Seth Rogen built his career on playing slackers, stoners and lovable schlubs, but there’s a lot more strings to the 38 year-old’s bow than you’d think. Not only is he a prolific writer alongside creative partner Evan Goldberg, with the duo having played key roles in developing popular TV shows like Preacher, Future Man and The Boys, but Rogen is also a well-known advocate in raising awareness for Alzheimer’s, even testifying in front of the United States Senate in 2014.
While he’s largely tended to stick to the comedy genre in his big screen appearances, the actor has ventured outside of his comfort zone before, most notably headlining Michel Gondry’s The Green Hornet and playing a key supporting role in Danny Boyle’s Steve Jobs. The former may have disappointed at the box office and done little to convince audiences that the Pineapple Express star could believably play a superhero, but we’ve nonetheless heard that the actor is now circling two big roles in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
According to our intel – which comes from the same sources that told us The Falcon and the Winter Soldier would be delayed and that Percy Jackson is being rebooted as a streaming series, both of which were correct – Marvel want Rogen for the Fantastic Four’s Thing as we’ve previously heard, but he’s more interested in playing a hero that wouldn’t be a fully-CGI creation, and is said to have his eye on Nova.
Of course, Nova is widely expected to make his MCU debut in Phase Four, but Marvel apparently want someone much younger for the role. As such, Rogen has indicated that he’d also be happy to take a part as a member of the Squadron Supreme, who have also been speculated to show up in the franchise at some point in the future.
With all of the parts in question still a ways off yet, there’s plenty of time for the two sides to decide on the best fit for his talents. That being said, the idea of him donning a motion capture suit to play Ben Grimm in the Fantastic Four reboot is an intriguing possibility, one that Seth Rogen would definitely be able to pull off.