After having mixed feelings about his role in the Star Wars Universe, John Boyega is careful about which film projects he joins. Recent selections include The Woman King, They Cloned Tyrone and Breaking. Fans would love to see him join another blockbuster franchise like the Marvel Cinematic Universe, though his following three projects (The Freshening, Attack the Block 2, Otis & Zelma) are far from asking him to wear a cape and tights. During this year’s C2E2 celebration, Boyega said Marvel Studios mastermind Kevin Feige asked him which Marvel character he would like to play in the MCU. Boyega didn’t have an answer, but now, thanks to audience participation, he might have found a match.
When asked who John Boyega would play in the MCU, Boyega was stumped. A fan suggested Bishop, the energy-absorbing mutant enforcer. “Oh, I’d play Bishop,” Boyega replied.
Created by Whilce Portacio and John Byrne, Bishop’s first appearance was in The Uncanny X-Men #282 (1991). Bishop is a human mutant who can instinctively know his present time and place (whatever that means), absorb and redirect energy, has superhuman physical attributes, poison resistance, and is a skilled combatant and marksman. He’s been a member of the X-Men, X-Treme Sanctions Executive, Xavier’s Security Enforcers, X-Treme X-Men, The Twelve, The Marauders, and more. Omar Sy played Bishop in 2014’s X-Men: Days of Future Past.
Marvel is taking a slow-burn approach to introducing its mutant populace by drip-feeding fans with characters in upcoming films like The Fantastic Four: First Steps and Avengers: Doomsday. Two weeks ago, Marvel revealed a portion of the Avengers: Doomsday cast, including characters and actors from Fox’s X-Men films like Patrick Stewart as Professor Xavier, Ian McKellen as Erik Lehnsherr (Magneto), James Marsden as Scott Summers (Cyclops), Rebecca Romijn as Raven Darkholme (Mystique), Kelsey Grammer as Hank McCoy (Beast), and Alan Cumming as Kurt Wagner (Nightcrawler), with more announcements on the way.
With a new era of mutant madness on the horizon, Marvel could approach John Boyega about playing Bishop in the MCU. Whether he’ll say yes remains to be seen, but fans can hold a candle for it to happen.
Would you like to see John Boyega play Bishop in the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Is there another character he’d be better suited for? Synch? Cloak of Cloak and Dagger? Blue Marvel? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
