About a month ago, James Gunn started to add some bad guys to his upcoming Marvel movie, ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’. Up until that point, only heroes such as Star-Lord, Drax the Destroyer, and Yondu Udonta were locked in, but no villainous names had made any appearances around the IMDB page. But then, Ophelia Lovibond and Lee Pace joined the cast. The actress was said to be playing an aide to 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, but details about Pace’s role were being kept under wraps. All that was said was that he would be playing the main antagonist of the film. There were a few theories at the time speculating on who he’d be, but now we have another one that might really be the one.
Though many have assumed that Thanos would be the big baddie in this Phase Two film, word is that there are bigger plans in the pipeline for the Mad Titan. While he will be connected to ‘Guardians’, he won’t be the central threat to the team. When ‘Pushing Daisies’ star Pace was added to the cast as the main bad guy, there were talks that he would be playing The Controller, an electro-mechanical/chemical research scientist who becomes Thanos’ right hand man. Rumors also said that he could be playing The Collector since Lovibond’s character is connected to him, but according to the latest report from JoBlo, neither one of those cosmic characters will be portrayed by Lee Pace. Their sources say that he’ll be playing Ronan the Accuser.
A staple of Marvel’s stable of intergalactic personalities, Ronan is the ruler of the Kree, a humanoid extraterrestrial race from the planet Hala. In the comics, he’s been known to mix it up with the Fantastic Four, the Inhumans, and the Guardians of the Galaxy, but his main adversaries are the Skrulls, a race of shape-shifting aliens. It’s been said before that Marvel is looking to expand their cinematic universe to include more planetary destinations, so adding a whole new alien race might be one step they’re taking to doing so.
The report also thinks that by including Ronan the Accuser in ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’, Marvel is building to the Kree-Skrull War in ‘The Avengers 2’. While that would be an interesting thing to include, I believe that the Skrulls are under the control of Fox as a part of their license for the Fantastic Four. That’s why Joss Whedon ended up using the Chitauri in ‘The Avengers’ instead of the Skrulls. While it’s an interesting thought, I don’t see that battle unfolding under the Marvel Studios banner any time soon.
Skrulls or not, the Kree are still formidable opponents. But not only does their involvement open the door for more bad guys, but the door is open for more good guys as well. Captain Marvel, Ms. Marvel, and Marvel Boy/The Protector are all connected to the Kree race, so it’s possible that they could show up somewhere soon too. There has been talks of more female Avengers being included in future movies, so it wouldn’t be so far fetched to think that Carol Danvers is next to make the jump from the comic shop to the big screen.
Do you think that Ronan the Accuser will be the main villain in ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’? Could this be the mystery role that Lee Pace signed on for? If so, how do you think he fits in the role? There’s a lot of angles to consider about this news, so go ahead and share all your feelings in the comments.
James Gunn’s ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ starring Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, Zoe Saldana, Lee Pace, and Michael Rooker is scheduled for release on August 1st, 2014.
