Is Marvel Considering Adam Sandler and Jim Carrey for 'Guardians of the Galaxy' Comedic Relief?

Marvel has made some risky casting decisions as it built the Marvel Cinematic Universe. When he was cast as Tony Stark in Iron Man, Robert Downey Jr. was one of the last actors you could have imagined building a franchise around. Before he became Thor, Chris Hemsworth's biggest role in an American film was Captain Kirk's dad in the opening scene of Star Trek. While it's hard to imagine anyone else playing Captain America, Chris Evans was once the snarky Johnny Storm in two awful Fantastic Four movies. Things have turned out pretty well for Marvel through Phase One of the its Cinematic Universe, proving that the studio either knew what it was doing when it cast these actors or it just got very lucky ... repeatedly.

All of that said, a report by Latino Review that Marvel is looking into bringing Jim Carrey and Adam Sandler on board for Guardians of the Galaxy worries me. It worries me a lot.

Marvel is going after some big comedic actors perhaps for some comedic relief in the movie. Exactly how big? Marvel is asking for the availability of both Jim Carrey AND Adam Sandler! For what roles, I’m not sure. Maybe Rocket or Groot?

Last week I predicted that Carrey's Kick-Ass 2 role would be one of the biggest things to look forward to in 2013, and I still stand by that. The Kick-Ass 2 role could be a career-resuscitating move for Carrey, finally dragging the actor out of the rut he's been in for the past decade. Do I want to see him in Guardians of the Galaxy? Well, that's not the easiest question to answer.

Unlike Iron Man, Thor, Captain America or the Hulk, the characters in Guardians of the Galaxy are ones that I'm not quite familiar with. I'm looking forward to Brian Michael Bendis' relaunch of the title under the Marvel Now! banner in February, as I plan on using it to get up to speed on the biggest cog in Marvel's Phase Two machine. I do know that Rocket is a talking raccoon and Groot is a talking tree. Guessing that those would be the comedic roles Latino Review is talking about, we need to look at this casting rumor in terms of what Marvel has already done and what these actors would mean to the franchise.

Carrey has always had the tendency to go full blast in his comedic roles. With the exception of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, subtlety isn't exactly his strength. The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been built with actors who, recognizable or not, were able to blend into the bigger picture. I don't know if Carrey can do that. His Kick-Ass 2 performance will demonstrate whether or not the actor has that ability.

And Sandler? No. No, no, no. A thousand times no. Sandler has been reduced to a caricature of himself, a one-note joke that's not funny anymore. He's become an impression of someone doing an impression of Jimmy Fallon doing an impression of Adam Sandler. We don't need this in Guardians of the Galaxy. If Marvel wants to establish a new franchise, if they want to blow us away with this property that we don't have the same kind of connection that we do with Iron Man or Captain America, they need to cast carefully. Sandler is a reckless casting move. He's campy. He'll destroy everything the studio has worked so hard to build.

Putting Sandler in Guardians of the Galaxy would be the batnipples moment for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It's going to be hard enough selling moviegoers on a team of intergalactic superheroes that has a talking raccoon and a talking tree in it — Sandler turns the entire thing into a joke. Marvel has done so much without screwing this up. I'd hate to see them screw things up now.