Orlando Bloom Is Marvel Fan, Interested in Captain Britain Role

Orlando Bloom may be best known for his role as Will Turner in the Pirates of the Caribbean film franchise, but the actor has his sights set on the Marvel Cinematic Universe, too, as none other than Captain Britain.

In a recent interview with BBC Radio 2, Bloom chatted about the huge success of the Pirates franchise and the conversation turned to other, large-scale movie worlds — specifically Marvel. The actor revealed that, as a comics fan, he wouldn’t mind a turn as Captain Britain even if he wasn’t quite sure how it would play out.

“I do read [Marvel Comics] a little bit,” Bloom said. “Who’s the British one? Captain Britain! There you go. Terrible costume, though. And you’ve also got Captain America so what you going to do? Captain Britain versus Captain America?”

Captain America versus Captain Britain would be a somewhat unlikely story — Steve Rogers does kind of have his hands full with Thanos having snapped his fingers and wiped out half of the life in the universe after all — but that doesn’t mean there’s not plenty for Captain Britain to do. The character may be less known to American audiences, but he has had plenty of adventures since his debut as part of the United Kingdom’s branch of Marvel in 1976.

In comics, Captain Britain is the alter ego of Brian Braddock, a man given the chance to be a superhero by Merlyn and his daughter, Roma, after a near-fatal accident. Given the choice between the Amulet of Right or the Sword of Might, Braddock chooses the amulet and begins his mission to uphold the laws of Britain as its champion. The character eventually became more popular even outside of the UK and played important parts in major comics storylines, such as Secret Invasion and House of M.

With the Marvel Cinematic Universe beginning to shift towards new stories as it enters the so-called Phase 4, eventually seeing a big-screen Captain Britain might not be too much of a stretch. However, Bloom might have some competition for the role. Star Trek actor Simon Pegg recently told JoBlo that he would love to play Captain Britain and he, too, is a big fan of the character.

“I mean, Captain Britain was the Marvel superhero that I loved growing up, ’cause he was the British member of that community,” Pegg said. “I even have a Captain Britain mask when I was a kid, but I fear I would probably be slightly too old now, but if they do have… If a Captain Britain movie comes about, they’re gonna need a British cast, so…”

Avengers: Infinity War is in theaters now. It will be followed by Ant-Man and the Wasp on July 6, 2018, Captain Marvel on March 8, 2019, the fourth Avengers movie on May 3, 2019, the sequel to Spider-Man: Homecoming on July 5, 2019, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in 2020.

Who do you think should play Captain Britain should he make his MCU debut? Let us know in the comments!