Nathan Fillion and Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn have been buddies for a long time, and whenever possible they look for ways to work together. For instance, he had a great cameo in the Marvel flick that totally disguised his Hollywood good looks. Remember this lovely guy?
Well now they've found a way to fit him in to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, and this time he's far more recognizable. Hawkeyed fans on the movie set spotted what appear to be fake movie posters [Comicbook.com has the images and vids] for a variety of productions set within the MCU. The kicker? Fillion is on them all, playing a character named Simon Williams. Marvel fans will recognize Williams as the Avenger known as Wonder Man. The posters, which included everyting from a rom-com titled "Oh, Rebecca" to a Steve Jobs-esque biopic, were for a Simon Williams Film Festival, which sounds so terrible I hope it's a major plot point.
I've always considered Wonder Man one of the more pathetic Avengers. He was once a villain who joined with his brother the Grim Reaper to threaten Stark because their father's munitions business was going under. Given powers by Baron Zemo, he infiltrated the Avengers pretending to be an ally, but when the time came to betray them he turned on Zemo instead. He would eventually enter into a really complicated relationship that involved Scarlet Witch and Vision, and often ended up being depressed by the decisions she made. At one point he left the team to become an actor, and then he was a pacifist for a while, but always he would end up back in the fight and often dying because of it. Fortuantely, his ionic-based powers always gave him a way back to the land of the living.
There's nothing that suggests Fillion will have any kind of speaking role, and definitely no indication he'll be a future Avenger or anything like that. But could we maybe get a trailer for one of these movies, please? Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 opens May 5th 2017.
