Ben Schwartz Once Again Expresses His Desire to Play PLASTIC MAN in James Gunn's DCU
After James Gunn and Peter Safran took over at DC, the best part for fans was seeing which characters Gunn was going to utilize first, and which actors he was going to choose to fill those roles.
Some of them were no-brainers, like choosing Superman to build your world around, but some were a little more obscure. You never know who Gunn will want to include, which he proves with his Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy at Marvel. But some actors are throwing their hats in the ring, just in case Gunn needs any inspiration.
Ben Schwartz, best known for his roles in Parks and Recreation and The Afterparty, as well as voicing the title creature in the Sonic the Hedgehog films, would really like to join the DC Universe and play the bendy, stretchy superhero, Plastic Man. The character Plastic Man/Patrick “Eel” O’Brian was created by Jake Cole for Quality Comics, and he made his comic book debut in Police Comics #1 in 1941.
Plastic Man has appeared in several animated adaptations, such as Batman: The Brave and the Bold and Justice League Action. However, the comical hero has yet to appear in a live-action DC project, although Warner Bros. unsuccessfully attempted to bring Plastic Man to the big screen in the late 1990s and the 2010s.
Schwartz, who has been posting online about his love of Plastic Man since 2018, recently reaffirmed his desire to play the DC superhero during a recent interaction with a fan on X. After being asked if there was still a chance the actor could play the stretchy superhero in the DCU, Schwartz responded:
“It would be a dream come true. But whoever they get for that role. I’ll be excited that the character is out there in the world in a big fun way. James is in the zone with all of this stuff. He’ll nail it. And I’ll be first in line to buy a ticket.”
It’s very diplomatic of Schwartz to be cool with any other casting, stemming from his pure fan-fueled desire to see the character done right on the big screen. His plea may not go unnoticed though.
Marvel’s Simu Liu had manifested his eventual casting as the superhero Shang-Chi on social media years before it came to fruition. So never say never.
Would you like to see Ben Schwartz play Plastic Man in James Gunn’s DCU?