Apart from providing the voice of Groot in the Guardians of the Galaxy films, Vin Diesel has hinted at taking on another key Marvel character in the past few years. Seeing Diesel as Black Bolt would be interesting given the silent nature of the Inhumans leader, but any Diesel involvement is up in the air now that Marvel has decided to move the project to television alongside Agents of SHIELD.
The status of the project was up in the air for a bit but now is firmly in television land with a few forays into IMAX territory. It makes sense given the status of Inhumans on Agents Of SHIELD, but the decision to move the project to TV doesn’t sit well with Diesel. While chatting with Stephen M. Colbert at ScreenRant during the promotion for XXX: Return Of Xander Cage, Diesel voiced his displeasure for the jump to television:
I think Marvel should never—I don’t think Marvel should abandon their opportunity to make a film out of it. I think it could be a huge, huge saga, and if I had more time I would go over to Marvel and have that very conversation. But I think it would be a big mistake for Marvel to abandon their ambitions or their objective or their goals of making it into a film because it would make such a cool universe.
Colbert points out that Diesel likely isn’t attached to the TV production of Inhumans with a massive pay cut, so you might be able to chalk these comments up to his passion for Black Bolt and his friends in Attilan. They certainly do have a rich background, but the idea for a television show makes sense when you look at how much would need to be stuffed into a film.
You’d have to think this wouldn’t be much of an issue if the television arm of Marvel Entertainment were more tightly connected to what we see in the movies.