Ryan Phillippe Confirms He Met With Marvel About CAPTAIN AMERICA and IRON FIST

Ryan Phillippe (I Know What You Did Last Summer, Shooter) is currently making the rounds to discuss his role in Vertical's new survival thriller Prey, and he sat down this week with ComicBook and confirmed the rumors that he had been in the running for a couple of notable Marvel roles over the years.

Way back in 2015, the actor revealed he'd met with Marvel Studios and, at the time, speculation ran rampant that they might have discussed him taking on the role of Danny Rand in Marvel’s Netflix series Iron Fist. The actor was also once a fan-favorite choice to play Captain America before the role went to Chris Evans.

When asked what he had met with Marvel Studios about, and whether he's still angling for a superhero movie role, Phillippe responded:

"I don’t think I will be [in a superhero movie], ultimately. I don’t know. I enjoy those films at times but I don’t know if it’s a world I need to inhabit. I think it’s something I can enjoy as a fan. At one point, there was a discussion about meeting on Captain America and there was a discussion about Iron Fist. You never say no to something like that necessarily, but I don’t know, it didn’t work out. I tend to think that was maybe for a reason and maybe I wasn’t in the right place or it wasn’t the right place. I enjoy those as a fan but it doesn’t necessarily mean I need to be in them [Laughs]."

As for whether he has any regrets about missing out on starring as the MCU's Captain America or Iron Fist, Phillippe made it clear that it's not something he clings to all these years later. 

"Going back to the spirituality of it all, I do think things happen for a reason. Who knows what has transpired in my life…the other thing is, things have changed drastically for me personally as a father. I have three children. That really takes a lot of your time, effort, and focus. And deservedly so. I’m a lot more free in regards to when something doesn’t work out. I try to give them as much time as I possibly can, certainly when they were even younger, but I’m able to take things as they come and I harbour no disappointments for very long and I guess that’s a healthy thing."

Phillippe is a great actor, and he certainly has the look of a Marvel superhero, but like he said, things happen for a reason, and it’s cool that he isn’t still bummed out about it all this time later.