Zac Efron is having a pretty good month. While the young star has spent the last few years trying and pretty much failing to establish himself as an adult actor post-High School Musical, this past weekend he got a certified box office hit in the new R-rated comedy Neighbors, and now rumors are surfacing saying that he's managed to catch the eye of Marvel Studios.
Latino-Review, which has created a rather poorly unbalanced record when it comes to rumor reporting as of late, is saying that Marvel is now considering Zac Efron as a potential star of one of their upcoming projects. The story is extremely short on details, but they say that Efron has already been giving a script for an unspecified project. There is obviously no real word on what part he could be up for, but the studio does have a number of big things in-development, including a Doctor Strange feature and Netflix shows centering around heroes like Daredevil and Iron Fist. The site also speculates about a possible Nova movie that would be a spin-off from this summer's Guardians of the Galaxy and a bunch of other characters from the Marvel Universe, but the uncertainty about the future only makes the rumor seem more spurious.
Before you get all up in arms, there are many good reasons not to put much or any stock in this story. You may have noticed that over the years that Zac Efron's name has regularly popped up whenever big properties have started filling out their cast, from the live-action Akira remake (a role that eventually went to Garrett Hedlund before the project was cancelled) to Star Wars: Episode VII (which I guess is still a possibility, but probably not). It's possible that Efron's manager or agent just has a knack for leaking these kinds of stories to the press, but I think it's equally as likely that "sources" want to stir up fanboys, knowing that Efron spent years as the main face of a family-friendly Disney franchise aimed at young girls. I'm not saying it's impossible that Efron could actually be getting consideration from Marvel Studios and Neighbors might actually go a long way in fixing Efron's aforementioned image, but for now I wouldn't go around saying that it's a done deal.
Knowing both where Zac Efron is at currently in his career and where he came from, how do you feel about the idea of him being the lead of Marvel Studios film? Answer our poll and tell us your thoughts in the comments section below.
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