When Thor flew off with the Guardians of the Galaxy at the end of Avengers: Endgame it led to a great deal of speculation as to what that meant for both segments of Marvel's larger franchise. With both a new Thor and Guardians movie planned, would we be seeing one side of the MCU appear, either in a cameo or supporting role, in the other? Recently, it's been reported that exactly that could be happening, as Chris Pratt is apparently set to fly to Australia, where Thor: Love and Thunder is filming, in order to play Star-Lord in the new movie. Now it's being claimed that Vin Diesel has done the same.
A video has surfaced online which purports to show Vin Diesel arriving in Sydney, Australia in order to begin work on Thor: Love and Thunder. With Chris Pratt on board as Star-Lord, it certainly would make a certain amount of sense that the rest of the Guardians of the Galaxy will also appear in the film, with the possible exception of Zoe Saldana's Gamora. Whether the Guardians are playing significant roles or they're just appearing in a cameo, they will likely all appear together.
Having said that, there's reason to be skeptical of this report. First of all, while the video claims to show Vin Diesel getting off an airplane, the faces of the people underneath the umbrellas are never clear, so it could be anybody getting off that plane for any reason. Is it possible that actually is Vin Diesel? Sure. But it's far from certain.
But the potentially bigger reason to question this is that Vin Diesel's only job playing Groot to date has been voice acting, so even if Groot was going to make an appearance in Thor: Love and Thunder, and there's a decent chance he will, there would be no reason for him to fly to Australia to do it. The motion capture work for Groot has previously always been done by Sean Gunn, who spends a lot of time on the set of the Guardians of the Galaxy movies in green screen pajamas as the physical stand in for both Rocket and Groot. Vin Diesel can record his line(s) as Groot from his kitchen table.
It's certainly possible that Vin Diesel will be needed on set in Thor: Love and Thunder. Perhaps he will be taking over the motion capture responsibilities this time around, maybe Sean Gunn is busy. Or maybe he's going to have another on-screen role in addition to his voice acting responsibilities, but that's far from certain. Even if that is him getting off the plane, maybe he's in Australia to film something else, or just take a vacation.
With a release date of February 2022, Thor Love and Thunder certainly is going to be getting in front of cameras soon, and all indications are the Guardians of the Galaxy will be there when that happens. Still, whether Vin Diesel will be there in person or in spirit remains to be seen.
