Terry Crews Joins The Guardians Of The Galaxy — At Disney World

Before Mike Colter was cast as superhero Luke Cage in the Netflix (now, Disney+) series of the same name, Terry Crews threw his hat in the ring and said he would be "game" to play the Marvel hero, who also supplied Nicolas Cage with his own assumed name as his acting career was getting started. In 2014, the year of the first "Guardians of the Galaxy" movie, Crews told The Hollywood Reporter, "What's up, Marvel? I'm right here, baby. I ain't goin' nowhere. You know where I live!"

Finally, years later, Marvel has caught back up with Crews and is making him a part of its ever-growing cinematic multiverse, though you won't necessarily see him on the movie or TV screen. The official Disney Parks Twitter account (via ComicBook) has released a first-look image of Crews in costume as a character in the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind attraction at the Epcot theme park in Florida. Disney accompanied the image with the message:

"@TerryCrews is gearing up for his new role as Centurion Tal Marik, Commander of the Starcharter and close advisor to Nova Prime. Marik must call on the Guardians because it's "SAVE THE GALAXY TIME...again!"

FIRST LOOK: @TerryCrews gearing up for his new role as Centurion Tal Marik, Commander of the Starcharter and close advisor to Nova Prime. Marik must call on the Guardians because it's "SAVE THE GALAXY TIME...again!" #CosmicRewind pic.twitter.com/P910ygZKsW

— Disney Parks (@DisneyParks) April 25, 2022

Nova Prime is the character played by Glenn Close in "Guardians of the Galaxy." Close will also reportedly appear in the Cosmic Rewind ride.

Centurion Tal Marik is an all-new character created for Cosmic Rewind, which will become the first Marvel-themed attraction to open in Walt Disney World next month. While the original Disneyland in California does have Marvel rides, Disney World is limited in the characters it can use because of a prior agreement that Marvel had with Universal Studios.

Cosmic Rewind is a reverse-launch "storycoaster" with 360-degree rotating cars and a ride narrative involving the Nova Corps, a Celestial named Eson, and of course, the Guardians of the Galaxy themselves. It will occupy the former Universe of Energy building at Epcot. Universe of Energy was an opening-day attraction that closed on the same day as the Great Movie Ride at Hollywood Studios back in 2017.

In addition to Luke Cage, Crews has publicly professed his love for Rom the Space Knight, who is technically no longer a Marvel character, though he was previously licensed to Marvel Comics and starred in his own ongoing series from 1979 to 1986. At one point, Hasbro had a live-action Rom film in development, though the last we heard on that was back in March 2018 when Zak Penn was hired as screenwriter.

It's fun to see Crews suiting up as Marik for Cosmic Rewind, but we can only hope they won't keep him confined to a theme park forever and that writer-director James Gunn might find a way to have the "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" star make an official in-canon appearance in the upcoming "Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special" and/or "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3."

Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind opens at Epcot on May 27, 2022.