Benicio Del Toro nearly signed on to a major sci-fi film when he was in talks to play the villain in Star Trek Into Darkness, and while the deal ultimately never came to fruition, it appears that the Oscar winner is going to be appearing in a rather high-profile franchise pic after all.  Deadline reports that Del Toro is the latest actor to join the truly remarkable cast for Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy.  The nature of Del Toro’s role is being kept under wraps, but it’s said to be a significant character that is poised to also appear in future Marvel movies.  As such, Del Toro's deal includes the option to appear in a number of Marvel films.  Could the villainous Thanos have finally been cast?  Hit the jump for more.

Director James Gunn has assembled a ballsy yet promising ensemble cast for the space-set Guardians, with Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, David Bautista, Lee Pace, Michael Rooker, John C. Reilly, and most recently Glenn Close and Karen Gillan all set to star.  Del Toro is currently filming Paul Thomas Anderson’s adaptation Inherent Vice, but Guardians of the Galaxy marks the actor's first foray into the world of franchise tentpoles. 

The peculiar and relatively obscure nature of the source material makes Guardians a bit of a risk for Marvel, which has been on a hot winning streak as of late with the back-to-back billion dollar grosses of The Avengers and Iron Man 3 , but the studio sure is swinging for the fences on this one.  Guardians of the Galaxy starts production this summer in anticipation of an August 1, 2014 release date.

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