Actor Samuel L. Jackson is the king of film franchises and one of the most well-recognized actors on the planet; the film he’s collectively been involved in have grossed over $16.7 billion worldwide. Jackson’s been part of properties such as “Die Hard,” “Star Wars,” “Jurassic Park,” the Monsterverse with “Kong: Skull Island,” “Kingsman,” and obviously, Marvel’s superhero babysitter, Nick Fury, since 2008. Given his love for genre projects and his consistent work in the superhero genre, would he ever consider taking a DC Comics role, or is he too loyal to Marvel? It looks like we got our answer, sort of. Asked if he’d play for the other team, Jackson gave wavering answers initially.
“Well, actors are mercenaries; it’s kinda what we do, we act who we act for,” Jackson said during a recent chat with Josh Horowitz on the podcast Happy Sad Confused, suggesting, “sure, why not.” But then he went into a long answer suggesting, “maybe not.”
“But I dunno that I’m going to read a DC script that’s gonna make me go, ‘yeah, this is dope!’ cause you expect things to happen, because… look, I’m a comic book fan. I’ve been reading comic books forever.”
Jackson explained that he actually grew up on DC read a lot of their comics as a kid, but “truth be told” barely reads any Marvel titles. That would suggest that he has more affection for DC, but clearly, he isn’t in love with what they do on the big screen.
“I dunno what the thing is with [DC] cinematically,” he said, trailing off with a long pause, perhaps not debating on whether to drop a hard diss or not (and note, he was extremely DGAF candid in this entire conversation). Horowitz, the host, tried to fill in the gap saying, DC is sometimes all over the map, and Marvel seems to have the formula down pat, to which Jackson responded with, “Sometimes. Most of the time, most of the time.”
Would Jackson change his mind in the future if someone like Matt Reeves came calling for a role in one of his “Batman” projects? Only time will tell as the actor seems to be focused on the Marvel side of things at the moment.
It’s not he’s hurting for work. Jackson is a busy bee; he’s shot scenes for the “Captain Marvel” sequel “The Marvels” last year and has a lead role in the Disney+ series “Secret Invasion” that is currently filming in the United Kingdom. Both projects are expected to have a cosmic/alien theme. There are expectations Jackson’s Fury will appear in other MCU projects that haven’t been made public. And in this conversation, he does allude to the fact that “Secret Invasion” was shooting on the same studio lot as “Ant-Man 3,” so it’s very possible he could turn up in that one too (see below).