Awesome: Nathan Fillion’s Simon Williams movie posters from Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2

Back when **Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2** was in production the entire internet lit up with excitement when some photos from the set revealed that part of the story was set on Earth, and that on earth there would be a film festival starring Simon Williams, played by Nathan Fillion. Just an easter egg, but it was one that most of us were sad didn’t make it into the final movie. Good news though, now you can see all the movie posters from the Simon Williams Film Festival.

Nathan Fillion has at least cameoed in all of James Gunn’s films until **Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2** so it’s a shame this easter egg got cut, but now he’s posted all the posters from the film fest on his [Facebook page](https://www.facebook.com/jgunn/posts/10154260858111157)

For those of you who don’t know, Simon Williams is a Marvel character who is both an actor and a superhero. There’s a whole weird story of douchebag turned villain turned good guy, but suffice to say that Nathan Fillion would be a great choice to play him.

All 6 of these posters have tons of easter eggs, not only from the MCU but from the production of Guardians. _Toxic Janitor 2_ is a clear reference to _The Toxic Avenger_ and Troma studios where James Gunn got his start. _Tony Stark_ is a riff on _Steve Jobs_. _Oh Rebecca_ looks like a cheesy romantic comedy. _Haxan 2_ looks like a supernatural thriller of some kind. _Dead Before Arrival_ looks like a revenge thriller. _Arkon_ is a clear _Conan the Barbarian_ riff. All of these are movies I would watch, if you were wondering.

And here’s the lovely [write up from James Gunn about the posters](https://www.facebook.com/jgunn/photos/a.216126946156.142629.48103536156/10154248550196157/?type=3&theater)

> As many of you know one of my best friends in the world is Nathan Fillion. Along with Michael Rooker and Gregg Henry he’s been in every movie I’ve directed – even as a monstrous, perverted voice in Guardians of the Galaxy. I didn’t have a good cameo for him in Vol. 2 – and I wanted to bring him more fully into the MCU at some point, so I didn’t want to make him Aakon Guard #2, narrowing his chance of a more substantial role in the future. I really do love the character of Simon Williams/Wonder Man in the comics – a sometimes douchey actor/superhero – and could see Nathan clearly in that role (not because he’s a douchebag but because he’s great at playing one). But, of course, in a movie set 99.9% in space I didn’t really have a place for him. So in a small flash to earth I decided to put a theater playing a “Simon Williams Film Festival,” with six Simon Williams movie posters outside. Obviously, from the posters, he’s had a run of B movies. Most of them in themselves are Easter eggs of some sort or another. Unfortunately, the small section of the scene where they appeared slowed down the movie and I had to cut the Easter eggs from the film (along with storefronts named after comic book luminaries Starlin, Mantlos, Annett and others). Equally a bummer was that a lot of people took photos of these posters on the day so suddenly every fan site was reporting that Nathan was playing Wonder Man in he movie. He was even the third-billed actor on IMDB!

> So that’s the full story. Nathan’s only cameo in the movie ever were these posters. I’ll post them all over the next few days.

> And, yes, I think we can consider them canon for the MCU, and I hold onto hope that Simon Williams will rise again!!

So there it is. Nathan Fillion as Simon Williams is canon to the MCU. And why not, Marvel can pretty much print money with whatever property they want these days, so why not this one?