The diverse cast of Marvel's upcoming space epic "Guardians of the Galaxy" assembled this weekend at San Diego Comic-Con, making their public debut in front of a giant room of adoring fans. That included recently cast Benicio Del Toro, who told MTV News he was just glad "to get invited."

Del Toro joined up with the three human Guardians -- Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, and Zoe Saldana -- as well as a few other friends and foes, including Lee Pace, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan and Djimon Hounsou. We caught up with Del Toro following the mega panel, which also featured appearances by Tom Hiddleston as Loki and the star-studded cast of "Captain America: The Winter Soldier," and asked the respected actor how he felt when he got cast.

"I just love to get invited, you know?" said Del Toro. "I'm glad I'm invited to be a part of this film. I'm sure Djimon [Hounsou] feels the same way. We're very lucky to be a part of this"

Comic-Con is known for bringing never-before-seen footage of big-budget films to an adoring audience, but fans were still surprised to get a look at "Guardians" so soon. After only two weeks of filming, the audience was given a sneak peek at how the film is coming together. The footage screened at the panel showed Chris Pratt's character Star-Lord being taken prisoner by the intergalactic police force known as the Nova Corps, as well as the first appearance of the film's two all-CGI characters, Rocket Raccoon and Groot.

"I think that clip that I saw was different for me than the other Marvel films," said Del Toro, who went on to say that he hopes the rest of the film is as big and great as the clip. "I loved it."

Del Toro has signed on to play the Collector, a billion-year-old elder of the universe with prophetic sight. While the character isn't on Marvel's A-list, he still has a rich history that Del Toro hopes to dive into before filming.

"I want to learn [about] the comics as much as I can," said Del Toro. "That world of Marvel, it's as thick as the Bible and 'War and Peace' put together. So I don't know if I have the time to get as deep as I would like to, but I'll go in there. It's exciting."

"Guardians of the Galaxy" hits theaters on August 1, 2014.

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