<Li> Karen Gillan as Nebula: An adopted daughter of Thanos who was raised with Gamora as siblings and is a loyal lieutenant in the employ of Ronan and Thanos . About the character, Gillan said, "She is the female villain of the film...She is very sadistic and evil, but I like to think for a very valid reason ." She also added, "I think she's a really interesting character . What I like to play around with is how jealous she is . She's Gamora's sister, and there's a lot of sibling rivalry . That's the most interesting aspect to me, because jealousy can consume you and turn you bitter, and ugly . And she's a total sadist, so that's fun too ." Gillan researched the ancient Spartans, shaved off her hair, and trained for two months for the role . The character's makeup took approximately four - and - a-half hours to be applied . </Li> <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>

Who does john c reilly play in guardians of the galaxy