In any ensemble-based adventure, you need a fluffy animal companion! At the Marvel Studios Panel at San Diego Comic-Con 2022, it was announced that Maria Bakalova would be voicing the telepathic Russian Cosmonaut dog, Cosmo the Spacedog, in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

Bakalova was announced to be joining the cast of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in a key role back at the start of June, with this announcement revealing that role to be Cosmo. In the comics, Cosmo is dog used during the Soviet Space Program in the 1960s as a test animal. After being lost in space and gaining the ability of telepathy from exposure to cosmic rays, Cosmo found himself on the Knowhere space station, where he settled as his new home, and eventually became the chief of security at the station.

This is not the first time that Cosmo has made an appearance in the MCU, having made a cameo in the first Guardians of the Galaxy film inside the Collector's Museum, and was briefly shown in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. This will be the first time that the telepathic hound will be voiced in the MCU, however, and given that he escaped The Collector in the first film, perhaps we will find him at his post as the security chief of Knowhere. The character recently appeared in another Guardians of the Galaxy property, being a central character in Eidos-Montréal's 2021 video game Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy.

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Image via Amazon

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Bakalova has previously appeared in films such as 2020's Borat Subsequent Moviefilm. She joins a cast that includes returning cast members Chris Pratt as Star-Lord; Zoe Saldana as Gamora; Vin Diesel as Groot; Dave Bautista as Drax; Bradley Cooper as Rocket; Pom Klementieff as Mantis; Gillan as Nebula. Other cast members on the project include Will Poulter as Adam Warlock as well as Sylvester Stallone; Elizabeth Debicki; Nico Santos; Daniela Melchior; Sean Gunn; Chukwudi Iwuji and more. Victoria Alonso and Louis D'Esposito serve as executive producers on the film along with Simon Hatt (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2) and Nikolas Korda who is an executive producer for both previous Guardians films. Kevin Feige will produce and David J. Grant will co-produce. Gunn serves as both writer and director on the upcoming film.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 hits theaters on May 5, 2023.

Find out more about what happened during Marvel Studio's Hall H panel: