We May Know Who Sylvester Stallone's 'Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2' Character Is Now

Rumors of Sylvester Stallone having a role in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 first emerged in March of 2016, but we didn't get confirmation of his participation in the Marvel Studios sequel until their panel at Comic-Con last summer. But here we are, one month away from release, and we still don't know who Sylvester Stallone is playing in the cosmic comic book flick.

Recently, director James Gunn revealed that Smallville star Michael Rosenbaum also has a small role in Guardians of the Galaxy 2, and he added that the characters played by him and Sylvester Stallone "are very important to the Marvel Universe." Now we may know which character Sylvester Stallone is playing in Guardians of the Galaxy 2. Find out more below, but don't continue reading if you'd rather be surprised.

Keep in mind that this is just a rumor, but two pieces of information are contributing to this revelation. First of all, the Italian website MoviesBook. It has a new press release that reveals who Sylvester Stallone is playing. Here it is:

The text is in Italian, but it's not hard to discern what it says, even if you don't know the language. Right at the end there, it says "Sylvester Stallone nel ruolo di Stakar," which translates to "Sylvester Stallone in the role of Stakar." So if that's true, just who is Sylvester Stallone in Guardians of the Galaxy 2?

There's no other character in Marvel Comics known as Stakar, so it's safe to say that the character in question is Stakar Ogord, also known as Starhawk. In the comics, Starhawk is a descendant of Quasar and Kismet, the latter character also being known as Her or Ayesha. It just so happens that Ayesha is the character being played by Elizabeth Debicki in the movie. However, don't expect this iteration of Starhawk to be exactly the same as how he's depicted in any of the comics.

MCU Exchange (via ScreenRant) previously made an educated guess as to who Sylvester Stallone might be playing in Guardians of the Galaxy 2 based on an except from the junior novelization of the sequel. In one of the chapters, Yondu (Michael Rooker) encounters "a legend among the Ravagers", though the character is not given a name. The character in question does mention the name Aleta though, who is none other than Starhawk's sister, adding even more credence to this revelation.

It turns out Yondu meeting Starhawk isn't a good thing though, because he's pissed him off in some way, resulting in Yondu being exiled from the Ravagers. That's likely the reason Yondu ends up joining the Guardians. Funnily enough, in the comics, Starhawk isn't a member of the Ravagers and even joins the Guardians team in certain stories. That likely won't happen this time though. It's not a major change from the character's mythology, but it's an interesting one.

Adding even more credence to this rumor is the fact that the initial description of what Sylvester Stallone was wearing on the set of Guardians of the Galaxy 2 described his wardrobe as being similar to Judge Dredd. If you look at the art above, it's easy to see where this comparison comes from. It also explains why there was confusion as to whether the character was a Ravager or someone from Nova Corps.

Anyway, James Gunn has said that both Sylvester Stallone's character and Kurt Russell's role as Ego the Living Planet were not one-off characters, so we might see them again in the future, perhaps in Avengers: Infinity War.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 arrives on May 5.