Though we’re still a few weeks away from learning who will be playing Rocket Raccoon, James Gunn’s ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ is still scooping up cast members to join the Phase Two project. Over the past few days, an interesting pair has stepped up to join Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, and Michael Rooker in the only non-sequel property on Marvel’s plate right now. (I excluded ‘Ant-Man’ because that’s in Phase Three, even though it’s been announced already.)

Ophelia Lovibond in ‘Nowhere Boy’

The first new name to join the cast of the upcoming sci-fi adventure is Ophelia Lovibond. The English actress known for her roles in the John Lennon biopic ‘Nowhere Boy’ and the Ashton Kutcher/Natalie Portman rom-com ‘No Strings Attached’ will be taking on a supporting role in the film. According to the Hollywood Reporter, she’ll be playing the aide of The Collector, one of the Elders of the Universe who gathers species and artifacts in order to protect them from an all-powerful being that has the ability to destroy the universe. This all-powerful being is Thanos, the purple guy from the post-credits scene of ‘The Avengers’, who is said to be playing a much bigger role in Phase Two, starting with ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’. Though we don’t know much about Lovibond’s character, we sure learned a bit more about what’s going on in the film if The Collector is involved somehow.

The second addition to the cast is someone who has been mentioned in a conversation or two about this movie before. According to The Wrap, Lee Pace, who was auditioning for the lead role of Star-Lord at one point, is in final negotiations to play the main antagonist of the film. There are no details on which villain this could be as the report only indicates that the details of actor’s “villainous character” are being kept quiet for now, but considering that Thanos is looking to make more of an impact in the Marvel Cinematic Universe this time around, it would only make sense for his lead henchman to pop up somewhere soon. The leading theory right now is that Pace will play The Controller, an electro-mechanical/chemical research scientist named Basil Sandhurst who joins forces with Thanos after the Mad Titan breaks him out of prison and upgrades his tech to include mind control powers. With Sandhurst proposing the main threat to the Guardians, then that allows Thanos to still be involved while not taking center stage, which is likely something being saved for ‘The Avengers 2’.

As each day goes on, the cast of ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ gets more and more diverse, especially with this recent crop of recruits. Director Gunn is certainly drawing talent from all corners of Hollywood for this one, so it’ll be interesting to see them all gather onscreen for this movie.

What do you think about Ophelia Lovibond and Lee Pace joining ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’? Do you have any theories about their characters in the film? Let us know about them in the comments.

James Gunn’s ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ starring Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, and Michael Rooker is scheduled for release on August 1st, 2014.