Jason Statham has carved out a very particular niche for himself in Hollywood, with the 53 year-old establishing his own subgenre within the realm of the action thriller. When you see the actor’s name above the title on a poster you know exactly what you’re going to get; a mid-budget movie that allows him to do what he does best by utilizing his action hero credentials, decades of martial arts training and grizzled charisma to barrel through an army of henchmen.
Even when he’s not playing the lead and shows up in ensemble pics set in a heightened reality, he still ticks all of the expected boxes as his turns in the Fast & Furious and Expendables franchises have shown. In fact, with the notable exception of blockbuster creature feature The Meg, it’s been a long time since Statham lent his talents to anything outside of his wheelhouse. Uwe Boll’s infamous 2007 flop In the Name of the King is the only straightforward fantasy he’s ever starred in, while he hasn’t tackled sci-fi in the 20 years since Jet Li’s The One.
However, we’ve now heard from our sources – the same ones who told us Ben Affleck would be returning as Batman in The Flash long before it was confirmed – that Dwayne Johnson is reportedly trying to broaden his Hobbs & Shaw co-star’s horizons by attempting to convince him that a role in the DCEU is something worth looking into and wants him in the franchise.
Of course, Jason Statham hasn’t been seen in superhero cinema before, so it would definitely be an interesting proposition, but it could be a bit strange to see him suited up in spandex with that trademark scowl permanently etched across his face, especially when he’s blasted the genre in the past and even turned Kevin Feige down for a Marvel Cinematic Universe gig. Then again, he’d certainly make for a good villain and there are no shortage of DC Comics characters that he’d be well suited for.
