Laurence Fishburne Wants to Play Galactus in the Marvel Cinematic Universe

Laurence Fishburne will be making his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut in Ant-Man and The Wasp, playing the character of Bill Foster, a former assistant of Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), who worked on the size-enhancing application of Pym Particles, known as "Project Goliath". However, according to Fishburne, playing a Marvel Comics character able to grow to the size of a giant isn't enough: he wants to Galactus, the devourer of entire worlds!

Fishburne was speaking with Marvel Entertainment correspondents on the red carpet of the Ant-Man and the Wasp premiere, when he was asked which Marvel Comics character he would like to be in real life. The Blackish and Matrix Trilogy star wasn't very interested in that question, but he did take the opportunity to campaign for a new role:

"Well, you know this is not my first time in the MCU: I was actually the voice of the Silver Surfer. And if they ever go back to that again - if it was a villain - I would love to do Galactus."

Fishburne indeed voiced the character for Norin Raad / Silver Surfer, in the 2007 sequel Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer - one of the last independent Marvel franchise films that came before the MCU officially kicked off in 2008. Having just missed that cut-off, it would be ironic if Fishburne got the opportunity to flip roles, playing the master (Galactus) instead of the herald (Silver Surfer), for a galaxy-sized mo-cap performance in the MCU cosmic saga.

Fans can debate amongst themselves whether or not Fishburne's signature soft baritone voice is right for Galactus - or whether he can hope from a DCEU role as Perry White, to not one but two MCU roles. However, until the Disney deal to acquire 20th Century Fox actually goes through, Galactus and his heralds remain stuck in a sort of legal limbo between the two studios.

For those not familiar: Galactus is the oldest and first of the cosmic entities of the Marvel Comics Universe. He was originally Galan of Taa, and explorer who existed in the universe before the Big Bang occurred. When he tried to flee his home planet before its destruction, his ship was caught in the Big Crunch, and Galan was transformed, gestating in evolving into the being known as Galactus, who emerged into the sentient universe after the Big Bang with one insatiable drive: to feed off entire planets. Galactus selected individuals from worlds he came across to be his "heralds" - beings endowed with his "Power Cosmic" who scout the universe for the ripest worlds their master can consume. The Silver Surfer was his slave until an encounter with Earth and the Fantastic Four handed Galactus his first great defeat.

It's not at all certain where Galactus would pop up in the MCU - in the first MCU Fantastic Four movie, or any of the other franchise Marvel Studios is steadily building into a Cosmic brand (Guardians of the Galaxy, Thor, Captain Marvel, Nova...). All that is certain is that MCU fans have wanted the character in their universe for some time - so it's smart that Fishburne is nominating himself now!

Avengers: Infinity War is now playing in theaters - Ant-Man and The Wasp arrives on July 6. Other upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe movies include Captain Marvel on March 8, 2019, the fourth Avengers movie on May 3, 2019, Spider-Man: Far From Home on July 5th, 2019, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in 2020.