I remember being sad to see Jason Sudeikis leave Saturday Night Live in 2013, but I'm happy for the success he has achieved ever since. For instance, he starred in the Horrible Bosses movies, won an Emmy Award for his performance in Apple TV+’s Ted Lasso cast in the title role, and played the Bike Scout Trooper who punched Baby Yoda on The Mandalorian. I wonder if joining the Star Wars universe means a part in the Marvel movies is next.
Actually, Jason Sudeikis already played a Marvel character, having voiced the ghostly mentor to a primate assassin on Hulu’s Hit Monkey, and is even a part of the DC Multiverse after playing the mayor of Gotham City on HBO Max’s podcast, Batman: The Audio Adventures. However, he has yet to take the plunge into superhero movies stardom. Well, in case a role in any upcoming Marvel movies will be what changes that for him, I have a few comic book characters in mind, staring with one that calls to mind one of his bigger film roles.
Nighthawk
Jason Sudeikis led a major motion picture when he lent his voice to the role of Red in The Angry Birds Movie in 2016, before reprising the role in the sequel three years later. This gave me the idea to cast him as a Marvel character who exhibits bird-like features, such as Nighthawk, who originally debuted as the Batman-esque member of the supervillain team, the Squadron Sinister, before turning good.
While he does bear a few similarities to the Dark Knight - such as jet-powered artificial wings or talons on his gloves - he also boasts common superhuman abilities like strength and stamina, has an enhanced sense of sight and hearing, and can even see the future. Inducting this character into the Marvel Cinematic Universe would certainly beat the hell of fighting green pigs with a slingshot.
High Evolutionary
One of Jason Sudeikis’ first times leading a live-action major motion picture was in the fun 2013 comedy We’re the Millers, in which he plays a drug dealer who pretends to be a suburban dad on vacation to subtly retrieve a ludicrously large marijuana shipment from Mexico. Playing his family are a stripper (Jennifer Aniston) as his wife, a runaway teen (Emma Roberts) as his daughter, and a nerd (Will Poulter) as his son, which gives me an interesting idea.
Poulter has been cast in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 as Adam Warlock - a cosmic golden boy who we know has a foster father that is a living, enhanced super intelligence known as the High Evolutionary. Because Sudeikis essentially played Poulter’s surrogate father in We’re the Millers, why not do it again in the MCU?
Shortpack
Another one of Jason Sudeikis’ major, post-SNL movie roles was that of Dave Johnson, who convinces his friend, Paul Safranek (Matt Damon), to join in on the trend of shrinking yourself down to 5 inches tall for its financial benefits, in Alexander Payne’s bizarre 2017 satire, Downsizing. Now, if he were to play that character again, but in a more earnest tone and with the sort of hand-to-hand combat skills his co-star used in the Jason Bourne movies, he would basically be playing Shortpack.
This spy-for-hire, whose true identity is unknown, is a mutant with an uncontrollable ability to shrink who might have hit microscopic size if his boss, Professor Charles Xavier, had not taught him to telepathically keep himself at his current height of 7 inches. Outside of the opportunity for Jason Sudeikis play a mutant spy in the MCU, the main reason I want to cast him in this role is the opportunity to see him team-up with Paul Rudd as Ant-Man.
Kull
One of Jason Sudeikis’ first post-SNL TV roles was on the strange Fox sitcom Son of Zorn. He provided the voice of Zorn - a naive barbarian who abandons his animated, He-Man-esque fantasy world to pursue a closer relationship with his live-action son (Johnny Pemberton) whom he had with his ex-wife (Cheryl Hines). Now, if he were to return to that kind of character, but with more seriousness, a good fit might be Kull.
This Atlantis native was the brutal, fearsome leader of the Pre-Cataclysmic Age of Earth-616. Not only would this be an interesting departure for Sudeikis from the lighter sort of roles he is better known for, but it would be cool to see period fantasy epics like this in the MCU.
Mephisto
One of Jason Sudeikis’ most renowned SNL-era characters was the Devil, whom he would play to provide ironically insightful commentary on the state of morality in the world on Weekend Update from time to time. Now, if he were to do a more earnest and less sympathetic version of that role, why not an interpretation that has been feverishly anticipated by Marvel fans for years now?
Yes, I am talking about Mephisto, the Marvel Comics equivalent of Satan. It seems a little too on-the-nose and even a little too out of the actor’s range to cast him as the ruthless interdimensional demon, but that is exactly the point. If you are going to cast a comedic actor in a comic book adaptation, instead of relegating them to comic relief, why not use it as an opportunity to expand their repertoire.
Mister Fantastic
On the other hand, I think that Jason Sudeikis’ comedic talents could lend themselves very well to a character not often noted for his sense of humor, if he were given the part in the MCU interpretation. Said character I have in mind is Reed Richards - the brilliant physicist turned vigilante after a cosmic accident gave him the ability to stretch any part of his body to whatever length he chooses.
Not only would a funnier Mister Fantastic in director Jon Watts’ upcoming Fantastic Four reboot be especially refreshing after the far-too-serious 2015 flop, but Sudeikis kind of already looks the part. Just school him on speaking in scientist jargon and hook him up with some Just for Men Touch of Gray formula, and we have lift-off.
I believe that a Marvel movie would be the perfect avenue for Jason Sudeikis to naturally transition into blockbuster stardom status. I mean, going DC movies-level serious so soon might not be as smooth.
