Antonio Banderas may have been offered the role of the biggest MCU villain, but he was almost a Marvel villain in Fox’s The New Mutants.
With the Fantastic Four finally set to return to the big screen in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, casting rumors have been ablaze on the Internet. One of the latest actors to get thrust into the Marvel spotlight as a potential casting is Zorro actor Antonio Banderas. And an iconic actor deserves an iconic role, as Banderas is supposedly in talks to play the villain Galactus.
The potential casting of this actor may seem unexpected, but if true, this would not be Banderas’ first experience working with Marvel. In fact, he landed a smaller role in the Marvel content pipeline once before. Banderas was going to appear as a tyrannical businessman in a post-credits scene of The New Mutants and serve as a villain in Fox’s X-Men universe.
Antonio Banderas Could’ve Been a Marvel Villain
Entertainment Weekly confirmed that Banderas was set to star in the sequel to 20th Century Fox’s The New Mutants. Before Disney took ownership of 20th Century Fox and planned to incorporate mutants and the X-Men into the larger MCU, it seemed that The New Mutants would’ve set up Banderas as the villain for a future onslaught of mutant films. Director Josh Boone and co-writer Knate Lee had their eyes set on a trilogy pre-merger. And while he was able to make the film he intended, Boone mentions there was one scene he didn’t get to shoot: Bandera appearing as Emmanuel da Costa, establishing him as the next film’s villain.
Emmanuel is not as well known as his mutant son, Sunspot, but his ruthlessness would’ve made him a formidable foe in Fox’s universe. His tyrannical behavior even landed him a spot in the Hellfire Club, of which he was the only member without superhuman powers. Going by the alias of White Rook, he didn’t have a major role within the group, but that could’ve made him a great villain for the trilogy, as Marvel is no stranger to taking lesser-known characters and elevating them for the big screen. However, with the film delayed for years and the merger already final, Boone admitted there was no need to shoot the scene as a sequel wouldn’t be coming.
Galactus Could Mean Big Things for Antonio Banderas
While very little is known about the upcoming Fantastic Four project, it’s undoubtedly one of the most anticipated works from Marvel Studios. However, potentially locking down Galactus as the villain ups the ante even more. Introduced by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in Fantastic Four #48 in 1966, the Devourer of Worlds quickly became an essential force in the cosmos of Marvel Comics, making him ripe for an adaptation in the MCU. And if an actor of Banderas’ prestige takes on the role, they will have the opportunity to become a lot more important than a businessman in The New Mutants sequel.
