Production for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 have recently begun, and there's no better way to celebrate the filming than to make a couple of announcements. Yesterday, Marvel Studios confirmed that Kurt Russell has officially joined the cast, making rumors that claim he'll play Star-Lord's (aka Peter Quill) father sound even more real.
After revealing that Kurt Russel had joined the cast, the first official photo of the core cast was revealed (as seen above). The photo shows our stars from left to right: Bradley Cooper ("Joy," "American Sniper") as the voice of Rocket, Dave Bautista as Drax, Vin Diesel as the voice of Groot, Chris Pratt as Peter Quill/Star-Lord, and Zoe Saldana as Gamora.
The photo wasn't the only bit of news for the film though, director James Gunn has confirmed that Pom Klementieff of Oldboy has joined the cast of Guardians of the Galaxy as Mantis. It's interesting that Mantic is joining the cast, as Mantis is a former member of the Avengers who faced Ultron and Thanos.
While Gunn has commented that he won't say what has been decided with a prospective Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy crossover, we do know that Marvel is planning to release Avengers: Infinity War in 2018 featuring over 60 characters.
So, the link has become even stronger between the two films.
