Vin Diesel In Talks To Join ‘Guardians Of The Galaxy’

Vin Diesel just might be Groot. The Fast and The Furious franchise actor is in negotiations to join Marvel’s newest ensemble tent pole, I’ve learned. If it all works out, Vin Diesel would play the tree-like alien in the James Gunn-directed Guardians of the Galaxy, sources say. Earlier today, Diesel posted a captionless pic of Groot up on his Facebook page. For a while the drawing from the GOTG comic (see left) stood as his cover page before being taken down though the photo is still in his timeline. Studio boss Kevin Feige made no mention on August 10 of Diesel joining GOTG during Marvel’s presentation at Day 2 of D23. Marvel showed the same footage from the recently started lensing GOTG, which stars Chris Pratt, Benicio del Toro, Zoe Saldana and Glenn Close, as he did at Comic-Con in July. The Groot character can absorb wood to gain strength and recover from injuries as well as control trees. While hyper-intelligent, the alien seems to only ever say the line “I am Groot” over and over to those who cannot hear his real voice.

Related: Comic-Con: Vin Diesel On Marvel Rumors: “Some Very Big News Coming”

Today’s Facebook post by Diesel isn’t the first time the actor has hinted via social media that he’s joining the Marvel universe. Two weeks after telling his nearly 45 million followers that the studio had asked him to come in for a meeting, Diesel added more on July 9 “Marvel meeting today. … Only the people in the room can tell you what was discussed. … P.s. Thanks to Our page, for pushing to make it happen… you know I get tunnel vision with my work… and after that meeting today… wow!” At the time, Diesel also posted a photo of himself on his self run Facebook in front of an Avengers poster. Late last month during the Riddick panel at Comic-Con, Diesel told fans that he couldn’t talk about what was discussed with Marvel. Then he added, “there is some very big news coming at the end of this month. … Poor Marvel.” Marvel aren’t the first studio to receive a Diesel Facebook leak. Back in January, Diesel jumped the gun on Universal and went on Facebook to reveal details about the Fast 6 ad that was set to run during Super Bowl XLVII. He has also stayed relatively mum when questioned in person. Vin Diesel is repped by CAA and Brillstein Entertainment.

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