Jon Hamm has admitted to passing on Green Lantern but says he now feels ready for a superhero role and would like to join the MCU.
The former Mad Men star told The Hollywood Reporter he has put himself forward for a few MCU roles despite previously turning down the ill-fated 2011 superhero movie Green Lantern based on the DC Comics character. Hamm has no regrets over that decision but would like to star in a comic book movie and has even pitched himself.
I’ve pitched myself for a couple parts of the Marvel universe.
“That was one I definitely didn’t want to do,” Hamm said of Green Lantern. “But I’ve pitched myself for a couple parts of the Marvel universe. I don’t want to say what exactly, but it was a part of a comic book that I really liked. I was like, ‘Are you going to do this story?’ And they were like, ‘Yeah, we’re actually thinking of that.’ I go, ‘Good. I should be the guy.’ So maybe it’ll work out.
“I look at a guy like Jeff Goldblum’s career — and I know Jeff a bit, we used to have the same therapist — and I’m just like, ‘God, how awesome to be able to do all the things he’s done,'” he added. “He had his leading man phase, and he does Marvel, and he’ll just roll through and steal the scene, and then he’s doing commercials, and he’s funny as s**t. I see him out, and he’s happy. So, consciously or not, I’m modeling my life to be that: varied and happy and fulfilled.”
Hamm hasn’t always felt this way and has rejected superhero fare in the past, but he is open to talks. “It’s not like they were saying, ‘We want you to be Iron Man,'” he said of past pitches. “There were a lot of conversations, and I’m still in those. I talk to the guys that run Marvel and DC. And I’m a comic book nerd. So, we’ll see.”
One of those conversations put him in the running for a role in Fox’s Marvel universe, as Hamm revealed in 2022 that he almost played X-Men villain Mr. Sinister in a now-defunct sequel to The New Mutants. He admitted to being a huge fan of X-Men and The New Mutants, though he didn’t get the opportunity to shoot anything.
Deadpool & Wolverine is the only big-screen release from the MCU this year. The movie brings back fan-favorite characters from 20th Century Fox’s X-Men franchise, with trailers offering glimpses of Azazel (X-Men: First Class), Lady Deathstrike (X2), Pyro (X2, X-Men: The Last Stand), and Toad (X-Men: Days of Future Past).
The third Deadpool movie hits theaters on July 26 as part of the MCU’s Phase 5, with a limited-edition popcorn bucket to mark the occasion.
Adele Ankers-Range is a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on X/Twitter here.
