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Marvel confirms Brie Larson as Captain Marvel, big names for ‘Guardians’ sequel

Rick Marshall
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The annual Marvel Studios panel at Comic-Con International in San Diego is always one of the most-anticipated events of the convention, and this year’s celebration of all things Marvel movie-verse continued that trend — and as usual, it didn’t disappoint fans.

Along with debuting a new trailer for the upcoming Doctor Strange movie, Marvel confirmed a pair of long-standing casting rumors regarding high-profile actors in two of the studio’s biggest projects, and added one particularly big name to an upcoming sequel.

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During the big finale of Marvel’s presentation, the studio continued its tradition of bringing the cast members from the studio’s upcoming films onto the stage together to show the scope — and future — of its cinematic universe. Among the actors joining cast members from Doctor Strange, Black Panther, Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2, and other upcoming Marvel movies was Academy Award winner Brie Larson (Room), who was confirmed as the title character in 2019’s Captain Marvel movie.

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After months of rumors indicating that she was the leading contender for the role, Marvel made it official during Saturday’s panel — and Larson confirmed the casting herself in a separate update on Twitter, too.

Call me Captain Marvel. pic.twitter.com/IgqRIb9ijM

— Brie Larson (@brielarson) July 24, 2016

Captain Marvel hits theaters March 8, 2019, but Larson wasn’t the only actor to have her role in the Marvel movie-verse confirmed during Comic-Con.

During Marvel’s movie panel, Kurt Russell was also confirmed to play the father of Chris Pratt’s character in Guardians of the Galaxy, Star-Lord, in the film’s upcoming sequel. The announcement confirmed a rumor that had been circulating ever since the actor officially joined the project a few months ago without any word on the character he was playing. However, the Comic-Con confirmation of Russell’s role also raised more than a few questions.

Not only was Russell confirmed to be playing Star-Lord’s father in Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2, but his character was referred to as “Ego” — an entity that Marvel Comics fans know better as “The Living Planet.” Often represented as a massive planet with a face (seriously!), Ego, the Living Planet is a recurring cosmic villain in Marvel’s comics continuity, and now the movie studio appears to be combining that character with the role of Star-Lord’s mysterious father for the Guardians of the Galaxy sequel.

Marvel even revealed the costume that Russell would wear in Ego’s human form for the film.

Just revealed: The Ego costume, played by Kurt Russell in @Guardians! #gotgvol2 #MarvelSDCC

A photo posted by Ryan Penagos (@agentm) on

Finally, Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 director James Gunn also confirmed (via Facebook after the panel) that John Rambo himself, actor Sylvester Stallone, would also play a supporting role in the film. The tough-guy actor’s character remains a mystery, so this — along with the way Marvel plans to present Russell’s “living planet” character —  suggests that there’s still a lot fans don’t know about Gunn’s upcoming sequel to the wildly successful cosmic adventure.

Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 is scheduled to hit theaters May 5, 2017.

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Rick Marshall
Rick Marshall
Former Digital Trends Contributor
A veteran journalist with more than two decades of experience covering local and national news, arts and entertainment, and…
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