James Gunn forced to explain why he gender-swapped a dog in a spacesuit

Having maintained the utmost levels of secrecy throughout its entire existence so far, fans were thrilled to see James Gunn remove the veil of mystery from next summer’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 at San Diego Comic-Con.

While the footage shown to the gathered masses in Hall H won’t be made available to the public, there was more than enough additional information to go around. Peacemaker star Chukwudi Iwuji even went to the effort of showing up in costume as the High Evolutionary, confirming a role he’d long been suspected of playing.

We still don’t know who Gunn’s The Suicide Squad compatriot Daniela Melchior is playing, though, but we did discover that Academy Award nominee and Borat Subsequent Moviefilm breakout Maria Bakalova will be lending her vocal talents to Cosmo the Spacedog, who made a cameo appearance in both previous installments.

In typical internet fashion, one unruly fan demanded to know why Gunn had opted to use a female voice to bring the cosmic canine to life, which the filmmaker actually took the time to respond to.

We should point out that esteemed dog thespian Fred played Cosmo the Spacedog in previous Guardians films, but his casting was neither confirmed nor denied at Comic-Con. In the grand scheme of things, who really cares when Vol. 3 is going to have the titular band of misfits interact and converse with a trailblazing pioneer of interstellar travel.

There’s nitpicking, and then there’s whatever this is, but it’s hardly going to ruin your experience of the third Guardians adventure.