Back in the early days of Guardians of the Galaxy casting, when everybody and their brother was rumored to be up for the role of Star-Lord, Lee Pace was one of the actors who definitely auditioned for the part. Though the role eventually went to Chris Pratt, director James Gunn must’ve really liked Pace (as he should), because now the actor is reportedly in “final negotiations” to play the villain.
To get exceedingly superficial for a moment: Tom Hiddleston, you might be getting some competition in the Most Attractive Marvel Villain department.
There’s no official word yet on the identity of the villain, but Latino Review says that it’s The Controller, real name Basil Sandhurst, who in the film will serve as Thanos’ “main henchman and ambassador.” (But will Thanos be in the film, or are they holding onto him until The Avengers 2? We just don’t know.)
Among The Controller’s comicverse supervillain characteristics are:
- He wears an armored exoskeleton.
- Superhuman strength and endurance.
- Mind control, increased when the subject is “weak-willed.”
- He can fire “mental bolts of force” from his helmet and gets around using boot jets.
That last one sounds a wee bit corny, but who knows if they’ll keep that for the movie, if he is indeed the villain.
Whoever the villain is, I count the (likely) Pace casting as really good news. From Pushing Daisies to The Fall to Lincoln, dude’s a great actor, though he usually plays good guys. (His racist senator in Lincoln being the main exception. And I can think of one good guy he’s played who has the air of a jerkwad around him. Thranduil.)
(via: /Film)
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Published: Apr 24, 2013 11:01 am