Marvel‘s panel on Saturday at Comic-Con had the temporary inhabitants of the legendary Hall H hoarse with cheering by its conclusion, and one of the reasons was its surprise presentation of the cast of Guardians of the Galaxy. They had reportedly only recently started filming, but they all hopped on a plane from London just to attend the event before turning around and getting back to the set.
Other than Chris Pratt as Star Lord, no other cast had been officially confirmed until the appearance, though the news was out for many. But having them up on stage was a much better and far more exciting presentation than some ol’ press release. Here they are, your 2015 cast for Guardians of the Galaxy:
Next to moderator Chris Hardwick, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige and director James Gunn were Chris Pratt (Star-Lord), Zoe Saldana (Gamora), Dave Bautista (Drax the Destroyer), Benicio Del Toro (The Collector), Lee Pace (Ronan the Accuser), Djimon Hounsou (Korath), Karen Gillan (Nebula), and Michael Rooker (Yondu).
Yes kids, it’s true; Karen Gillan (Doctor Who) has shaved her head for the role. Though she came out on stage with her signature red hair, when someone made mention of the fact that Nebula is bald, she whipped off the wig and impulsively tossed it out into the audience, then panicked because she needed it back. She reports that having a shaved head is very liberating, and recommends it to all.
Not that everyone would look as fabulous as she does. Her concern that “I was a little worried that I was going to look like an overgrown fetus” was clearly unfounded. We even got a moment of her rubbing her head together with her Mohawk-shorn neighbor Michael Rooker, another crowd favorite.
Notably absent from the stage were Rocket Raccoon and Groot, but the quick footage we were shown confirmed that the heroes will not surprisingly be entirely computer generated. And yes, that Rocket will be a feisty one. Hopefully Marvel will release the great video so you can see for yourself, but to tide you over, this concept art has been released:
As we were told, it’s early days for the production (though the video was notably polished; clearly the CG work was started before the live action filming began), but the bits we were shown seem to have been from the beginning or near-beginning of the movie, before the team becomes a team.
The snark of recent Marvel movies is there, if not the heavier tone, but again, it was early in the movie, when apparently our gang is just being rounded up (or is that “taken into custody”?) by the authorities. The footage included a bit of mugging by Star Lord and a slowly raised middle finger… but then also included other tiny bits from some great fight scenes. Can’t wait for the general release of this and more from the production.
Guardians of the Galaxy, starring Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Benicio Del Toro, Lee Pace, Djimon Hounsou, Karen Gillan, and Michael Rooker is slated to hit theaters August 1st, 2014.
