Indie filmmaker and well-renowned comic book fan Kevin Smith has some interesting ideas when it comes to casting several of Marvel’s most famous characters, with the director pushing for the MCU to add action icons Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis asGalactusandSilver Surfer, respectively. Smith made the…interesting suggestion during a recent episode of his podcast, and while it jars slightly at first, it soon becomes increasingly easy to picture the two actors as these Marvel characters.
“I want to see him in a big funny hat, I want to see him eating planets. Then you’ve got your Stallone, you’ve got your Schwarzenegger, and then in your Planet Hollywood triumverate, you get [Bruce] Willis to play The Silver Surfer.”
These thoughts fromKevin Smithon the subject at hand arose when he was asked who he would cast Schwarzenegger as in the Marvel movies alongside Sylvester Stallone, who is already a part of the shared universe. This led to Smith adding Bruce Willis into the fold, and thus bringing the Planet Hollywood (a restaurant chain that was backed by the 80s action trio) to the big screen. Albeit in ridiculous costumes.
Galactus, the Devourer of Worlds is a giant, extra-terrestrial being who, well, eats planets while wearing an oversized purple helmet. He has had many run-ins withThe Fantastic FourandThe Avengersover the years and was realized in live action in 2007’sFantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, though his appearance was changed to that of a giant cloud, much to many a Marvel fan’s chagrin.
Silver Surfer meanwhile was created by Jack Kirby and made his first appearance back in 1966. A humanoid named Norrin Radd who sacrifices his freedom to save his planet from the cosmic overlord Galactus. Becoming Galactus' herald, the Silver Surfer is given the Power Cosmic, coating him in metallic skin and gifting him the ability to travel through space thanks to a craft which resembles a surfboard.
Rumors have circulated for some time that both Galactus and The Silver Surfer will eventually show-up in the MCU. Recent character descriptions for Marvel’s upcomingEternalshas added further weight to this, with their special abilities making mention of a new MCU power source called “Cosmic Energy,” which, of course, sounds a lot like “Power Cosmic”.
Whether the likes ofArnold Schwarzeneggerand Willis would ever even consider this is open to debate, but the two are rather well-suited to their respective roles (Schwarzenegger is obviously giant andBruce Willisalready has no hair and a sense of emotional detachment that could work well for the character).
Neither actor is a stranger to the comic book movie genre, with Willis starring in the lead of director M. Night Shyamalan’s twisted, grounded take in 2000’sUnbreakable, which was recently followed up withGlass. Schwarzenegger’s career began with the comic book movieConan the Barbarian, with the actor going on to star as the pun-tastic Mr. Freeze in 1997’sBatman & Robin. No doubt he would be able to think of many more witticisms as the planet devouring entity. On second thoughts, maybe he shouldn’t do it…
Marvel’sFantastic Fouris set to be directed by Jon Watts, and while it is unknown whether either Galactus or Silver Surfer will feature, it will curious to see who the studio does cast come the time, as now it’s going to be hard to picture anyone other than Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis.
