James Gunn – writer and director of the wildly successful Guardians Of The Galaxy movies – is renowned for his sometimes weary relationship with online movie fandom. He’s often expressed exasperation about the high level of rumour and speculation that swirls around comic book movie projects but, at the same time, has occasionally toyed with it in intriguing ways.
Now, the filmmaker is hard at work on the script for Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 and it seems that Gunn is very much in a teasing phase – with a possible clue pointing to the introduction of Quasar popping up on his Twitter feed.
https://twitter.com/JamesGunn/status/874352639772770305
Firstly, this is amusing in and of itself, as we cast our minds back to the days of wood-panelled VCR machines. But, look closer, and we see the very clear label affixed to the front of the item – it reads, “Quasar.” The fact that this Tweet apparently arrived apropos of nothing, while Gunn puts together the third instalment of Marvel’s cosmic heroes strongly suggests that this relates to the Marvel comic character, Quasar.
So, who is this potential newcomer to the MCU? Quasar has been the adopted moniker of several Marvel characters over the years – including Neutron, Phyla-Vell, Richard Rider and Avril Kincaid – but it was first used by Wendell Vaughn. This graduate of the S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy first appeared in Captain America #217 in 1978 as Marvel Boy, but was overhauled as Quasar in The Incredible Hulk #234 in 1979.
Though he underwent the S.H.I.E.L.D. training, he was deemed unwilling to take extreme measures, and so was relegated to providing security for a scientific research facility that was investigating the Quantum Bands of Crusader. In an incident at the facility, the Bands become fused to the wrists of Wendell Vaughn, and he immediately acquires the powers they enable. With these alien artefacts, Wendell is able to project energy from the Quantum Zone, form solid light constructs and teleport. When he finally discovers that the Bands were created by the cosmic being, Eon, he learns that they were intended for the Protector Of The Universe, and he assumes that mantle.
But then, there’s the Richard Rider iteration, which saw a High School student recruited to the Nova Corps to battle evil in the galaxy. Though he originally called himself Nova, he did later use the name Quasar, too. His association with the Nova Corps makes his connection to the Guardians Of The Galaxy clear, and this version of the Quasar name has shared many storylines with the rag-tag group over the years.
If either version of Quasar appears in Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3, he’s certainly the perfect candidate – as his situation connects across multiple movies within the franchise. His ability to use the Quantum Zone links with Ant-Man, his cosmic origin and exploits link with Guardians Of The Galaxy and the upcoming Captain Marvel, and his determination to do the right thing links with the Avengers. The question – though the project is still in development – now becomes focused on casting. Who could play the determined Quasar? Feel free to speculate at will in the comments section below.