CHARLOTTE — There was a pregnant pause as Ikem Ekwonu finished listening to the question. He stayed quiet, a thoughtful look on his face as he seemed to ponder the best response. Then the truth came out.

"So I'm not gonna lie, while you were talking, I was thinking of a Marvel comparison," Ekwonu admitted to a rise of laughter. "So, can you please redo the question?"

The question was about the impact of Damien Lewis on Ekwonu's game, which Ickey did answer passionately.

"Damien is obviously a great guy, family man, keeps God first in his life, so personality-wise, off the field life, definitely a guy that I want to stay closer to," Ekwonu said. "But also on the field you see he's a dog, he likes to move guys around, he likes to bully guys on the field, and that's definitely a mindset I buy into so definitely excited to have Damien here next to me this year."

But his mind was on Marvel characters, particularly those from Guardians of the Galaxy, because it was not the first time that day he'd made a comparison.

"The alien guy, he's played by the wrestler, you know what I'm talking about," he asked, to which only a small handful of the assembled media knew the answer.

"Drax the destroyer, there you go, that's Damien right there, he's Drax the destroyer for sure."

Drax, for those who have no taste in cinema and therefore have not seen one of the best films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is a behemoth of an alien, played by wrestler Dave Bautista. He is driven by righteous vengeance, soft spoken and gentle with those who deserve it, but with the capability to wreak havoc on a situation with little more than his hands and his heart.

In other words, Damien Lewis.

He wasn't the only Guardian of the Galaxy member Ekwonu identified amongst his teammates, though.

"Yosh Nijman might present like he's stoic—(so) I also like to say Groot," laughed the left tackle. "I say he's a little bit like Groot from Guardians of the Galaxy, that's kind of his demeanor, but when you really get to talk to him and get to be around Yosh, definitely a lively guy, fun guy to be around."

Groot, for all intents and purposes, is a tree. He's a sentient plant who can regrow his limbs when needed, and only says "I am Groot." From the outside looking in, he is the most unassuming member of the Guardians team, but his loyalty and protective nature run deep, and he will destroy anything that comes near his friends.

In other words, according to Ickey, Yosh Nijman.

But when the Avengers assemble on this Carolina Panthers offensive line, they also create an Association, which is a joke that will be funny, as most jokes are, after you read this explanation.

"Best post up, I'm going to give credit to Yosh," Ekwonu declared. This was on the heels of guard Robert Hunt declaring he was the best basketball post player on the offensive line earlier this week, a fact Ickey quickly debated.

"Yosh is pretty stout," Ekwonu continued. "I think he has a little bit of a basketball background, but he reminds me a lot of Tim Duncan in demeanor. So I'm assuming that translates a little bit to the basketball court as well."

Tim Duncan, of course, is a Hall of Famer who won the MVP three times, surpassed only by the number of times he won the NBA Championship, which was five. But so much of the lore around Tim Duncan is how he married his off-court persona with the cold-blooded killer on it. To Ekwonu, that is mirrored in his teammate.

"Obviously Tim Duncan's like maybe like a little bit more reserved, a little bit more quiet, maybe a little bit stoic, but I feel like, you know, people that really get to know Tim Duncan based on interviews that say he's a funny guy, lively, so I thought it's kind of the same way with Yosh."

Ekwonu, who focused on football and wrestling in high school as opposed to football and basketball, likened himself to an underrated mauler by the name of Kenneth Lofton Jr, a 6-6 280 280-pound Louisiana Tech product, who is a two-way player for teams as a power forward.

"Everybody kind of counted him out because he's like a stouter guy. People didn't think he can move as well as he does, but he's a baller," explained Ickey.

Ekwonu is hesitant to apply a comp to the enigma that is Robert Hunt, although he was quick to shut down the notion that Hunt is like Rocket from Guardians of the Galaxy.

"I'll have to get back to you on that one, but he's not Rocket."

But the group will have ample time to figure that out, thanks to the fact the entire unit returned for another year.

"It's definitely rare, you know, retaining as many guys as we did," Ickey noted. "So it's definitely a blessing in that aspect, but I feel like it's definitely a good opportunity for us to grow more and more, you know, getting more and more connected and I think the more time we spend together just, you know, we're going to play that much better and I'm definitely excited to have all those guys back."

Having the unit back sets the tone for the entire team. Dave Canales wants part of the identity to be a smash-mouth, run team. That is dependent on the offensive line, the guardians of the Panthers galaxy.

"The trenches is where the battle starts," preached Ekwonu. "So, the trenches are where, in my opinion, it really dictates the game, the O-line, D-line.

"Teams aren't going to want to play us as long as we go out there and we show each and every player that we want to put you in the dirt. So that's definitely a mindset that we're going to adopt."