There's probably no one more surprised that Tom Hanks hasn't donned a superhero cloak than Tom Hanks himself.
The Oscar-winning actor, whose wide array of roles make him one of the most versatile stars working today, says a comic-book role is the one gig he can't seem to land. During an interview with Showbiz 411, Hanks had this to say when a fan asked why he'd never starred in a big superhero movie:
They don’t ask me, man. I keep trying. Come on, I can do it. I can do it. Even let me play a bad guy, let me play the bad guy against Batman. I’ll do anything, call me. They’ve never asked. What do I gotta do? God, I want to throw a shield at somebody. I want that. And I don’t want to play the guy in the suit who tells the superheroes what’s going on, I don’t want to be that guy. ‘Well, you know Batman, Captain America, Iron Man, here’s what we’ve discovered,’ I don’t want to be that guy. I want to get in there, I want to play The Flash or something like that. They’ll never give me a chance.
Poor, poor, Tom Hanks. His chances to break out in Hollywood are just so limited.
Really, this is a precious request. Hanks, 57, is obviously almost twice the age of most superhero actors. (Christian Bale was 31 when he first starred as Batman, Henry Cavill was 30 in "Man of Steel," and Tobey Maguire was 27 when his Spider-Man trilogy first opened.)
But, come to think of it, a Batman villain might not be such a tall order for Hanks. He's known for playing heroes, as evidenced in this month's "Captain Phillips," but we could see him taking on a sinister Gotham City adversary.
Superhero-movie directors of the world, give this man a call.
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