Pete Davidson featured as a cameo appearance in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, though you probably didn’t spot him during your first viewing of the film. According to director James Gunn, Davidson showed up one day to hang out on set and to shoot a cameo. However, the director explained that you’ll have to look carefully to find it.
Davidson appeared in the film as one of the High Evolutionary’s guards. It marks his second venture into the superhero film canon, having made a brief (emphasis on brief) appearance as Blackguard in Gunn’s 2021 DC film The Suicide Squad. According to Comic Book Resources, Davidson’s cameo arrives towards the climax of Vol. 3, and sees the actor voice a sentient blob and interact with Pom Klementieff’s Mantis.
Gunn elaborated on Davidson’s role in another post on Twitter, saying the actor “not only voiced but actually came to visit us in Atlanta for a day and played Phlektik on set.” Davidson joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe alongside a host of fellow DC castmate exports, with Sean Gunn, Tinashe Kajese and “at least three more” actors making the universe crossover, according to Gunn. Meanwhile, High Evolutionary actor Chukwudi Iwuji likewise jumped from DC to the MCU, having first appeared under Gunn’s direction as Clemson Murn in DC’s Peacemaker.
Casting the Saturday Night Live alum in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 adds to Gunn’s longtime show of support for Davidson, following his defence of the comedian during his bitter feud with Kanye West. “For the record, Pete Davidson is one of the nicest, sweetest guys I know,” Gunn wrote following the release of West’s Davidson-inspired music video. “A truly generous, tender, and funny spirit, he treats everyone around him with respect.”
Elsewhere, eagle-eyed fans also noticed that Guardians of the Galaxy character Lylla actually appeared in the franchise long before her official debut, with the anthropomorphic otter’s name featured on a list of Rocket Raccoon’s associates in 2014’s Vol. 1. It was also recently revealed that Peacemaker’s Eagly makes a cameo in Vol. 3, with Gunn also confirming that at least one Guardians cast mate will appear in his upcoming DC contribution Superman: Legacy.
In a review of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, We Got This Covered wrote that the film “immediately stands out as perhaps the most auteur-driven MCU movie yet… From the first to last minute, it never feels as if its writer and director has ever been given any instructions by the powers-that-be.”