James Gunn Rules Out Two Big Marvel Villains For ‘Guardians Of The Galaxy 2’
Besides some returning core characters, there’s really no saying who’ll appear inGuardians of the Galaxy 2. The film will have nearly a decade of MCU stories to draw from, not to mention several decades of comic book history.
But if you’d like to try and narrow down the possibilities, here are two more names (or more accurately, a name and a race) that we can cross off the list. Neither Kang the Conqueror nor the Shi’ar Empire will appear inGuardians of the Galaxy 2, as confirmed by directorJames Gunn. Read his Guardians of the Galaxy 2 Kang and Shi’ar comments after the jump.
Gunn ruled out some big Marvel baddies forGuardians of the Galaxy 2during aFacebook Q&A. “Shi’ar and Kang are both owned by Fox,” he said. Although the Shi’ar and Kang have crossed paths with various MCU characters including Guardians of the Galaxy in the comics, they’re more closely associated with the X-Men and the Fantastic Four, and thus controlled by Fox. And don’t hold your breath for a change of heart: “All decisions about who is inGotG2were made a long time ago,” Gunn added.
Kang the Conqueror is a frequent foe of both the Fantastic Four and the Avengers. He first appears as Kang in 1964Avengerscomic, but he really debuted in a 1963Fantastic Fourcomic under the name Pharaoh Rama-Tut. Hisrealname, however, is Nathaniel Richards, and he’s a time-traveling scholar born in 3000 AD. As his name suggests, he’s a distant relative of Reed Richards from the Fantastic Four. (If you thought that paragraph was confusing, just try parsinghis official Marvel.com bio.)
The Shi’ar were originally introduced in a 1976X-Mencomic. Along with the Kree (Ronan’s people) and the Skrulls (who also belong to Fox), they’re one of the three major alien empires in the Marvel comic book universe. They figure prominently into a number of X-Men storylines, including the famous Dark Phoenix saga.
Besides Kang and the Shi’ar, the growing list of characters that will certainly not be inGuardians of the Galaxy 2includeRonan the Accuser,Captain Marvel, Venom,Gladiator,Bug, Rom: Spaceknight, andRichard Rider a.k.a. Nova.
The characters that will appear include the main Guardians (Chris Pratt,Zoe Saldana, etc.) plusYondu (Michael Rooker) and Nebula (Karen Gillan). Gunn has also teased the debut ofone of his favorite superheroes, but hasn’t confirmed a name. Possibilities floated by the fandom include Beta Ray Bill, Starhawk, and Adam Warlock, three characters Gunn has expressed an affinity for in the past.
