Good news everybody, we’re one step closer to the release (slated for May 5, 2017) of “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.” The anticipated sequel to the 2014 Marvel film has officially begun principal photography at Pinewood Studies in Atlanta, Georgia.

The original cast, which includes Chris Pratt (Jurassic World), Zoe Saldana (Star Trek Into Darkness), Dave Bautista (Spectre), Vin Diesel (Furious 7), Bradley Cooper (American Sniper), Michael Rooker (Jumper), Karen Gillan (The Big Short), and Sean Gunn (Gilmore Girls), are all set to reprise their roles. This comes as no surprise after the first “Guardians” made over $770 million at the worldwide box office, which makes it the most successful debut film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Some newcomers will also be joining, including Elizabeth Debicki (The Great Gatsby), Chris Sullivan (The Drop) and Kurt Russell (The Hateful Eight), although no details about their characters have been revealed. It has been revealed though that Pom Klementieff (Oldboy) will be joining as Mantis, a former member of the Avengers.

With the news, Marvel also released the above image, which seems to show Rocket (voiced by Cooper), Drax (Bautista), Star-Lord (Pratt), and Gamora (Saldana) standing from left to right. It’s probably a safe bet to assume that Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel) is standing on Drax’s shoulder. Written and directed by James Gunn, “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2″ will follow Peter Quill (Pratt) and his team as they unravel the mystery of Peter Quill’s true parentage.

Those of us who were super bummed when Siqourney Weaver’s “Avatar” character, Grace Augustine, died at the end of the film can now take solace knowing that Weaver will in fact be back.

James Cameron and 20th Century Fox made the official announcement Monday, stating that Weaver will appear in the sequels as a new character.

“Sigourney and I have a long creative history, dating back to 1985 when we made Aliens. We’re good friends who’ve always worked well together, so it just feels right that she’s coming back for the Avatar sequels,” Cameron said in a statement. “Her character of Grace Augustine, as fans know, died in the first movie, so she’s playing a different and in many ways more challenging character in the upcoming films.”

Cameron did not reveal any details about her character, but she will be working alongside Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana and Stephen Lang, whom will reprise their roles from the original.

There will be three “Avatar” sequels with plans to have them filmed back-to-back. The first will be released in December 2016, with the second to follow in December 2017 and the third a year later.

Most of the first “Avatar” film was filmed in New Zealand and the sequels are expected to be filmed there as well. Cameron’s Lightstorm Entertainment and Fox agreed to spend at least $412 million in the country on each film in exchange for a film industry tax rebate of 25 percent.

First released in December 2009, “Avatar” is still the top-grossing film of all time at the worldwide box office, earning $2.8 billion.

Last year at Comic-Con, Marvel unveiled its plans to make a Guardians of the Galaxy film and gave a sneak peak at some concept art, this year they sweetened the deal by introducing us to the cast members. Marvel invited a few select members of the press to a small press conference after the larger Hall H panel to discuss the new project.

Even though the movie just started filming two weeks ago, the cast and director were eager to tell the world just how cool it will be–and cast member David Bautista wanted the chance to tell everyone he would win in a fight with the Hulk.

Before, they got into comparisons of the different Marvel franchises, the first thing people wanted to know was who else would be cast in the film.

“Is there any chance we might hear soon about Rocket Racoon or Groot?” a reporter asked.

“Soon,” director James Gunn said.

“like casting anytime soon?” the reporter repeated.

“Pretty soon.”

“Nowish?”

“Not nowish, tomorrow… next weekish, next monthish. I don’t know soon,” Gunn said.

Since not a lot of people are familiar with the Guardians of the Galaxy comics, the next question was about the overall premise of the film.

“Really Guardians is about a family coming together and it really is about a group of individuals who have acted selfishly throughout their life and learning something about themselves that makes them heroes,” Gunn said.

The first questions were really just formalities. What everyone really wanted to know about were the rock hard bodies in the film (Chris Pratt, David Bautista, Michael Rooker etc.). People were especially curious to know how Pratt, playing Star-Lord, transformed his body in such a short amount of time. The actor lost 40 pounds and gained a ton of muscle in just six months.

“Oh man it was like a combination of, you know about six months of just going after it. A combination of different things, lifting weights, cardio and really strict nutrition. I mean it’s really boring stuff,” Pratt said. “But, basically I cried like 40 pounds off and the rest was being hungry and running a lot.”

“He’s being very disciplined. His birthday was three weeks ago, four weeks ago, I had to be there, they brought out a tray of vegetables that spelled happy birthday,” producer and Marvel executive Kevin Feige chimed in.

“Yeah, and if there was one that was sharp I would have used it to cut my wrists,” Pratt said as the audience laughed. After a short pause he added, “that’s not, you shouldn’t make jokes about suicide that was seriously inconsiderate.”

WATCH THE CLIP:

(apologies for the shaky video, our camera guy forgot his tripod, fail.)

In pure comic-book-nerd fashion, another reporter asked David Bautista whether or not his character, Drax the Destroyer, could beat the Hulk or Thor in a fight.

“I would have to say yes on that,” Bautista said.

“Have you seen his hands for the love of God? They’re like this big. Like if it’s raining I just have Dave put his hands over my head,” said Zoe Saldana who plays Gamora.

It’s that kind of confidence that is helping the cast win over fans quickly. When someone asked if they were intimidated by taking on fairly unknown roles with so many other very popular Marvel franchises already established, they answered with a mixture of sarcasm and gravitas.

“No there’s nothing intimidating about 200 people looking at you at a press conference,” Pratt said sarcastically. “This is easy, I’m not scared. Oh yeah, that’s fine, yeah being at Comic-Con and answering questions about comic book movies is super easy… I don’t know, anyone else?’

“It’s exciting! Of course you’re nervous, I would be cautious to use the word intimidated because I don’t want it to be interpreted like I feel less or inferior,” Saldana said. “I feel very excited to be doing a Marvel family of superheroes and I do believe that Guardians have bigger powers in a way and if we were up against like Captain America or Thor we would totally kick his ass.”

Watch more clips from the press conference on our YouTube channel and listen to the full audio below:

[See image gallery at hollywoodtimessquare.com]