After making himself famous as one of WWE’s all-time most accomplished pro wrestlers,John Cenahas been working on his second career as a Hollywood star. He’s these days starring in the new seriesPeacemakeron HBO Max, a show that’s part of the DCEU which depicts Cena as an aloof supervillain who thinks of himself as a hero. The part seems tailor-made for Cena because of how well he’s taken to it, but the Marvel brass did not see the same potential in the actor.
Speaking with Josh Horowitz on theHappy Sad Confused pocast, Cena divulged that he has tried for multiple Marvel movies, but it’s just never seemed to work out for him. One of these roles would have been as Cable inDeadpool 2, the part that wound up going to Thanos actor Josh Brolin. As Cena explains, he was also hoping to land the lead in DC’sShazam!before that casting went to Zachary Levi as well. But it was Marvel where he got several rejections. From the interview:
“I can’t tell you how many superhero roles I’ve been rejected for. Shazam! is certainly one. There was a brief try at the Deadpool universe, rejection… Shazam was Dikembe Mutumbo. There was a few in the Marvel universe, rejected. But you know, I kept trying.”
While it all worked out in the end, he was also apparently not the very first choice for Peacemaker. As Cena explains, his casting just came about after an unexpected meeting with James Gunn forThe Suicide Squad.
“The lows make the highs high. And the crazy thing was, I wasn’t first on the list for Peacemaker. James had a long list, and it happened by accident, too. He’s like, ‘Hey, I’m in Atlanta, I’d just love to come and talk to you for a second.’ We sat down in his pre-production office, which was literally like a war headquarters where you could see the whole movie in posterboard taped around his office, and he started talking about Peacemaker, and he’s like, ‘I think you should do it.’”
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John Cena Shines in the DCEU, But Will He Ever Join the MCU?
John Cena has teased that he’s up for doing more seasons ofPeacemaker, so he could be sticking around in the DCEU for some time to come. This does not mean he can’t make his eventual debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He might have been rejected in the past for other roles, but studios must certainly be taking notice of the acclaim Cena is getting forThe Suicide SquadandPeacemaker.
One role many Marvel fans would like to see Cena take on is Ben Grimm, aka The Thing, in theFantastic Fourreboot. The actor has even confirmed that this would be something he’s open to trying, but there’s no indication that he’s in contention for the part at Marvel Studios. Given the amount of content that keeps coming out for both theaters and on Disney+, however, there must surely be the perfect part for Cena somewhere in the MCU.
For now, ou can catch John Cena inPeacemakerwhich is now streaming on HBO Max.
