The Marvel Superhero Daniel Radcliffe Wants To Play, Yet Knows He Can’t

At this point, there are two kinds of actors in Hollywood, those who have been cast as comic book superheroes, and those that are about to be. However, it seems that Daniel Radcliffe may be a third type, the actor who's chosen role isn't available to him. The Harry Potter star says that he'd be willing to jump into a major franchise, but that his dream comic book role will almost certainly never be something he could play, Spider-Man has already been done so much.

It's been and gone, they've done it three times in my lifetime. ... [But] if someone came to me with one of those things and it was good and I was interested then I would totally be up for doing it. But I could also see how from their point of view they might not want somebody who is very recognizably the face of another franchise in their franchise.

Of course, Daniel Radcliffe wants to be Spider-Man. We all want to be Spider-Man. The wall-crawler is up there with Superman and Batman as one of the most globally popular superheroes ever created. It's true that, as the actor tells Loaded, even if the Spider-Man role was currently available, one might not want a face like Daniel Radcliffe's underneath the mask. The actor led one of the single largest movie franchises that has ever existed. With eight movies over the course of a decade, his face is as much associated with Harry Potter as any illustration even put inside a book.

Spider-Man

This is likely why both of the last two actors to take on the part have been mostly unknown. Neither Andrew Garfield nor Tom Holland were exactly household names prior to them taking on the web-slinger. Tobey Maguire was a bit more known, but he wasn't part of any major franchises up to that point.

Having said that, seeing Daniel Radcliffe inside the Marvel Cinematic Universe or another major franchise is certainly not impossible. At this point, so many films are part of franchises that it's nearly impossible for a major actor to only be part of one. For the most part, Radcliffe has stayed away from the big budget films, happy to make smaller independent movies, but he makes it clear that if the right big role came along, he's open to taking it. They can always stick him in Star Wars alien makeup, or under a Stormtrooper helmet, if they're afraid his well-known face will be too distracting. However, as he spent his formative years playing The Boy Who Lived, his dream role is no longer available.

Since Spider-Man is not an option for Daniel Radcliffe, what franchise would you like to see him join? Give us your casting suggestions in the comments below.

Dirk Libbey
Content Producer/Theme Park Beat

CinemaBlend’s resident theme park junkie and amateur Disney historian, Dirk began writing for CinemaBlend as a freelancer in 2015 before joining the site full-time in 2018. He has previously held positions as a Staff Writer and Games Editor, but has more recently transformed his true passion into his job as the head of the site's Theme Park section. He has previously done freelance work for various gaming and technology sites. Prior to starting his second career as a writer he worked for 12 years in sales for various companies within the consumer electronics industry. He has a degree in political science from the University of California, Davis.  Is an armchair Imagineer, Epcot Stan, Future Club 33 Member.