new Knowhere enforcement allies called the Knowhere Corps. They assist him in capturing a violence-loving gangster called Yotat.

Powers and abilities
In addition to a dog's standard enhanced sense of hearing and smell, Cosmo has psionic abilities, including high-level telepathy and telekinesis. He has shown to be capable of creating defensive shields strong enough to deflect energy blasts, as well as project mind blasts of tremendous force. His exact power levels are unknown, but he has shown to be strong enough to take on a being such as Adam Warlock by himself, and powerful enough to unleash a telekinetic blast able to disable two separate teams of superhumans.

In addition to these abilities, Cosmo seems to have a considerably extended lifespan as well - especially for a dog since he has been around since the time of the Soviet Union.

Television

 * Cosmo the Spacedog appears in the Guardians of the Galaxy animated series, voiced by James Arnold Taylor in a Russian accent.
 * A pirate version of Cosmo has a non-voiced appearance in Ultimate Spider-Man vs The Sinister Six episode "Return to the Spider-Verse Pt. 2", where he is an inhabitant of a pirate reality and assisted the pirate versions of Howard the Duck and Rocket Raccoon in a mutiny against Web Beard the Pirate Lord. Though both sides were persuaded by Spider-Man and Kid Arachnid to settle their differences and help to defeat the Kraken.

Film

 * Cosmo the Spacedog appears in the Marvel Cinematic Universe portrayed by dog actor Fred:
 * He first appears in the 2014 film Guardians of the Galaxy as a living exhibit in the museum of Taneleer Tivan the Collector. He is freed after an explosion caused by an Infinity Stone. In a post-credits scene, he is shown to be present when Howard the Duck and the Collector have a drink together.

Video games

 * Cosmo the Spacedog appears in Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes, voiced by Carlos Alazraqui. As in the comics, he is the security chief of the space station Knowhere.
 * Cosmo the Spacedog appears as a non-playable character in Marvel: Avengers Alliance before the game's impending shutdown at the end of September 2016.
 * Cosmo the Spacedog appears in Marvel Heroes as a pet.
 * Cosmo the Spacedog appears as a playable character in Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2.
 * Cosmo the Spacedog appears in Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order, voiced again by James Arnold Taylor.

Theme parks
Cosmo the Spacedog appears as an exhibit of Taneleer Tivan the Collector's museum in the Disney California Adventure attraction Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: Breakout! in the queue line. He also appears during the ride, shown to have escaped his cell with the rest of the Guardians of the Galaxy.