Kevin Feige Confirms Ronan The Accuser Is The Main Villain Of GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY And Gamora To Start Off As Antagonist

Marvel's Kevin Feige has talked to Empire (via CBM) and revealed the rest of the villain lineup in Guardians of The Galaxy. The film is full of baddies which already includes Nebula, Yondu, Korath The Pursuer, The Collector and Thanos. Kevin confirmed that Thanos would be behind the scenes and not front-in-centre. Stating Lee Pace's Ronan The Accuser (Kree Empire) will be the main villain the Guardians will have to go up against. How both The Collector and Thanos fit into the film have yet to be revealed. He also dropped the new tidbit of news that Gamora will indeed be a villain in the beginning as well. The Nova Corps are expected to be up against the group as well.

Kevin Feige Confirms Thanos For GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, More Characters Confirmed, New Concept Art Featuring The Cast And Props/Costumes

Marvel's Kevin Feige confirmed to IGN (via TotalFilm) that indeed cosmic villain Thanos (Vin Diesel?) will play a big role in Guardians of The Galaxy afterall (rumored for Avengers 3, not the second film). Actor Lee Pace (Hobbit Trilogy) has been confirmed for Kree leader Ronan The Accuser (leading into Inhumans?) and Doctor Who actress Karen Gillan will be playing Marvel villain Nebula. New addition Djimon Hounsou will be playing Kree warrior Korath The Pursuer in the film as well. This information comes straight from the Comic-Con panel. Including a bunch of prop photos that feature Starlord's helmet and the Nova Corps uniform. James Gunn also mentioned that casting announcements for Rocket Raccoon and Groot will be very soon.

“I think somebody on the Guardians panel let loose that Thanos is a part of the movie, which he is,” revealed Feige. “Thanos plays a part in Guardians, as the mastermind.”

Joss Whedon Hinting Again That Scarlet Witch And Quicksilver Might Be Villains In AVENGERS 2?

While promoting his new feature film Much Ado About Nothing, Joss Whedon spoke briefly on The Tavis Smiley Show (via CBM) about the sequel. He talked about including Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver in Avengers 2. Which seemingly hinted to their history of being foes of The Avengers. An aspect that has been sort of hinted at previously by Joss. The main villain of the sequel seemingly might come down to Thanos, The Collector (Benicio Del Toro?) or Ronan The Accuser but it's sounding like the Maximoff twins will also give The Avengers some conflict. It's not known if Evan Peters (Kick-Ass, American Horror Story) will also play Quicksilver in the sequel, after being cast in the role for X-Men Days of Future Past.

"We are introducing Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch who are mainstays of The Avengers universe, they're foes, they've been allies and they're very interesting to me because I grew up reading The Avengers. They have powers that are visually exciting, different from the characters we've seen before so I'm excited to knock them against The Avengers and see what shakes loose." 

SPECULATION: Who Are The Villains Of GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY?

RONAN THE ACCUSER, YONDU AND THE CONTROLLER: A couple of sources have slowly rolled out possible villains for the film which seem to stack the odds against The Guardians in their sheer volume. JoBlo believes that Kree Empire leader Ronan The Accuser (not Thanos) will be the big baddie of the film. Having Ronan would be the first step to the Kree-Skrull War along with bringing in Ms. Marvel and The Inhumans into the MCU. Michael Rooker's Yondu will be a villainous space pirate instead of founding member of the Guardians according to HitFix. LatinoReview revealed a while back that The Controller would be a henchman to the main villain as well.

It was confirmed that both Lee Pace and new addition Karen Gillan would be the lead villains. However, it's possible they'll have a connection of sorts. While also being conflicted (at least Pace's character) about their actions throughout the film or change sides for the better. The talk is that Pace's character will eventually join the Guardians, the same isn't being said about Karen's character. HitFix mentioned that Lee could be playing Mar-Vell, Adam Warlock or Richard Rider (Nova). Gillan's character is currently unknown but will end up being leaked/announced as production is about to begin at the end of the month. I have a couple of ideas of who Lee and Karen could actually be playing.


THEORIES

MAGUS AND NEBULA: Magus is the evil future persona of Adam Warlock and has been a formidable cosmic villain. If Warlock is indeed in the film he would eventually factor into the storylines having connections with Thanos doesn't hurt. Speaking of connections to Thanos when it was mentioned that Yondu was going to be more of a space pirate, it sparked the idea of another villainous space pirate. Nebula is a feared space pirate captain who believes she is the granddaughter of Thanos and has clashed with the Titan and Avengers previously. It would be a way for Thanos to have influence from behind the scenes but not being the main villain.

LORD MAR-VELL/NOVA AND KO-REL: The jump to see fellow Kree supporting a villainous Ronan isn't much of a stretch. HitFix mentions Mar-Vell who has played both hero/villain and the same can be said of Ko-Rel. The Kree military leader who eventually becomes apart of the Nova Corps. might be a lock for a bridge between Nova Cops and The Kree Empire. NC has been confirmed for the film and it wouldn't be stretch to see Ko-Rel interacting with either Richard Rider/Nova or even a misguided Mar-Vell.

BLACK BOLT AND MEDUSA: Not much of information to go on with this theory besides the fact that it's more than likley that Marvel will be introducing characters from the upcoming Inhumans film in Guardians. Similar to how Iron Man/Iron Man 2 setup the entire Phase One Universe. It's possible Guardians could end up setting up most of Marvel's plans for their expansion into the cosmic side of the Marvel character catalog. Making Black Bolt and Medusa villains who eventually side with The Guardians and eventually The Avengers wouldn't be hard to imagine.

KORVAC AND CARINA: I also wouldn't be shocked to see Karen end up playing Carina Tivan (Walters), the daughter of The Collector. Ophelia Lovigood was linked as being the aide to The Collector. The Elder is best known from keeping cosmic objects out of the reach of Thanos. It's expected that Thanos won't be the villain so it's more likely like that Michael Korvac would be the threat that get's the attention of The Collector. In the Avengers cartoon series the Guardians are introduced while on the haunt for Korvac. Carina is sent by her father to seduce Korvac to find out his intentions only for her to fall in love and join him. The pair took on The Avengers and most of the cosmic powerhouses including a the trio of Odin, Zeus and Mephisto. The only problem with this one is that they would be way too powerful for the Guardians to handle on their own.

Game Of Thrones Inspired INHUMANS Film A Candidate For Marvel's Phase Three Lineup?

It's looking like Marvel is going for broke when it comes to their introduction of the Marvel cosmic universe. They are about to begin production on Guardians of The Galaxy which will be their version of Star Trek/Star Wars. Even more exciting is that it was recently revealed via BleedingCool that Marvel might have plans of taking inspiration from Game of Thrones for their adaptation of Inhumans. A sprawling cosmic fantasy epic centred around feuding royal houses which involves the Kree and the forever anticipated Skrulls. It's expected the film would have different houses pursuing the throne to the Kree Empire. Along with the possible looming threat of all out war with the Skrulls. EW lists the project as a solid contender for Phase Three.

This would be a perfect way to introduce fans to the Inhumans (Black Bolt, Medusa, Crystal and others) along with characters such as Ronan, Mar-Vell and Carol Danvers (Ms Marvel/Captain Marvel). The latter heroine has been rumored for ages and recent news suggests Marvel is already at work developing a script for her own film. Plus, Danvers could be similar to Peter Quill/Starlord being the link to Earth. It would be interesting to see her origins first explained in Inhumans before she goes off on her own adventures in the MCU.