Nova_Prime_001This weekend saw a truckload of details spill about the nature of Guardian Of The Galaxy, but by far the most fun hint is that John C. Reilly is up for a part.

As much as I’d like to see Reilly play a talking tree or whatever, he’s apparently up for a Clark Gregg type role as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent that will somehow interface with the Guardians. His character’s name, “Rhomann Dey” loads his character with non-shield baggage though, laying a roadmap to Nova being involved?

Here’s the thing, Marvel is going all in on weirdness with this one, and starting to wind some truly deep-cut Marvel lore into Phase 2. The fact that the original Nova (who then passed on the mantle Green Lantern-style to Richard Rider in the mid-70s) is now an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. shows that Marvel is completely willing to toy with both their own universe and fans as they move forward.

These details come from Hitfix, who also learned that it is actually Michael Rooker’s space pirate that is the primary villain of the film, rather than Thanos. This would seem to confirm that Thanos will be the primary villain of The Avengers 2 as most guessed, rather than having his big turn in Guardians to setup something else for Whedon’s sequel.

600full-john-c.-reillyOther cool details? Apparently Marvel wants Hugh Laurie, Alan Rickman, or Ken Watanabe for the role of Dey’s superior, so Powers Boothe may have another cool actor next to him on the board of shady feds that direct S.H.I.E.L.D. Also Groot will come to earth to experiment on humans and Nick Fury will talk him out of it, or something. And Rocket Raccoon will be first introduced alongside a talking space walrus named Wal Russ.

You can read more specifics at Hitfix if you’re into the spoiler thing.

Though I’m admittedly a bit put off by how esoteric Marvel is getting with this one, I’m also pleased by the fact that I have absolutely no idea what kind of movie this will ultimately be, and yet I’m confident it will all make sense once the first trailer hits. That’s what happens when you hire someone like James Gunn to wrangle all this stuff.