Every Guardians Of The Galaxy Actor That Appeared In The Suicide Squad

Life can be a funny thing. For instance, if writer-director James Gunn hadn't gotten fired from (and eventually re-hired by) Marvel, he might never have had the possibility to direct "The Suicide Squad." However, things went down the way they did, the world netted a characteristically Gunn-ified DC Extended Universe movie, and you'll still get a "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" at some point down the line. How cool is that?

Gunn's involvement means that despite the fact that "The Suicide Squad" is a DCEU movie, his irreverent, comedic style will remind many of his work with the Marvel Cinematic Universe ... and the fact that the movie's "Rain" trailer openly touts Gunn as "the director of 'Guardians of the Galaxy'" happily enforces this image. The director has not shied away from the association, either, as Gunn made sure to bring some of his "Guardians" actors in "The Suicide Squad" mix. Here's every "Guardians of the Galaxy" actor that appears in "The Suicide Squad."

Michael Rooker's rugged face might be hidden under blue paint and some impressively awful dentistry in "Guardians of the Galaxy," but his distinctive presence still makes him far and away the most recognizable "The Suicide Squad" star with a "Guardians" background. It doesn't exactly hurt that Rooker's MCU character, Yondu Udonta, is a hardboiled criminal with a distinctive headpiece and a seemingly unerring weapon, while his "The Suicide Squad" character, Brian "Savant" Durlin, is ... a hardboiled criminal with a distinctive hairstyle with seemingly unerring aiming skills. 

Of course, fans who have seen both movies know that there's more to each character than these superficial similarities, but one thing is extremely certain: Rooker is very much the right guy to portray both Yondu and Savant. Fortunately, his days with at least one of these characters are far from over, as he'll voice Yondu in Marvel's "What If...?" on Disney+.

Much as "The Suicide Squad" is a James Gunn movie, he's far from the only Gunn involved — and that's not a pun about the film's copious use of weaponry. The director's brother, Sean, juggles two high-profile gigs in the "Guardians of the Galaxy" franchise — acting as a mo-cap stand-in for Rocket (whose voice is provided by Bradley Cooper), as well as portraying Yondu's first mate, Kraglin Obfonteri. As the actor has noted on Twitter, this sometimes required considerable effort. "This scene was easily the most tedious for me to shoot. We had to do a different setup for each Groot appearance AND I had to change back and forth between Kraglin and Rocket," he described a particularly grueling scene in "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2."

Though the younger Gunn didn't have to pull stunts like that in "The Suicide Squad," he does appear in two different roles in this movie, as well. One of them just so happens to be a mo-cap portrayal of a furry criminal, though apart from this superficial similarity, the feral, bug-eyed Weasel is just about as far from the crafty Rocket as you can get. Likewise, Gunn's other role in "The Suicide Squad" — the tattooed, dating system-obsessed Calendar Man — bears little resemblance to the loyal Kraglin, and only appears briefly to make fun of the Polka-Dot Man (David Dastmalchian). Still, the character is a Batman villain with plenty of potential for chilling appearances, so who knows? Calendar Man might eventually turn out to mean more than you realize.

In The Suicide Squad, both Michael Rooker and Sean Gunn portray characters that are drafted in the titular team. However, you might be surprised to find out that the movie also features a third "Guardians of the Galaxy" alum. Gunn revealed as much during a recent appearance on Josh Horowitz's "Happy Sad Confused" podcast. 

"Well, I mean, people know I almost cast Dave [Bautista] in a role and he couldn't do it, so he didn't," Gunn noted. "Other than that, well, there might be a Guardian somewhere in the film that no one has seen yet, and I'm so surprised by ... I've gotten a hundred reviews from this movie and I'm just astounded."

The cat, however, was soon out of the bag. As Twitter users like @ColombianMuse and @castlec_ pointed out, the Guardian in question is none other than Pom Klementieff, who portrays the socially awkward empath Mantis in the MCU. The actress makes a very brief appearance in "The Suicide Squad" as an unnamed, red-haired bar dancer in a truly surprising, quick cameo that only goes to show what you probably already knew: Daring to blink during an Easter egg-filled James Gunn movie can be a risky enterprise.