Guardians of the Galaxy 3: Who is Daniela Melchior Playing?
Daniel Melchior is joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Wednesday, word quickly spread that The Suicide Squad star will join Hollywood's biggest franchise thanks to a role in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, with Guardians helmer James Gunn quickly confirming the casting news shortly after it first broke. Missing from all reporting, however, was the actor's exact role within the film and, in turn, the larger franchise as a whole.
As with most other Marvel properties, little is known about about the film itself. Given what we do know about the property and characters that have been associated with the cosmic team in the comics, we can, however, hypothesize which role Melchior will end up playing.
Phyla-Vell
The first character that comes to mind — outside of Moondragon, a character Gunn himself has confirmed she's not playing — is the Titanian/Kree hero named Phyla-Vell. In the source material, Phyla is daughter of Mar-Vell, the first Captain Marvel (played by Annette Bening in Captain Marvel); that also makes her the brother of Genis-Vell, another hero that's donned the Captain Marvel moniker. Phyla was attached real closely to the iteration of the mid-2000s team that inspired Gunn to make the Guardians movies in the first place, and she's one of the most powerful cosmic characters in the Marvel stable.
Coincidentally enough, she's often found herself in a relationship with Moondragon. The main, Earth-616 version of the character was killed by Magus (the evil part of Adam Warlock), but she's since been replaced by a version of Phyla from an alternate universe. This "new Phyla" looks more in line with her brother Genis, with her skin being made up of stars and cosmic clouds.
Avril Kincaid
Like Phyla-Vell, Avril Kincaid is another cosmic hero that's donned the Quasar name. Kincaid, however, is a much newer character, only being introduced to the Marvel lore in an issue of Captain America: Sam Wilson in 2016. As is the norm with those serving the Quasar role, Kincaid has control over the Quantum Bands, cosmic bangles that pull energy from the Quantum Zone, giving those who wear them all kinds of abilities, including energy constructs, flight, and energy projection.
Most recently, Marvel writers have made it only one Quasar can be in this reality at a time, so Kincaid can be seen swapping between this reality and a holding cell of sorts as she splits time with the original Quasar Wendell Vaughn.
Lady Lylla
Out of the three characters listed here, Lady Lylla seems like the most unlikely choice — though it still could be a possibility. We know this iteration of the Guardians team will end here, and Gunn himself has said Rocket will have a hefty role in the film. Given that we've gotten teases of the High Evolutionary, it's likely Lylla will appear as a supporting character to Rocket's. That said, she's not a character with a tremendous depth of source material — especially when compared to Phyla-Vell and Avril Kincaid — so it's likely she'll appear in just Guardians 3 if it is, in fact, the end of Rocket and the rest of the team.
Should Lylla appear and be just a one-off appearance, it would stand to reason Marvel Studios would be looking for an A-list talent to voice the character opposite Bradley Cooper.
The first two Guardians of the Galaxy movies are now streaming on Disney+ while Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is due to hit theaters May 5, 2023. I Am Groot and the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special have yet to receive release dates.
What members of the Guardians would you like to see spin-off shows of? Let us know your thoughts either in the comments section or by hitting our writer @AdamBarnhardt up on Twitter to chat all things MCU!