Three Guardians of the Galaxy cast members have had secret roles in Superman confirmed. As James Gunn prepares to launch his first feature film as co-head of DC Studios, the director has recruited several regular collaborators from his Marvel days for new roles in the DCU. Gunn has promised that there will be surprising cameos and characters in Superman who haven't been revealed yet, but those surprises are being unveiled as the film approaches its July 11 release date.
Gunn has been hinting that some Guardians of the Galaxy stars will appear in Superman (beyond the known casting of his brother Sean Gunn as Maxwell Lord), and the director confirmed three of those roles in a recent interview. Speaking with Buzzfeed Australia during the Superman press tour, Gunn confirmed that Bradley Cooper, Pom Klementieff, and Michael Rooker all have roles in the new DCU film. The director confirmed that the three Guardians of the Galaxy stars appear in Superman's Fortress of Solitude:
"I will give you something that nobody knows. Pom Klementieff is one of the robots. In that same scene, it's Bradley [Cooper], it's also Pom, and Michael Rooker is another one of the robots. We've got two Guardians right there."
Klementieff had previously teased that she'd spoken to Gunn about joining his DCU, and now she officially will be in Superman. Rooker already has two roles in Gunn's DCU, voicing Sam Fitzgibbon in Creature Commandos and appearing in Peacemaker Season 2 as Red St. Wild. He will now have a third DCU role, voicing one of the robots in Superman.
Meanwhile, Bradley Cooper had long been rumored to appear in Superman as Jor-El, Superman's Kryptonian father. Gunn has now confirmed the Rocket Raccoon actor will appear in the same scene as Rooker and Klementieff, hinting that he might also be voicing one of the robots. Alternatively, it may be that Cooper is still playing Jor-El as speculated, and this is the scene in which this character appears.
The extended preview of Superman, released in April, revealed at least one scene in which the Guardians of the Galaxy actors will appear. In the footage, the robots in the Fortress of Solitude work on healing the injured Kal-El (David Corenswet) with a dose of yellow sun. The scene provides a hint of Rooker's voice role alongside Alan Tudyk, who plays the central speaking part of Robot #4.
Superman will be the first feature film installment in DC Studios' new cinematic universe, which officially began this past December with Creature Commandos, and already has a dozen DC projects in the pipeline. Superman also stars Rachel Brosnahan, Nicholas Hoult, Isabela Merced, Nathan Fillion, and Edi Gathegi.
Will Superman Include More Guardians of the Galaxy Stars?
Cooper, Klementieff, and Rooker join a handful of other MCU stars who have jumped to the rebooted DCU, as Gunn maintains his roster of regular collaborators on his projects.
When Buzzfeed asked Gunn whether other Guardians of the Galaxy members like Dave Bautista or Zoe Saldaña might appear in Superman, Gunn said, "We're keeping them in the wing." This suggests the MCU actors may not appear in this DCU film but have a promising chance of receiving a role in a DC project under Gunn in the future.
Marvel Studios has not confirmed whether the Guardians of the Galaxy will appear again in the MCU (particularly now that Gunn has moved on), and none of the cast members were included in the confirmed list for Avengers: Doomsday. The ending of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 confirmed that "The Legendary Star-Lord Will Return," hinting that Chris Pratt's character at least has a future in the MCU, but as for the other stars, they may find themselves freed from one cinematic universe to appear in another.
