Marvel's late summer tentpole movie Guardians of the Galaxy has gained an added dose of eye candy with the casting of fan-favorite actor Nathan Fillion. While director James Gunn confirmed Fillion's role via Twitter, he resisted temptation to reveal the specifics. That hasn't stopped Hollywood insiders to posit out that Fillion's probably taking on the role of the spacefaring Nova (which Gunn claims was not the case).
Fillion is earning the status of a gay geek icon for his numerous sci-fi and superherocentric roles. He used his considerable charm as Captain Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds in Fox's beloved but short-lived Firefly TV series as well as the follow-up feature film Serenity. Fillion also played the humorous and pompous superhero Captain Hammer in Avengers writer-director Joss Whedon's Web series, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. If he is indeed to play Nova in the upcoming film, it will be another geektastic notch on his belt.
Nova debuted in his own solo title in 1976. Originally he was a teenage boy from earth named Richard Rider who became a member of an intergaltic police force known as the Nova Corps. He also was a key member in the popular '90s comic book series The New Warriors. The current version of Nova who currently appears in the pages of Marvel comics is high school student Sam Alexander.
