Although his claim to fame in the world of Marvel is voicing Groot in Guardians of the Galaxy, it’s possible Vin Diesel may get the rare opportunity to play another character in the MCU. For a long time now, the actor has been hinting that he may play Blackagar Boltagon, a.k.a. Black Bolt, one of the expected main characters in 2019’s Inhumans. While it’s remains to be seen whether this will actually happen, now we have an idea of what Diesel would look like as the mute Inhuman leader.
Fresh off showing what a Tom Hardy Wolverine and a Bryan Cranston Mister Sinister would look like, digital artist BossLogic has illustrated Vin Diesel as king of the Inhumans, Black Bolt (via Comicbook.com). The artist created a faithful design of Black Bolt’s costume, and although most of his face is obscured by the mask, Diesel’s features certainly seem to line up with Black Bolt’s closely. No doubt if Marvel is considering whether Diesel should get the role, they should take a glance at this image to get a better idea of what he would look like on the big screen.
While it’s a rare occasion when an actor gets to play two different characters in a Cinematic Universe, for Diesel, playing Groot and potentially Black Bolt would actually be fitting. As Groot, audiences are only hearing his voice, but as Black Bolt, they would only be seeing him. That’s because one of Black Bolt’s abilities is his destructive sonic scream. Simply whispering a word can take down something as big as a building, and if he spoke at full volume…well, let’s just say the entire planet would be screwed. So aside from a soft utterance to unleash his massive power, Diesel would effectively be voiceless the entire movie.
Although Inhumans is four years away from release, there was a kerfuffle last Friday when it was rumored that Marvel Studios was planning to take it off their release schedule. This was later debunked. Marvel hasn’t given any plot details for Inhumans yet, but it’s likely that the main characters will be the Inhuman Royal Family, consisting of Black Bolt, his wife Medusa, Crystal, Gorgon, Karnak, Triton, their teleporting dog Lockjaw and main antagonist Maximus the Mad. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 2 introduced the Inhumans to the MCU, and Season 3 is currently dealing with Inhumans emerging across the globe after some pesky Terrigen remnants made their way into fish oil tablets.
It will likely be a while until Marvel announces who is playing Black Bolt (or any Inhumans casting for that matter), but in the meantime, moviegoers can look forward to hearing Diesel recite "I am Groot" in various tones again for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, which hits theaters on May 5, 2017.
