Guardians of the Galaxy 2 Easter eggs and set video revealed
WARNING: Potential spoilers for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
Production continues on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 in Atlanta, Georgia, and the film’s second unit setup shop in the neighboring town of Cartersville for some stunt shooting. That stunt involved a crowd of folks running down the street and a number of cars flipping into the air which you can check out in the video below.
What’s most interesting about this is the Earth-setting for whatever this destruction is. One might assume that it’s all a flashback, which wouldn’t be out of line since the first film began on Earth in 1988. However, photos from the set (via Comic Book) reveal a nearby movie theater dressed for the production with a number of Marvel Easter eggs and a clue to its present day setting.
The biggest, of course, is that the marquee reads “Simon Williams Film Fesitval.” In Marvel Comics, Simon Williams was the superhero Wonder Man, a character previously caught in a villain’s plans to thwart The Avengers who turned into a hero and later a Hollywood film star, thus making this background decoration a deep cut reference. Furthermore, as pictured in the posters, Simon Williams is “played” by Nathan Fillion in the film, Fillion previously lent his voice to the first Guardians as an alien in the Kyln. We should note Fillion may not actually appear in the movie as the character, but just on these images in the background.
Now getting into the posters specifically (which you can see below), there are a few worth noting, such as Arkon; itself a reference to a Conan-like character from Marvel comics; The Toxic Janitor 2, a referrer to Troma’s The Toxic Avenger, whose writer/director Lloyd Kaufman also appeared in Guardians of the Galaxy and worked with James Gunn on his first film Tromeo and Juliet among others; and finally a Steve Jobs-like poster for a film featuring Williams as Tony Stark. This is the clue that the scene in question has a present day setting, because why would a film be made about Tony Stark before he even became Iron Man?
So where does this leave us in regard to the stunt being filmed? Have the Guardians come to Earth to fight off their newfound enemy? Maybe not, because none of the main actors were on set for this. Is this footage from a movie within the movie, perhaps also starring Fillion as Williams? It all remains to be seen at this point, but sound off with your thoughts and theories in the comments below!
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 will be released on May 5, 2017.