There are many amusing cameos to enjoy if you saw Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and stayed for all five of the credits scenes. Some fans, however, might have been disappointed that Nathan Fillion’s cameo was left off the final product.
The Nathan Fillion cameo in Guardians of the Galaxy 2 originally became known in April 2016 after some set images revealed a row of fake movie posters with the Firefly star, Simon Williams, listed as the actor on the posters. Because Simon Williams is also known as Wonder Man in the Marvel Comics universe and it appeared that he may make an appearance during a small town Simon Williams Film Festival, fans were blown away by this information. Why then, if just in those movie posters, did we not see Nathan Fillion in the film? You already know everything, thanks to James Gunn.
On Facebook, James Gunn shared one of the movie posters that were seen on the set in the spring:
Along with the image, he provided the following explanation of Nathan Fillion’s part in the film, which reportedly never involved anything more than appearing in these movie posters:
“As many of you know one of my best friends in the world is Nathan Fillion. Along with Michael Rooker and Gregg Henry he’s been in every movie I’ve directed even as a monstrous, perverted voice in Guardians of the Galaxy. I didn’t have a good cameo for him in Vol. 2 and I wanted to bring him more fully into the MCU at some point, so I didn’t want to make him Aakon Guard #2, narrowing his chance of a more substantial role in the future. I really do love the character of Simon Williams/Wonder Man in the comics a sometimes douchey actor/superhero and could see Nathan clearly in that role (not because he’s a douchebag but because he’s great at playing one). But, of course, in a movie set 99.9% in space I didn’t really have a place for him. So in a small flash to earth I decided to put a theater playing a “Simon Williams Film Festival,” with six Simon Williams movie posters outside. Obviously, from the posters, he’s had a run of B movies. Most of them in themselves are Easter eggs of some sort or another. Unfortunately, the small section of the scene where they appeared slowed down the movie and I had to cut the Easter eggs from the film (along with storefronts named after comic book luminaries Starlin, Mantlos, Annett and others). Equally a bummer was that a lot of people took photos of these posters on the day so suddenly every fan site was reporting that Nathan was playing Wonder Man in he movie. He was even the third-billed actor on IMDB!
That concludes the narrative. These movie posters were the only appearances Nathan ever made. Over the coming days, I’ll post each one individually.
You now have it. Even if the actor attempted to imply otherwise when he posted the image at the top of this page to Instagram, Nathan Fillion was never intended to make an appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe beyond these false movie posters (a move that definitely looks like a joke in retrospect). Does that indicate Simon Williams in the MCU isn’t Nathan Fillion? For the benefit of any enquiring fans out there, James Gunn clarified:
“Yes, I think we can consider them canon for the MCU, and I hold onto hope that Simon Williams will rise again!!”
Will Simon Williams appear in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 as a result? Everything is conceivable.
