Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 has been in the can for quite some time now. Therefore, it comes as a bit of a surprise that with just about a month and a half to go before the movie hits theaters that we’re hearing about a new cast member.

Straight from director James Gunn we have word that a cast member from the Superman TV series Smallville has joined his Marvel sequel. Furthermore, this previously unheard of cast member is reportedly “very important to the Marvel Cinematic Universe” and they seem to have ties to another key cast member, who is also a newcomer to the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise.

Find out about the new addition to the Guardians of the Galaxy 2 cast after the jump.

James Gunn recently appeared on The Adam Corolla Show (via ScreenCrush), a podcast from the former co-host of The Man Show and Loveline, and it was there that he offered up this tidbit of an update regarding the Guardians of the Galaxy 2 cast:

“We do have a couple of characters who are very important to the Marvel Universe who are going to make their debut in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, which people don’t know about. Sylvester Stallone plays one of these characters. My friend Michael Rosenbaum also has a pretty decent role in the movie as well, and it sort of works in tandem with Sly’s character.”

That’s right, Michael Rosenbaum, who played Lex Luthor in Smallville on The CW (back when it was known as The WB) and worked with James Gunn on his web series PG Porn has some kind of role in Guardians of the Galaxy 2. Not only that, but it’s a role that “sort of works in tandem” with the character Sylvester Stallone plays.

The only problem is that even though it’s been confirmed before now that Sylvester Stallone had a role in Guardians of the Galaxy 2, we still had absolutely no idea who he was playing. Back when Stallone was rumored to have a role in the movie, one source said he was wearing a costume that made him look like Judge Dredd, which made us think he was playing someone on the Nova Corps. But another report indicated that Stallone was playing one of Yondu’s Ravagers. But we never got clarification on the issue.

Hearing that Stallone’s role sort of works in tandem with whoever Michael Rosenbaum is playing might help the more seasoned Marvel Comics fans narrow down who each of them could be playing, but consider me stumped. If you feel like you’ve got a good idea of who these two actors might be playing, sound off in the comments.