Fans Reveal The Guardians Of The Galaxy Actor They Want To See Recast
At one time, the scope of the Marvel Cinematic Universe was rather small and its stories were grounded almost exclusively on Earth. Aside from the odd trip to Asgard with Thor (Chris Hemsworth) or a Chitauri invasion over New York, moviegoers didn't get a chance to thoroughly explore the cosmic side of the shared franchise. That all changed in 2014 when Guardians of the Galaxy hit theaters, which opened the floodgates for the Nova Corps., the Kree, the Infinity Stones, and, perhaps most importantly, the "Mad Titan" Thanos (Josh Brolin) to become major story elements in the MCU's future.
In addition to these intriguing characters, locales, and MacGuffins came a band of largely unknown heroes to the forefront. Chris Pratt brought Peter Quill, also known as Star-Lord, to the big screen, alongside his surrogate father, Yondu Udonta (Michael Rooker). Gamora (Zoe Saldana) and Nebula (Karen Gillan), Thanos' daughters, made their introductions, as well as Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista), Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper), and the ever-popular Groot (Vin Diesel). Together they formed the Guardians of the Galaxy, and the actors behind them managed to turn these D-list Marvel Comics characters into bonafide superstars.
Be that as it may, these casting choices may not be everyone's cup of tea. In fact, MCU fans have strong feelings about recasting a Guardians member with a new actor if given the chance. Here's who they chose.
Recasting the Guardians of the Galaxy has fans divided
To find out which Guardians of the Galaxy actor the masses would like to see replaced, Looper surveyed 528 individuals for their picks, and the results were astounding. Karen Gillan's Nebula took home first place with 18.75% of the vote, likely due to her comparatively minimal screentime and the lack of connection with the audience it caused. Yondu followed very closely at 18.56% and considering he was killed off in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, perhaps people miss the character but aren't so keen on Michael Rooker's incarnation coming back from the dead.
Next up were write-in responses at 17.80%, trailed by Star-Lord who garnered 17.42%. In Chris Pratt's case, many have actually called for his Peter Quill alter-ego to be recast thanks to the actor's controversial political leanings and religious affiliations, but Marvel Studios has taken no such action as of this writing. Then comes Gamora with 13.83% and finally Drax who takes the remaining 13.64%, which is surprising since he has grown into a fan favorite. Apparently, not all moviegoers are sold on relative acting newcomer Dave Bautista's skills in front of the camera.
As the data plainly shows, no one ran away with the victory, indicating that the Guardians of the Galaxy faithful are quite divided on the matter of recasts. At the end of the day, everyone has their preferences when it comes to taking a character from page to screen. Marvel Studios can't get it 100% right all the time, especially in a team-up movie, where the margin of error becomes much larger. In terms of the Guardians, the MCU fandom clearly has their favorite and least favorite actors that vary greatly from person to person.