James Gunn Quietly Featured Two Guardians Of The Galaxy Stars In The Suicide Squad

One of the coolest things a director can do is form a group of frequent collaborators they bring back time and time again for new projects. More than, say, Spike Lee casting Denzel Washington in a handful of his joints from the last 30 years (though they're still one of the best actor-director collaborations ever), a stable of recurring actors can give a filmmaker's output a sort of community theater vibe. That's to say, their work features a core group of people dressing up in different costumes and appearing on various sets, over and over again. Think of Mike Flanagan and his troupe or, going much further back, when Orson Welles would cast his Mercury Theater players in his movies.

James Gunn has become one of those directors, casting many of the same actors in all of his projects. He already had some staples early on in his career, namely Michael Rooker, his brother Sean Gunn, and Nathan Fillion, who've shown up in virtually everything Gunn has directed (and even stuff he's written only, like "The Belko Experiment"). Since making the "Guardians of the Galaxy films," however, Gunn has added even more actors to add to his repertoire. We can see this in his first DC Comics movie, "The Suicide Squad," as Gunn couldn't resist bringing some of his "Guardians" along for the ride.

In addition to Sean Gunn, who plays both Kraglin in the "Guardians of the Galaxy" movies and portrays two characters in "The Suicide Squad" (Calendar Man and Weasel), Pom Klementieff (Mantis from the "Guardians" films) plays a dancer in a nightclub that the titular Squad visits. Even Sylvester Stallone, who popped up as Starhawk in "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" and "Vol. 3," provides the voice for King Shark in "The Suicide Squad."

Gunn didn't stop at "The Suicide Squad." Now that he's in charge of DC Studios and is focusing on expanding the DC Universe through assorted titles (including live-action and animated titles, video games, and more), he's found a new avenue to pull out his Rolodex and recruit his previous collaborators for roles both big and small. Though this approach could easily lead to stunt casting at the cost of finding the next great voice actor like Kevin Conroy, so far Gunn has simply populated his DCU with great character actors — ones that also happen to be his friends and trusted creative partners.

Take "Creature Commandos," which is technically the first entry in the DCU. The show features a star-studded cast that's actually pretty good at voice acting (while Alan Tudyk is a highlight, the surprising standout is Sean Gunn as G.I. Robot), and we're already seeing the benefits of Gunn's synergistic approach to the property, with Frank Grillo portraying Rick Flag Sr. just as well in animation as he does in live-action (even as Flag himself takes a turn for the villainous). That being said, Gunn has so far tended to bring back his favorite collaborators as smaller side characters. Steve Agee, for example, reprises his "The Suicide Squad" role as John Economos in "Creature Commandos," while Rooker makes his mandatory appearance as a neo-Nazi who's killed by G.I. Robot. Linda Cardellini, who worked with Gunn on his first superhero title, "Super," before playing a small but significant (and heartbreaking) role in "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3," also shows up in "Creature Commandos," as do "Guardians" trilogy alums Gregg Lee Henry (Starlord's grandfather) and Benjamin Byron Davis (Bletelsnort).

All of Gunn's DC projects to date are currently streaming on HBO Max.