Marvel Studios returned to San Diego Comic-Con for the first time in three years with a jam-packed Hall H panel on Saturday, July 23. With million-and-one announcements coming out of this year’s SDCC 2022 panel, one of the least expected was that Bulgarian actor Maria Bakalova would be voicing the telepathic Russian Cosmonaut Labrador Retriever, Cosmo the Spacedog, in Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3.

It was first revealed that Bakalova would be joining the Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol 3. cast in a key role at the beginning of June, with today’s Hall H panel revealing that she would be voicing Cosmo in the third (and likely final) installment of the franchise. Bakalova is best known for her role as Tutar Sagdiyev in Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, a performance for which she won the Critics’ Choice Movie Award for Best Supporting Actress and was nominated for an Academy Award, BAFTA Film Award, Screen Actors Guild Award, and Golden Globe. Since her international breakout role in Borat 2, she has appeared in Judd Apatow’s The Bubble and Bodies Bodies Bodies.

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Cosmo Created in Reference to the Soviet Space Dog Lakia

     Marvel Comics

In Marvel Comics, Cosmo is a telepathic dog used as a test animal during the Soviet Space Program in the 1960s. Created by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning in 2008’s Nova #8, the character is a reference to the Lakia, a Soviet space dog who became the first animal launched into Earth’s orbit and whose sacrifice paved the way for human space flight. The pup’s fictional counterpart, however, has fared better since his days as part of the Soviet Space Program.

Cosmo is a high-level telepathic, gaining the ability after being exposed to cosmic rays, and he can also project mind blasts and create defensive shields. Although we don’t know exactly how powerful Cosmo is yet, we’ve seen him take on Adam Warlock (who will be played by Will Poulter) single-handedly. After gaining his abilities, Cosmo becomes the security chief of Knowhere space station and a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy.

Cosmo’s upcoming appearance in Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3 is not the first time that the very good boy appears in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, having appeared in the Collector’s Museum in Guardians of the Galaxy and briefly shown in Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2. However, this is the first time that the telepathic pup will be voiced in the MCU.