<Li> Djimon Hounsou as Korath: A Kree ally of Ronan who is a feared intergalactic hunter . As to why he took the role Hounsou said, "I have a four - year old son who loves superheroes from Spider - Man to Iron Man to Batman . He's got all the costumes . One day he looks at me and says' Dad, I want to be light - skinned so I could be Spider - Man . Spider - Man has light skin .' That was sort of a shock . This is why I am excited to be a part of the Marvel Universe, so I could hopefully provide that diversity in the role of the superhero ." </Li> <Li> John C. Reilly as Rhomann Dey: A corpsman in the Nova Corps, the Nova Empire's military and police force . </Li> <Li> Glenn Close as Irani Rael: The leader of the Nova Corps, known as Nova Prime, whose mission is to protect the citizens of the Nova Empire and keep peace . Close stated that she "had always wanted to be in a movie like (Guardians of the Galaxy), and that it would be "the most fun to play something like the Judi Dench (as M or) Samuel L. Jackson (as Nick Fury) role". She said that she took the role because she "love (s) to do stuff that's different" and wanted to show that she "(has) always been up for anything ." She also stated that her contract has "several" films on it, and that she would be open to working on other Marvel Studios films in addition to returning for Guardians sequels . </Li> <Li> Benicio del Toro as Taneleer Tivan / The Collector: An obsessive keeper of the largest collection of interstellar fauna, relics, and species in the galaxy who operates out of a place in space named Knowhere . Describing del Toro's performance, Gunn said, "He's like an outer - space Liberace . That's what it says in the script, which he's kind of doing ." On bringing the character to life, del Toro said, "What James (Gunn) wanted, that I found out little by little as I was doing it, is that he wanted me to explore and just keep pushing the character and keep creating (him) as I was in front of the camera ." </Li>

Who plays nova in guardians of the galaxy