Originally published January 2, 2013. Updated April 10, 2018.
Last month it was reported that the shortlist for the role of Peter Quill / Star-Lord in Marvel’s upcoming ‘big space epic’ Guardians of the Galaxy was down to three candidates, with Jim Sturgess (Cloud Atlas) and Zachary Levi (Chuck) said to be favourites alongside “an unnamed third actor”. Well, the identity of this mystery actor may now have been revealed, with Deadline claiming that The Dark Knight Rises star Joseph Gordon-Levitt is “in the mix” to star as the Guardians’ half human-half alien leader in director James Gunn’s (Super) adaptation.
Although it’s uncertain at this point whether Gordon-Levitt will be swapping Gotham City for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he’s certainly the highest-profile name to be linked to the role so far. In addition to Sturgess and Levi, Marvel has previously tested Joel Edgerton (Zero Dark Thirty), Jack Huston (Boardwalk Empire), Lee Pace (The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey) and Eddie Redmayne (Les Miserables), while Garrett Hedlund (Tron: Legacy) and James Marsden (X-Men) have also been mentioned as contenders.
Should Joseph Gordon-Levitt join the cast of Guardians, it will be interesting to see if this has any impact on Warner Bros.’ plans for its DC movie universe, with rumours persisting that the actor will succeed Christian Bale’s Bruce Wayne by donning the cape and cowl for the Justice League movie (not to mention a possible post-credits cameo in Zack Snyder’s upcoming Superman reboot Man of Steel). Either way, with Guardians of the Galaxy due for release on August 1st 2014, we should expect to hear some official casting news in the very near future.
