Guardians Of The Galaxy: 20 Easter Eggs & References You Must See

19. ...And James Gunn's Mates

Not that Stan Lee gets to have all the fun, as director James Gunn recruited a few old friends of his own for small, non-speaking parts in various scenes of Guardians Of The Galaxy. Gunn cut his teeth working on schlocky, low-budget exploitation flicks for the legendary Troma Entertainment, a production company who delighted in the low quality and high levels of gore and nudity they put into their B-movies. Amongst other things Gunn wrote Tromeo and Juliet for the studio which was as, ahem, unconventional adaptation of the classic Shakespeare play. Probably one of the few cases of someone adding more incest to one of the bard's work. Since he isn't one to forget his pals even when he's made it, the grateful Gunn found it in his heart to place the charismatic Troma figurehead Lloyd Kaufman in a small part as a prisoner in The Klyn, the high-security facility in which the Guardians find themselves incarcerated early on in the film. And who's that handsome gentleman shouting and spitting at the new inmates alongside the positively foaming Kaufman? Why, that's Nathan Fillion, best known as start of the tragically-cancelled Firefly and how-is-this-still-running Castle. Fillion was star of one of James Gunn's earlier directorial efforts, Slither, about an invasion of alien slugs which start possessing the minds of a small Midwestern town. It's pretty good, you should see it. The other, far less obvious guest appearance comes from another old friend of Gunn's: former metal singer and current director of...reasonable horror films Rob Zombie voices the Ravager Navigator. Totally uncredited. Good thing we're in the know, eh.