Disney World’s Guardians of the Galaxy Roller Coaster Will Include A Surprising MCU Character

In the matter of a decade, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has arguably become Disney’s most popular property, making it a no-brainer for the company to expand its cinematic vision to Walt Disney Parks. Over the summer, the studio’s original theme park in California became the home of Avengers Campus and, now, Walt Disney World is receiving its first Marvel ride in Orlando, Florida. The attraction in question is an indoor rollercoaster based on Guardians of the Galaxy called Cosmic Rewind. Now, we’ve learned that one surprising MCU character will be part of the experience. 

On Saturday morning, Disney Parks updated fans about what’s coming up during its Destination D23 event. One of the announcements shared that none-other-than Glenn Close would be part of the ride to reprise her role as Nova Prime. The critically-acclaimed actress shared the news herself in a video: 

Glenn Close showed up in her full Nova Prime costume, which was first glimpsed by fans in 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy film. The actress shared her excitement about reprising her role as the commander of Nova Corps. Reportedly, Close’s character will be involved in the pre-show ahead of guests getting on the ride. It sounds similar to the role Tom Holland plays in the Avengers Campus ride: Web-Slingers: A Spider-Man Adventure, as he sets up the premise of the attraction before guests board.  

Nova Prime isn’t exactly the typical pick one would jump to from Guardians of the Galaxy‘s lineup of characters. Still, she played an important role in the original movie, particularly when her home planet of Xander was threatened by Ronan the Accuser. In the video message, Glenn Close expressed her excitement to be part of the ride that will see guests helping her save the galaxy. Now the question is whether Cosmic Rewind will involve elements from the adventure in the first Guardians movie or something completely new. 

Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind is coming to EPCOT next summer during Walt Disney World’s 50th celebration, which kicked off last month on its actual birthday and will span 18 months, until early 2023. The indoor story coaster will rotate 360 degrees, to allow for guests to always be focused on the action taking place on the ride. Additionally, it will be the first ride in Disney history to include a reverse launch along with being one of the longest enclosed coasters in the world. 

Writer/director of the Guardians movies, James Gunn is also involved in bringing the vision of his movies into attraction form as he films the third Guardians of the Galaxy movie, which kicked off production earlier this month. Vol. 3 is set to hit theaters on May 5, 2023 following an exciting lineup of upcoming Marvel movies. After a long wait, it seems we have a lot from the Guardians side of the MCU to look forward to in the near future.