Anyone waiting to see Jon Hamm or Emily Blunt don a cape or spandex anytime soon is setting themselves up for disappointment. Although some have been offered roles in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, several of the world’s biggest stars have made it clear they have little or no interest in joining.
Some are just not into superhero movies, and some are so sick of the genre they think they are “ruining cinema,” as Jennifer Aniston put it. Even directors like Quentin Tarintino and Martin Scorsese have made it clear they are not interested in the franchise. Who are the stars who are not interested in the comic book genre?
11/11 Jon Hamm
Although Hamm’s strong jawline makes him a good choice for any leading man, Hamm is not running to join the MCU. Allegedly, he has been offered roles in many comic book films, but Hamm is on record saying that he is not a fan of the strict contracts that Marvel demands of their actors. “The deals that they make you do are so Draconian. And, of course, you are signed on for not only the movie but at least two more that you haven’t read and you have no idea what they are going to be and all the crossover ones you are going to have to do.”
10/11 Pierce Brosnan
Brosnan is not the young and agile man he was when he did James Bond, but he could still join the ranks of Hollywood greats like Michael Douglas who have joined the MCU. Alas, the former Bond star will not touch comic book films. We know this because there was a time when Brosnan was up for the role of Batman in the first of the Tim Burton films. Brosnan had this to say about why he passed, “Batman? Batman held such an indelible place in my own childhood, but I said something flippant to Tim Burton, like, ‘Any guy who wears his underpants outside his trousers cannot be taken seriously.’ “
9/11 John Cho
Contracts with Marvel often come with intense stipulations when it comes to diet and exercise. To make themselves look like their superhuman characters, Marvel’s stars are often required to hit the gym every day and follow a strict diet. None of this sounded attractive to John Cho, nor did the length of these contracts sound appealing. Cho prefers to work movie to movie, not sign on for years at a time. He even went as far as to call these types of film contracts “indentured servitude.” Ouch.
8/11 Emily Blunt
There was a time when Blunt was hoping to join Marvel, in the past she said she regretted not getting to take a role offered to her for Iron Man 2. However, it would seem Blunt had a change of heart. She admitted to Howard Stern she is not a huge fan of the fact that we are now “inundated” with so much of the comic book genre in all forms of media. Does she still feel this way now that her husband John Krasinski has been cast in a Marvel film?
7/11 Amanda Seyfried
Seyfried has one of the most valid reasons for not wanting to join the MCU. Although Seyfried is a fan of comic book films, she has no interest in joining the genre because she is not a fan of doing stunts. Although it was a flop, her role in Pan required her to do some stunts that were so intense that she no longer wants to do stunt work ever again. It’s not just the stunts themselves, one could just get a double right? It’s all the pulling and flying around on wires, she does not like being jostled around and thrown to the ceiling just so the director can get a few shots.
6/11 Matthew McConaughey
McConaughey might be a little bitter toward Marvel. There was a time when he wanted to play Bruce Banner in The Incredible Hulk, but Marvel passed on him. He was later offered a role in Guardians of the Galaxy 2, but this time McConaughey said no. Perhaps one day he will join the MCU, but he will not do so as an afterthought.
5/11 Reese Witherspoon
Witherspoon is on record saying she has “little interest” in doing a comic book movie. She was however a big fan of Captain Marvel, Witherspoon praised Brie Larson’s performance and the fact it was a female-led superhero film. It’s not like Witherspoon needs the work, she is doing just fine co-starring on The Morning Show with Jennifer Aniston.
4/11 Jennifer Aniston
Speaking of the Friends icon, Aniston has some harsher words for Marvel than her co-star. Aniston is so sick of Marvel that she went on record saying that they are “diminishing the value of cinema.” One can only imagine the online lashing she got from Marvel fans online, and she is far from the only star to get it.
3/11 Martin Scorsese
Okay, it might be cheating to add him to a list of “stars” since he’s a director, not a movie star. But he is a star movie director so let’s say it counts. The director, like Aniston, ruffled some feathers when he said that comic book films like Marvel’s “are not cinema.” He doubled down on his claims in an opinion piece for The New York Times. So one can rest assured there will be no Scorsese MCU project.
2/11 Jason Statham
Statham said he has no interest in doing Marvel movies because he doesn’t think it attracts the best talent. “Any guy can do it,” were some of the specific words he used. He also went on to say that the movies are too reliant on green screen effects and stunt doubles, not real acting.
1/11 Sean Penn
Penn is sick of comic book films. He said that Marvel films and the like have taken up too much space. Penn, like Scorsese and Aniston, seems eager to return film to a cinematic art form and not just a source of popcorn brain candy escapism. He also worries about the effect the films have on his fellow actors, saying that films like the MCU’s, “[have] claimed so much time in the careers of so many talented people.”
