James Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy is going to be one of the strangest films of 2014; that's pretty much a guarantee when two of your lead characters are a gun-toting raccoon and a talking tree.  Word has it that funnyman John C. Reilly (Step Brothers) has been offered a role in the Marvel film.  While my first thought was that of a voice role for one of the above-mentioned characters (who currently are voiceless), Reilly is being offered a slightly different sort of role.  Comic book fans may be familiar with the name Rhomman Dey, but just how Gunn plans to use that character appears to be a tad unconventional.  A new report also has Marvel showing interest in Hugh Laurie (House M.D.), Alan Rickman (Harry Potter series) and Ken Watanabe (Inception) for an additional role.  Hit the jump for more.

HitFix reports that Marvel has extended an offer to Reilly to play Rhomman Dey in Guardians of the Galaxy.  In the comics, Dey was the super-powered leader of the Nova Corps on the planet Xandar when the planet was destroyed by the space pirate Zorr.  Seeking revenge against Zorr but mortally wounded in another encounter with the pirate, Dey arrived in Earth's orbit and granted his powers to the human, Richard Rider.  Gifted with these new powers and tasked with the dying Dey's wish to eliminate Zorr, Rider takes on the mantle of Nova.  Nova, the intergalactic peacekeeper, has long been aligned with the Guardians ... but that might not be exactly the arc that Reilly's character takes.

The report has Dey as more of a human liaison for the Guardians, cast in the mold of Clark Gregg's Agent Phil Coulson for The Avengers.  Dey would keep the Guardians in line and report to S.H.I.E.L.D. on their activities.  There's no word yet on how closely Guardian's Dey will follow the Dey of the comics, but it's expected that he'll be the human face of the Guardians franchise.  He'll also have a peer agent to help him out along the way; Marvel is reportedly interested in Laurie, Rickman or Watanabe for that role.

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