Zachary Levi or Jim Sturgess for Marvel’s ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’?

Marvel and Disney have narrowed down their list of candidates down to two for the lead role of James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy. Variety reports that Zachary Levi (NBC’s Chuck) and Jim Sturgess (Cloud Atlas) are the two remaining candidates from a list that previously included the likes of Joel Edgerton, Jack Huston, Lee Pace, James Marsden and Eddie Redmayne.

The role would be the one of Star-Lord/Peter Quill, a half-alien, half-human NASA astronaut who becomes the leader of the Guardians of the Galaxy and eventually teams up with the Avengers. Word is that a third unnamed candidate may test for the role after the holidays.

As previously noted, putting this film together will be a tall challenge and it will be interesting to see how audiences receive a movie that stars an eclectic cast of characters including a talking raccoon (Rocket Raccoon) and a plant monster (Groot).

Levi is known mostly for his TV work but for what it’s worth, he is also cast as Fandral in Thor: The Dark World so there could be an issue for the same actor to play two different characters in the current Marvel universe. His most high profile movie gig was in Disney’s Tangled (which by the way is one awesome animation). Sturgess has more extensive film experience, having recently starred in Wachowskis’ Cloud Atlas.

I’m putting my money on Levi. What about you? Guardians of the Galaxy is set to open August 1, 2014.