Marc Maron Weighs in on Future Comic Book Roles and Stan Lee Fan Casting (Exclusive)

The growing number of comic book movies and TV series means that acting roles are growing exponentially in the genre, allowing unlikely performers to step into those worlds. Back in 2019, comedian and host of the WTF podcast Marc Maron had a role in Joker, which is one of the more grounded interpretations of a comic book character in recent years, so while he isn't necessarily ruling out getting involved in a massive blockbuster, he's more interested in playing a "regular guy" set within these ambitious worlds. In the meantime, audiences can see Maron in The Horror of Dolores Roach, which is now streaming on Prime Video.

"Well, it's weird because I do have a very small but significant comic book past for a couple of years," Maron shared with ComicBook.com of his connection to comic books. "There is a zone of comedy that I was ... For some reason, when I was in Boston in the late '80s, I got involved with the first Hellblazer comic and the first Sandman comic, and then through that back into some of the Frank Miller, Swamp Thing stuff. There was a moment there where I was pretty compulsively reading Hellblazer and Sandman. And I still have them."

He continued, "So I enjoyed watching the [Netflix] Sandman series. And again, my girlfriend is a Neil Gaiman freak, and I interviewed Gaiman. I think, in that world, I like Hellblazer a lot. Fantasy that's grounded in some sort of reality -- even though Sandman kind of isn't, but it kind of is. But Hellblazer definitely is. Those things kind of appealed to me, and I think that Neil did, they did a great job with Sandman. So that zone of horror."

Maron also admitted that, while he may have previously been critical of massive Marvel movies, he wasn't critical enough of the entire realm of comics to turn down the chance to share a scene with Robert De Niro.

"I don't know about Marvel or DC, really. I've spoken negatively about Marvel movies, but I got a lot of flack for doing Joker, which I said, 'Yeah, but that's DC. It's different. These are the underdogs.' But it was ultimately because I was going to do a scene with [Robert] De Niro, so what was I going to say? No? Just to maintain my integrity for a bunch of comic book fanatics?" Maron joked. "I'm not closed off to a particular zone of fantasy. I don't know about bigger DC movies, unless it's a Batman movie where I play a human part, which would be cool."

In regards to Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny director James Mangold developing a new Swamp Thing, Maron quipped, "If there's a regular guy in Swamp Thing that has a role, I'd like to talk to James."

While he's not a fictional character, Marvel's Stan Lee was a larger-than-life figure, with fans having spotted an impressive physical likeness between Maron and Lee, especially when the comedian has roles in different decades where he would have been closer in age to Lee.

"There's been a lot of momentum, a lot of requests for that on the Internet. I see it on Twitter all the time," the actor confirmed in regards to playing Lee for a project. "Because I think the appearance and I think he was sort of cranky, and I think I could probably manage it. We're both Jews. I think there is that world of those early guys, especially the Jewish nature of it, which isn't talked about a whole lot, how many of them were Jewish and creating these mythologies."

He added, "I actually did a joke about that in my last special, not the last one, but the one before about how the similarities between Iron Man and the New Testament is that they were both created in Jewish writers' rooms. I thought that was funny."

The Horror of Dolores Roach, based on the hit Spotify podcast series of the same name, is a contemporary Sweeney Todd-inspired urban legend of love, betrayal, weed, cannibalism, and survival of the fittest. Dolores Roach (Justina Machado) is released from prison after 16 years and returns to a gentrified Washington Heights. She reunites with an old stoner friend, Luis (Alejandro Hernandez), who lets her live and work as a masseuse in the basement under his empanada shop. When the promise of her newfound stability is quickly threatened, "Magic Hands" Dolores is driven to shocking extremes to survive.

Stay tuned for updates on Maron's future projects. The Horror of Dolores Roach is now streaming on Prime Video.

Would you like to see Maron take on another comic book role? Let us know in the comments!