James Gunn reveals Nathan Fillion's real cut cameo from Guardians Vol. 2

James Gunn reveals Nathan Fillion’s real cut cameo from Guardians Vol. 2

May 17th 2017, 2:00pm

Last Updated on July 31, 2021

There were rumors that Nathan Fillion had a cameo in GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, VOL. 2, this time in the flesh (as he had done a voice-over cameo in the first GUARDIANS as the blue rapist alien in the prison). Later, after the release of the film, there was an Instagram post of Fillion dressed as a space caveman or something; however, that was quickly debunked as Nathan just having a bit of fun on set one day, and was never meant to be in the movie. So were the rumors not true then? Was there never a Fillion cameo after all?

Well, today, Gunn revealed the true cameo that was indeed cut from the film (and something that had been reported on before). On Instagram, Gunn revealed a poster for a fake Tony Stark biopic, starring superhero-cum-movie star Simon Williams, a.k.a. Wonder Man (played by Fillion). Let’s take a look:

As many of you know one of my best friends in the world is @natefillion . Along with Michael Rooker and Gregg Henry he’s been in every movie I’ve directed – even as a monstrous, perverted voice in Guardians of the Galaxy. I didn’t have a good cameo for him in Vol. 2 – and I wanted to bring him more fully into the MCU at some point, so I didn’t want to make him Aakon Guard #2, narrowing his chance of a more substantial role in the future. I really do love the character of Simon Williams/Wonder Man in the comics – a sometimes douchey actor/superhero – and could see Nathan clearly in that role (not because he’s a douchebag but because he’s great at playing one). But, of course, in a movie set 99.9% in space I didn’t really have a place for him. So in a small flash to earth I decided to put a theater playing a “Simon Williams Film Festival,” with six Simon Williams movie posters outside. Obviously, from the posters, he’s had a run of B movies. Most of them in themselves are Easter eggs of some sort or another. Unfortunately, the small section of the scene where they appeared slowed down the movie and I had to cut the Easter eggs from the film (along with storefronts named after comic book luminaries Starlin, Mantlos, Annett and others). Equally a bummer was that a lot of people took photos of these posters on the day so suddenly every fan site was reporting that Nathan was playing Wonder Man in he movie. He was even the third-billed actor on IMDB! So that’s the full story. Nathan’s only cameo in the movie ever were these posters. I’ll post them all over the next few days. And, yes, I think we can consider them canon for the MCU, and I hold onto hope that Simon Williams will rise again!! #guardiansofthegalaxyvol2 #gotgvol2 #GotGPicoftheDay #nathanfillion

A post shared by James Gunn (@jamesgunn) on May 17, 2017 at 10:18am PDT

I honestly love the idea of there being a STEVE JOBS-esque biopic about Tony Stark, since the MCU timeline has been generally parallel to ours (making the Myspace reference in IRON MAN 1 less anachronistic, and more historically accurate). We also saw glimpses of this kind of world-building in a recent SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING trailer, where Captain America was teaching exercises in a video for Peter’s gym class. I love Easter eggs like this, as it really help to flesh out this universe.

I mean, sure it’s a shame we couldn’t see Fillion’s quick cameo (as it were), but luckily Gunn is making sure Fillion isn’t wasted. I wonder if he’ll finally show up, in the flesh finally, in GUARDIANS 3? One can only hope.