Kevin Bacon Shares Thoughts On Possibly Appearing In James Gunn’s Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3

Kevin Bacon in Footloose dancing
(Image credit: (Paramount))

One of the funnest Marvel entries continues to be Guardians of the Galaxy. Writer/director James Gunn infused the nostalgia of ‘70s and ‘80s mixtapes with a space adventure featuring a group of unlikely heroes. Aside from “We are Groot,” one memorable line that stuck with fans was Peter Quill’s explaining to his alien companions about 1984’s Footloose, leading Gamora to exclaim “We’re just like Kevin Bacon!” at the end of the film. So naturally, a Kevin Bacon cameo needs to happen for the third movie.

Kevin Bacon knows he was referenced in the 2014 Marvel film, so wouldn’t it be fun if the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 did a nod to it by casting the actor in some kind of cameo role? David Hasselhoff totally joined in on the fun for the sequel alongside fellow ‘70s and ‘80s star Kurt Russell and the equally iconic Sylvester Stallone. So what does Bacon think of dropping by the MCU movie? Here’s what he recently told Esquire:

Listen, I love the idea. I would love to be part of that.

Sounds like he’s in. He’ll be waiting by the phone now, James Gunn… so make it happen. What’s so fun about the Marvel movies is there are a ton of ways he could cameo. He could be a random human character, put on some alien makeup or even play himself in a dream sequence dance-off? Either way, it would be an awesome callback to the original film and Footloose. Bacon shared his own experience with learning of the namedrop in Guardians with these words:

When I saw Guardians of the Galaxy, I went to see it having no idea that I was discussed. It was an afternoon in New York, I was on 67th Street and went by myself, as I often do.. I was like, ‘Holy shit. They're talking about me. Are you guys getting this?’

Even if you’re Kevin Bacon, it must have been insane to see himself being discussed in such a major motion picture. Chris Pratt's Peter Quill talks about the 62-year-old actor when sharing his love for the classic musical movie with Zoe Saldana's Gamora. Quill calls Bacon a “great hero,” who teaches an entire city with “sticks up their butts” that dancing is the “greatest thing there is,” before showing her one of his songs and nearly sharing a kiss with her.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 has long been delayed, but the production is now set to hit theaters on May 5, 2023. Although the movie has not begun filming yet since James Gunn turned his focus to DC's The Suicide Squad, pre-production looks to be well underway. Check out the full lineup of Marvel movie projects here on CinemaBlend.

Sarah El-Mahmoud
Staff Writer

Sarah El-Mahmoud has been with CinemaBlend since 2018 after graduating from Cal State Fullerton with a degree in Journalism. In college, she was the Managing Editor of the award-winning college paper, The Daily Titan, where she specialized in writing/editing long-form features, profiles and arts & entertainment coverage, including her first run-in with movie reporting, with a phone interview with Guillermo del Toro for Best Picture winner, The Shape of Water. Now she's into covering YA television and movies, and plenty of horror. Word webslinger. All her writing should be read in Sarah Connor’s Terminator 2 voice over.