Dark Phoenix Star Jessica Chastain Reveals the Marvel Role She'd Want to Play Next
The more superhero movies get made, the more chances there are for talented performers to take on multiple different roles across various franchises, with X-Men: Dark Phoenix star Jessica Chastain recently confirming that, were she to return to Marvel for a new project, she'd most like to take on a villainous character. Additionally, while some villains have been part of a variety of projects, building their malevolence over the years, she'd rather take on a project where she gets to appear in a solo outing and then leave the series behind. Chastain can next be seen in The 355, which hits theaters on January 7th.
"I think that I would be more interested in playing a villain than a comic book hero, because I think villains have more fun, honestly," Chastain shared with ComicBook.com. "I would love it to be a villain that's already established in the comic books and not created, like, a new thing. And, also, I would like it to be a villain that you don't have to sign such a long deal for. I'm a one-and-done kind of girl. So it would be great to play a character that was naughty and then would disappear."
In Dark Phoenix, Chastain played the mysterious Vuk, who led the alien race of the D'bari, a group that had a number of similarities to the Skrulls. To say the production had a complicated shoot would be a bit of an understatement, as it underwent a number of reshoots while studio 20th Century Fox was in the process of being purchased by The Walt Disney Company. Rather than allowing this film to be incorporated into the Marvel Cinematic Universe proper, its release was largely swept under the rug to send the long-running X-Men franchise out on an underwhelming note.
It's unclear exactly why Chastain specified wanting to play a more established character within the universe, though it's possible she was implying her desire to have more source material to draw from. Additionally, it's possible that she merely wanted a better grasp on her character, having previously confirmed that she was oblivious to her character's own name until she actually saw the film.
"I think the studio was bought at a certain point," Chastain shared with the Happy Sad Confused podcast last year. "I didn't even know what my character's name was until I saw the film."
There's no love lost between Chastain and Dark Phoenix director Simon Kinberg, however, as they reunited for The 355.
Would you like to see Chastain return to the world of superheroes? Let us know in the comments below!