Jason Statham Getting A Superhero Role In The DC Universe?
Could Jason Statham be joining the ranks of superheroes over at DC? There are folks trying to add the star to the growing list of characters
Jason Statham has never played a superhero before, not in the formal sense at least. So many of his characters have exhibited the tone or even the moderate “powers” of a true superhero crimefighter, but he’s never actually jumped into the spandex unitards and gotten to work as something from the illustrated pages. But that could be set to change sooner than later. We Got This Covered is reporting that Statham could be joining the DC Extended Universe with friend/ co-star Dwayne Johnson championing the idea and trying to convince the actor to join the ranks.
It’s not totally clear who Dwayne Johnson would need to sell here to make it happen for Jason Statham to join the cavalcade of characters coming to DC in upcoming years. I suspect Warner Bros. wouldn’t need their arm twisted to bring on Statham considering the actor’s sheer on-screen magnitude and charisma. The snarling machismo and devil-may-care attitude he’s brought in other roles could easily translate to other, bigger roles in this universe. And frankly, it would continue the franchise’s move towards adding a bit more levity in their productions from here on out.
And it isn’t like Jason Statham doesn’t have borderline superhero chops already. Basically, most of his characters are essentially superheroes already with all of the fighting skills, origin stories, and near-invincibility we see from the genre. In Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw he and Dwayne Johnson, the titular characters, are indestructible bad-guy-ass-kickers who don’t have capes and masks but have everything else from martial arts skills and weaponry, so this wouldn’t be much of a leap.
It isn’t clear from this latest rumor what Dwayne Johnson has in mind for Jason Statham or what it would take to convince him to join the DC Universe. Johnson is set to play Black Adam when that film finally hits the screen next year. It’s going to be a major production, maybe the biggest DC has had to offer yet, and will introduce the character for the first time in a live-action flick. It looks like it could take a more violently comedic tone than other films in the universe. That flick is too far down the line in terms of production to add a guy like Statham now, so we wouldn’t be talking about a role in that movie. But Johnson is set to play Black Adam for years to come at DC so there’s plenty of time to team up there.
As for Jason Statham, he’s got some things in the works right now as well. There’s the reunion with Guy Ritchie in The Wrath of Man which is set to hit theaters this week on April 22nd. He also has a now-untitled movie with Guy Ritchie again coming in the future. So those guys are returning in earnest to their early film days. Could the next thing for Statham be as a full-fledged superhero? Time will tell, but if there’s one guy out there who could convince him to do it, it seems like Dwayne Johnson would be that guy.
