John Boyega Reveals Why He Doesn’t Want to Be in a Marvel Movie Right Now

Star Wars franchise veteran John Boyega is not part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, in spite of some recent rumors that suggested he had taken on a role in the sprawling multimedia franchise. In a new interview, he reveals that — at least in part — there’s a simple reason he’s not doing a Marvel movie: he doesn’t want to at the moment. After years of working on a massive, corporate franchise, it seems Boyega is taking his money and name recognition, and trying to use it to elevate smaller projects that he considers “fresh ideas.”

That is not to say that he doesn’t have any respect for Marvel, or that it might not happen down the line, but for now, the actor wants to do something else. And he says Robert Downey, Jr.’s turn as Tony Stark still looms large for actors weighing a Marvel opportunity.

“That’s not in the vision for me now,” Boyega told Men’s Health. “I want to do nuanced things. . . . I want to donate my services to original indie films that come with new, fresh ideas, because I know it’s real hard to top Iron Man in that universe.”

Boyega didn’t seem to have the best time working on Star Wars; the actor endured racist attacks from online trolls, and his character seemed to disappear into the background halfway through the sequel trilogy, leaving some fans to wonder what plans for Finn had been aborted. He was one of a number of actors who said it would take extraordinary circumstances to bring him back to the galaxy far, far away.

Touching on some of the rumors about how his story might have been different in the originally-planned conclusion to the Skywalker Saga, Boyega told an interviewer that the abandoned story for Finn would be the only way he might end up returning to the franchise. He suggested, in fact, that he could see it playing out on Disney+ as an animated series. 

“I’m a Mandalorian fan, so Lucasfilm is doing very well with the TV shows,” Boyega told Yahoo! News back in 2020. “An animated show would be dope! We could do it from home.”

You can see the Star Wars sequel series on Disney+ now. Boyega’s upcoming projects include They Cloned Tyrone, The Woman King, and the long-awaited Attack the Block 2.