LOS ANGELES — The Marvel Cinematic Universe has big plans for Sylvester Stallone.

The 70-year-old action icon appears in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 as Stakar, a Ravager who banished Michael Rooker’s space-pirate Yondu when he found out that Yondu was selling child slaves on the side.

In the comics, Stakar, also known as Starhawk, is one of the original Guardians of the Galaxy.

“My plan is to see more of him,” director James Gunn tells the Sun. “I’m not sure about him appearing in Vol. 3, we’ll have to see about that, but it’s our plan to see more of Stallone. Kevin (Feige) and I are working on what is going to become of the Marvel Cosmic Universe and where it’s going to go. We plan to see the rest of them in the future.”

The “them” Gunn is referring to is the original Guardians crew, which includes Aleta Ogord (Michelle Yeoh), Charlie-27 (Ving Rhames), Krugarr (a CG character), the Miley Cyrus-voiced Mainframe, as well as Stallone’s Starhawk and Michael Rosenbaum’s Martinex. Michael Rooker’s Yondu was also once part of this crew.

The original team appears briefly near the end of Vol. 2.

Gunn has said that he will write and direct a third instalment of the Guardians franchise that will conclude the story of Star-Lord/Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper) and Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista).

“I think the first three movies tell a single story and that story is pretty simple,” Gunn says. “I think that there could be a Guardians Vol. 4, but it would not be the same. It would not be the same group… basically the story of this group ends with Vol. 3.”

Still, he will be involved in shaping Marvel’s cinematic future over the course of the next 10 years.

“I will be helping to plant the seeds that will lead to the next decade,” he says. “I’m helping to decide what projects we’ll be pursuing outside of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3… and what the next cosmic characters we will focus on.”

But Sly is a big part of that future.

“It’s my plan to have Sly — and I talked to him last night — to find a place for him in the future of the Marvel Universe.”

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 opens May 5.

Twitter: @markhdaniell

MDaniell@postmedia.com