Guardians of the Galaxy was Marvel’s big gamble on whether or not they could sell a group of unknown characters in a unique world based on the studio’s brand alone. They won that bet, and now it’s given Marvel the confidence to move forward on another team of mostly unknown, strange characters: The Inhumans. As we reported back in March 2011, the studio was considering adapting the comic into a movie. In July 2012, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige told Entertainment Weekly that if either Guardians or The Inhumans became a movie, audiences could expect an “X-Men-style ensemble, a la The Avengers.” In a broad sense, that’s true: A team of misfits and outsiders comes together to battle a larger foe; beyond that, I doubt many would compare Guardians to X-Men or The Avengers. But for over two years, there was no word on The Inhumans.

The other day, Vin Diesel dropped a hint about being part of The Inhumans, and it turns out he wasn’t just blowing smoke. The studio is happy with the existing script by Joe Robert Cole, and now the next logical step is to take it out to filmmakers. Hit the jump for more.

According to our sources, Marvel plans to handle The Inhumans in the same way they handled Guardians of the Galaxy. For those who don’t know, the original draft of Guardians was written by Nicole Perlman, who was part of Marvel’s writing program. That draft then went out to filmmakers. When James Gunn came on board, he added his flavor and details to the story, but the characters, story structure, and beats from Perlman’s draft remained in place. As Adam explained in his recent editorial, directors are brought on board to execute a specific vision.

Cole also came out of Marvel’s writing program, and the studio is pleased with his script, so now they’re presumably ready to take it out to filmmakers. We can also assume that since Guardians was a success, the studio is willing to bring on a director with a unique voice like Gunn. He didn’t upend the Marvel formula, but his personality flows through the picture. He was in tune with a group of oddball outsiders, and that made him the best man for the job.

So who’s the best choice for The Inhumans? Briefly, the Inhumans were created by alien experiments on primitive homo-sapiens. The alien race behind the experiments, the Kree, abandoned their work and the Inhumans went on to form a society of their own, which is led by the king Black Bolt and his family Medusa, Karnak, Gorgon, Triton, Crystal, Maximus the Mad, and the canine Lockjaw. For more on The Inhumans, read Marvel’s wiki page.

Our sources tell us that this movie is part of Marvel not only expanding its list of properties, but actively building a multiple-film cosmic universe.

To be clear, we don’t know the details about this script, and we don’t know the directors the studio has on its wish list. What we know is that Marvel is ready to move forward on The Inhumans, and we’re hearing it will take one of the dates on their current schedule.