There was a time before Marvel movies became an entire universe when it was pretty easy to just be in one of the films without having to sign on for multiple movies and spinoffs, plus an appearance on a Disney+ show or two, and maybe a fast food tie-in if you’re lucky. So in 2010 when Sam Rockwell signed on to be the villain in Iron Man 2, there was no way to know if he’d still want to play the bad guy over a decade later…right? Well, now we know! And Rockwell wants in on more Marvel stuff!
Rockwell portrayed Justin Hammer, the cocky Hammer Industries CEO that rivaled Stark Industries in the second Iron Man installment. While Hammer has been mentioned throughout the MCU various times, the character hasn’t been brought back to the big screen, and Rockwell thinks it’s time.
The actor stopped by The Playlist’s podcast The Discourse to discuss his upcoming film See How They Run (which he stars in alongside Saoirse Ronan) and naturally, Marvel came up in conversation, specifically Thunderbolts, the villain-centric movie in the works with a 2024 release date.
When asked if he would return, Rockwell expressed interest. “Yeah, definitely. I would be into that. [Thunderbolts] sounds cool…[Hammer’s] fun, he’s a real Lex Luthor.”
The rest of the Thunderbolts cast was announced at D23 last week, and Marvel is bringing back a variety of bad guys for the film. The movie will star Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova, Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes, Wyatt Russell as John Walker, Olga Kurylenko as Taskmaster, David Harbour as Red Guardian, Hannah John-Kamen as Ghost, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine.
While nothing is confirmed for Rockwell, just showing interest is a good sign. If it can work for John Krasinski, it can (maybe) work for anyone!
