Last week, Joss Whedon offered fans at the Glasgow Film Festival some insight into the second phase of Marvel’s The Avengers when he said that we can expect to see “death, death and more death”. Hopefully that didn’t bum you out too much, but if it did I might be able to talk you off the ledge with some new information from Marvel’s President of Production, Kevin Feige, regarding the mysterious Guardians of the Galaxy film.

So far we know that Chris Pratt will play Star-Lord in this story of a cosmic team – featuring a giant tree and a talking raccoon – that keeps the galaxy safe from evildoers like Thanos. Hence, Guardians of the Galaxy. Jesus, you’re slow. Thanks to Feige, we also now know that we’re in for a good, old-fashioned Sci-Fi experience.

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With Justice League and Spider-Man news and rumors out of the way, I wouldn’t be doing my nerdly service if I didn’t whip up some Avengers HOTT GOSS, and fortunately there’s quite a bit for us today. The first bit of news involves some insight into the mood and focus of The Avengers 2, and director Joss Whedon offered up a very telling quote during an appearance at the Glasgow Film Festival, which ran from February 14th through the 24th.

While Whedon was short on details, when asked about the return of the superhero’s union, he said fans could expect “Death, death and more death. I can’t do any bigger, so I’m trying to do better.” (Via Yahoo!)

I assume that he means that one of the core characters is going to die – perhaps half of the Marvel Universe dies like in the Infinity Gauntlet series??? – but if I had to start making some odds, I’d have Nick Fury at the bottom of my list, because Samuel L. Jackson has that huge deal with Marvel Studios. At the top of my list, maybe Black Widow or Hawkeye, because Scarlett Johansson can’t be sticking around this hero party much longer, and Jeremy Renner has the Bourne franchise to run now.

But maybe it’s one of the bigger guys. Perhaps it’s even the unstoppable Incredible Hulk, whom Whedon said might not get his own movie now, despite some serious rumors to the contrary.

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One of these things is going to be played by Chris Pratt.

While the biggest nerd boner Marvel Studios/Avengers movie rumor of the week is still the idea that the 2016 Incredible Hulk movie will be based on the Planet Hulk series and The Avengers 3 will possibly involve the World War Hulk story, the more realistic news is that it appears that Guardians of the Galaxy finally has a star. In fact, you could say that the film has a Star-Lord, because that’s the role that has been cast. That’s why you could say that.

Set to hit theaters in 2014, Guardians of the Galaxy will reportedly have Parks and Rec goofball Chris Pratt as its lead half-human, half-alien superhero tasked with helping the Avengers take down Thanos. While there’s still no word on who will voice Rocket the Raccoon, I’ve got $5 that says it’s Larry the Cable Guy.

So how do we know that Pratt’s going to be the main man even though we haven’t heard him mentioned once? Because someone just TOLD YA.

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The Marvel Studios Universe is already expected to be quite busy in 2013 and 2014, with Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World set for release in May and November (respectively), and Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy set for April and August of 2014. In between those major sequels and Avengers connector films, Marvel is also expected to roll out features for Ant-Man and The Inhumans. There are also still some sketchy rumors that Adam Warlock will be shoehorned somewhere, whether in his own film or as part of the Guardians of the Galaxy.

Of the films that already have release dates, though, Guardians is still the only one with a ton of questions around it, including “Who the hell is going to be in it?” Well, according to Latino Review, Wes Bentley, Chris Lowell and… *sigh* Cam Gigandet were the most recent to read for the centerpiece role of Peter Quill.

But that’s not the news that should concern Marvel fans. Not when Adam Sandler might be involved.

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Vin Diesel and a baby armadillo. You’re welcome.

Judging by his IMDB page, Vin Diesel is settling into the “I’m just going to keep making sequels of the movies that make a lot of money and Chronicles of Riddick” phase of his career, with the lone upcoming exception being The Machine. Otherwise, it’s The Fast and the Furious 6, a Chronicles of Riddick sequel (why?) and xXx: The Return of Xander Cage, which will finally explain how Diesel’s character can either return from the dead or survive without the back of his head.

The reason I bring the ol’ breakdancer, Mark Sinclair Vincent, up today is because I was looking for more Avengers rumors and I came across a picture of the Marvel character, the Vision (AKA Victor Shade or Jonas), and it was from Diesel’s Facebook page. Apparently, Diesel and/or his 35 million (partially ironic, I’m sure) fans believe that the star of The Pacifier should be added to the cast of the Avengers sequel as the alien who sometimes chills with the Avengers.

And seeing as Marvel basically wants to make a movie for any and every character and then cram them all into Avengers movies until they create the first-ever trillion dollar movie, like Jiro Nishi’s Taste the Golden Spray, this could probably happen. Ultimately, the picture reminded me that Vince had once posted a picture of Diesel and Usher that came from his Facebook page, and I thought, “Well, looks like it’s time to celebrate us some Vin Diesel fan art.”

Enjoy, won’t you? (And more here, thanks to Robopanda.)

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