Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy villain will be played by Lee Pace, and the first image of the actor as Ronan The Accuser has been leaked just hours before the film’s new trailer.

Update: Watch the new Guardians of the Galaxy trailer with multiple shots of Lee Pace as Ronan The Accuser

In a low quality (possibly photoshopped toy) image from Guardians of the Galaxy, we get our first look at actor Lee Pace as Ronan The Accuser in Marvel’s new film. Check out the image of Pace as Ronan below:

Update: An HD look at Pace as Ronan was revealed during the release of Guardians’ new trailer today. Click on the image to view it in HD:

Most likely in anticipation of Guardians of the Galaxy’s new trailer premiering Monday, the first image of Ronan has been released (or leaked). Ronan looks fairly interesting and falls in line with what appears to be Marvel making its way back into a very stylized comic world.

Guardians’ writer and director James Gunn has previously explained that, “Ronan is twisted, religiously bent and a psychopath who works for Thanos (The Avengers post-credits scene villain). He lives by the belief that strength is virtue and weakness is sin.”

Ronan is a vital character for Marvel’s biggest and most important villain, Thanos, which was the purple alien revealed in the after-credits scene from The Avengers. He’s seen as Thanos’ right-hand man and does the world’s most powerful villain’s dirty deeds.

While the image still doesn’t give us the greatest look at the film’s villain, the new trailer tomorrow may give us our first live-action look at Lee Pace playing Ronan that isn’t blocked by some other character.

Two trailer teasers have been released over this past weekend to get fans excited about the new full-length trailer Monday, one featuring our first time hearing actor Bradley Cooper voicing Rocket Raccoon.

Let us know what you think of Lee Pace as Ronan The Accuser and be sure to check back early Monday morning for Guardians of the Galaxy’s new trailer.

Guardians of the Galaxy’s release date is set for August 1, 2014. Featuring an intergalactic group of Guardians, led by Star-Lord, they make a desperate stand to save the galaxy.

Two-time Academy Award nominee Bradley Cooper voices the machine-gun-wielding Rocket Raccoon and is joined by Vin Diesel as the tree-like Groot, with Zoe Saldana, Chris Pratt, Karen Gillan and Dave Bautista filling out the leading roles. James Gunn directed and wrote the script.

Source: Twitter