Glen Powell might be Hollywood’s next big action star with The Running Man, but don’t expect him to play a superhero any time soon. While fans have been busy casting him in their dream Marvel or DC roles, Powell makes it clear that being a superhero just isn’t on his radar.
The Top Gun: Maverick actor is currently flexing his comedic muscles in Chad Powers, a football comedy series he co-created with Avengers: Doomsday writer Michael Waldron. The show follows a washed-up football player who reinvents himself using prosthetics and a fake identity to get back in the game. Powell says the premise isn’t far from a classic comic book transformation story.
“Michael Waldron and I created Chad Powers, and we always conceptualized that as a superhero story,” Powell told Collider. “There’s very much a Batman/Bruce Wayne thing going on there. There’s the super version of you and then there’s sort of the version that you can kind of hide from the world.”
Despite drawing inspiration from Gotham’s caped crusader, Powell says he’s not itching to step into any spandex suits himself.
“I love the duality of superhero stories. I love the idea of secret identities. I love all that, but I can’t say that there’s one superhero in particular I’m chasing,” he shared. “Look, the thing about superhero stories that I’ve always loved is it’s like the early days of something, building something.”
While Powell appreciates the genre’s storytelling power, he admits the superhero vibe just doesn’t fit him. “I don’t feel, as a person, like a superhero. Once someone becomes super, I sort of kind of tend to no longer feel, I don’t know, the same emotional connection.”
Still, there’s always a “what if” when it comes to Hollywood casting. Waldron has even suggested that Powell would make a killer Richard Rider, aka Nova, one of Marvel’s cosmic heroes from the Nova Corps.
Unfortunately, those plans are currently stalled, so for now, Powell’s sticking to projects that let him show his range without taking on any kind of superhero roles.
Fans will next see him sprinting for his life when The Running Man hits theaters on November 14.
