After constant speculation, it was recently confirmed that Vin Diesel would be joining the Marvel family to voice Groot in James Gunn’s GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY. The RIDDICK star will also apparently be carrying out motion-capture work for the part. In a recent interview with Maria Menounos, picked up by ComingSoon.net, Diesel suggests that he may be playing another character down the line in a Marvel picture, and that we may also be getting a crossover event at some point.

The Pacifier said, “When I met with Marvel it wasn’t for anything immediate, it was to talk about a film that would be introduced in the Phase Three part of Marvel, not for a few years. You wouldn’t be able to see it for a few years. In my mind, Marvel were doing it right, they were enrolling me at the ground level, which is the best way to enrol me. I get the call, I go down to Marvel – a great meeting. It was even talking about something so big I can’t even talk about because it’s like the merging of brands in a way, which I won’t get in to. That was something way, way, way, way, way down the road.”

Diesel then discussed the reaction that came from his appearance at San Diego’s Comic-Con, where he was promoting RIDDICK. He said, “We had agreed not to say anything about the specifics of the meeting. So now I’ve got the fans, who I love more than I love the industry… I was thinking, ‘I’ve got to be real with them, I’ve got to tell them something,’ and yet I want to be respectful of people’s process and if people like to do a slow reveal, you know? Quite frankly, it would have been too much to say and it might have been anticlimactic to say, ‘We’re working on something for 2016,’ and so I just said,’ You’re going to hear some really big news’ and I left at the end of that and it went crazy.” 

The FAST & FURIOUS star added, “The next Monday, Marvel talks to me and says “We’re going to send something over in two weeks. We want to focus on the 2016 but we also want to, if possible, answer this growing request for something now.” I don’t have six months to play a character in the immediate future, it’s all booked… there was no way I was going to be able to deliver… after Comic-Con, we were at a stalemate…”

So, what 2016 event could Diesel be talking about? What other role could the actor be being lined up for? Let the speculation begin, although early rumours range from Black Panther to Namor to Luke Cage to The Thing to The Vision. As for the ‘merging of brands,’ could Marvel/Disney possibly look to come to some sort of agreement with Sony Pictures and 20th Century Fox in order to give fans a huge crossover event *cough* CIVIL WAR *cough*? 

Expect more on this as it becomes available.

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