Marvel Studios has a history of keeping their eye on Hollywood's best and brightest talent to fulfill superhero and non-superhero roles in their ever-expanding MCU. Some of these actors don't end up joining the franchise until years after the interest first materializes, and there are other instances in which the potential collaboration dissolves altogether.
Marvel CCO Kevin Feige and his team have been especially active lately, scouting talent for over two dozen new projects in need of cast members for Phase 4, including nearly a dozen non-sequels set for release both theatrically and on Disney+. News has just come detailing the story of one actor that Marvel Studios had their eyes on, but
NEWS
A new report from Variety details that, earlier this summer, Marvel Studios was looking at bringing on Hollywood star Shia Labeouf to play one of the new superheroes set to be introduced in the MCU.
Insiders say that while there was initial interest from Marvel, a meeting between the studio and Labeouf never took place and no legitimate discussions were held between the two parties.
WHAT THIS MEANS
After a successful start as a young actor, Shia Labeouf became somewhat of an unexpected star thanks to his performances in the first three Transformers movies and smaller projects like Disturbia . Marvel Studios had reportedly seen his work in 2019's Honey Boy , which led to the initial interest in obtaining his services before his career was shrouded in controversy.
It doesn't appear that the most recent accusations from director Olivia Wilde had anything to do with why the Marvel meeting never came to be, especially since Labeouf had been linked with the studio for some time in years past. Presumably, he was one of the studio's leading choices to play the leading role of Marc Spector in Moon Knight after playing similar roles recently, but the role instead went to Star Wars star Oscar Isaac .
Even with all of the difficult circumstances surrounding this story, there is no word whether Marvel Studios has moved on from Labeouf for good.
