Contains spoilers for “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3”

Whether at the forefront of sticky body horror “Slither” or cameoing as the Detachable Kid in “The Suicide Squad,” Nathan Fillion has made his mark on James Gunn’s works. This year sees him going with Gunn again in “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” in which he plays Master Karja, a new foe in a questionable outfit who squares off with the Guardians on their mission to save a friend and put an end to a very mad scientist. However, this isn’t Fillion’s first close encounter with Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) and his squad.

Although his role as Wonder Man in “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” was scrapped, he did play a part in their first adventure. The difference is that his character in “Guardians of the Galaxy” is a completely different species. Bigger, meaner, and far more monstrous than the, well, more Fillion-looking version we get this time around, Monstrous Inmate is still just another character that’s no match for Peter Quill and his posse, particularly Groot (Vin Diesel) and Rocket (Bradley Cooper).

Nathan Fillion was an angry prison inmate who should’ve kept his nose to himself in Vol.1

Cast your mind back to “Guardians of the Galaxy,” which forces our favorite interplanetary family to work with one another after being sent to prison. Nathan Fillion played a muscle-bound brute who tries to disrupt that dynamic as an inmate of the Kyln, only to be used as an example for anyone else who is feeling brave. It’s a brief punchline of a performance in comparison to the one Fillion has this time around, for which he wore a rather heavy costume that he described as resembling “a big basket of bread” during an interview with Disneyland Experience at the film’s premiere.

At the same time, he admitted that this doesn’t come close to what other stars of the threequel endured. “I’m seeing Karen Gillan, I’m seeing Dave Bautista, I’m seeing Zoe [Saldana],” he recalled, referring to the stars who have been under layers of makeup and prosthetics for numerous chapters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe now. “These guys go into makeup for hours just to now start working, and I don’t know where they go in their minds for that time, but I just tried to find a place for myself. I just couldn’t complain.”