While Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 was still in production last year, fans caught a glimpse of a subtle Nathan Fillion cameo courtesy of some leaked set photos. In those scenes, there was a Earth-based theater featuring a bunch of posters for films led by Marvel Comics character Simon Williams, otherwise known as Wonder Man.

Unfortunately, the scene that would have established Fillion as Williams ended up being cut in the end. However, thanks to writer and director James Gunn, readers have an up-close look at one of those posters featuring the actor as Wonder Man, with Gunn promising to release the rest over the next few days.

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The first one officially released by Gunn sees Fillion's Williams on a poster for a Tony Stark biopic. The poster is eerily reminiscent of the one used to promote Danny Boyle's 2015 biopic Steve Jobs.

Along with the above poster, Gunn talked about what inspired him to introduce Fillion as Williams, and ultimately what led to the footage being cut from the final product. While Fillion did a small cameo role in the first film, it was a brief voice-over role -- nothing substantial for the actor. So, for Gunn, he wanted to avoid bringing Fillion in for something small, for fear of "narrowing his chance of a more substantial role in the future." This led to Gunn using a flashback set on Earth to introduce the fan-favorite actor as Williams in a series of posters that would also serve as Easter eggs for fans.

Unfortunately, the scene apparently slowed down the film, which led to the decision to ax the footage. And while Fillion may have teased some footage of him filming scenes for the project, Gunn reaffirmed that the actor's role in the project existed only in the posters from the cut scene.

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Thankfully, for those eager to see Simon Williams and Nathan Fillion in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Gunn said that the posters can, in fact, be considered canon and that he hopes that Simon Williams will "rise again."

Currently screening in theaters, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 stars Chris Pratt as Star-Lord, Zoe Saldana as Gamora, Dave Bautista as Drax the Destroyer, Vin Diesel as Baby Groot, Bradley Cooper as Rocket Raccoon, Michael Rooker as Yondu Udonta, Karen Gillan as Nebula, Pom Klementieff as Mantis, Elizabeth Debicki as Ayesha, Chris Sullivan as Taserface, Sean Gunn as Kraglin, Glenn Close as Irani Rael and Kurt Russell as Ego.

(via The Hollywood Reporter)