Guardians of the Galaxy is going full steam ahead in production in the United Kingdom. Need proof? Check out the insane six-pack that Chris Pratt has earned in his training to star in the film as Peter Quill, a.k.a. Star-Lord.
Pratt posted the photo to Instagram with the hashtag #GOTG and the promise that "My brother made me post this," but we don't think he has to apologize-- dude totally earned the right to brag. But believe it or not, Chris Pratt's rockin' bod is not the only reason we're here to talk about Guardians of the Galaxy today. A new rumor has emerged at Den of Geek that says they've confirmed the roles that Benicio del Toro, Karen Gillan and Lee Pace will be playing in the film. Ready to hear about it?
POTENTIAL SPOILERS FOR GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY AHEAD
When del Toro was cast it was with the promise that he would play a very major character in the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which had us speculating he might be big purple alien Thanos or even Doctor Strange. But according to Den of Geek del Toro is playing The Collector, a creature billions of years old who protects the universe and who can see the future. Though he's been trying to prevent Thanos from doing too much damage, he's also been known to do stuff like enslave Thor and manipulate Iron Man into doing his bidding, so it seems safe to guess that The Collector would be a bad guy in the context of Guardians. Pace and Gillan are also rumored to be baddies-- Den of Geek say that Pace's character is Ronan the Accuser, a Kree alien with superhuman powers, and GIllan is Nebula the space pirate.
Ronan the Accuser's name came up recently when John C. Reilly was cast as a different character, Rhomann Dey, and some wires got crossed thinking he was Ronan the Accuser. Now that Pace might be playing the character, we're interested all over again in the fact that, in some versions of the comics, Ronan the Accuser is the son of Thanos, the bad guy we've been told is definitely coming back in Avengers 2 and may be the link between the earthbound adventures we've seen in previous Marvel movies and the outer space stuff happening here.
Honestly, it's going to be a serious challenge for Marvel to link all this stuff-- aliens, power gauntlets, main characters who are raccoons-- into the world they've already established, which includes gods from outer space, but at least they're all humans who can wisecrack right alongside Iron Man. Fans of the Marvel universe comics may find all of this totally clear, but those of us who have only experienced the movies-- and that's the majority of the people who helped The Avengers make $1.5 billion, mind you-- have a lot of catching up to do. Am I the only one confused here? Or do you guys have confidence it will all make sense when Guardians of the Galaxy comes to theaters August 1 next year.
