Benicio del Toro
Marvel’s movie division is lining up some heavyweights for its newest outer space superhero franchise, Guardians of the Galaxy. The property may be based on B-minus heroes from the funnybooks, but the casting is aiming much higher, and now Latino superstar Benicio del Toro is being added to the list, most likely in the role of rock-faced cosmic bad guy Thanos.
Zoë Saldaña
The other stars of the movie include some real pop icons, like Zoë Saldaña as the vengeful (and green) Gamora, Michael Rooker of The Walking Dead as a mid-level bad guy, alongside hugely popular wrestling star Dave Bautista as Drax the Destroyer, another green interstellar assassin, and most recently Karen Gillian, formerly of Doctor Who, as yet another, equally deadly female lead. The whole massive mess is being directed by James Gunn, who knows his pop-cult and superheroes very well. It’s all scheduled to appear in theaters before the sequel to The Avengers.
Details are still forthcoming, and rumor and speculation is rampant, but it’s a good choice…and now Guardians has the distinction of having two major Latino personalities in its above-the-title cast–the first time Latinos have managed to cash in on the current cinematic superhero craze.
