Keanu Reeves may have made his big screen debut 34 years ago but between blockbuster action threequel John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, an incredibly self-aware cameo as himself in Netflix smash Always Be My Maybe and a voice role as ‘Canada’s Greatest Stuntman’ Duke Caboom in Pixar’s Toy Story 4, the actor has arguably never been as popular as he is in 2019.
The 54 year-old is one of the names repeatedly brought up that fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe would love to see added to the franchise. The executives over at Marvel Studios clearly agree, too, with Kevin Feige admitting in a recent interview:
“We talk to him for almost every film we make. I don’t know when, if, or ever he’ll join the MCU, but we very much want to figure out the right way to do it.”
There’s already been plenty of speculation about just who Reeves could play if he was part of the MCU, but fan-favorite comic book writer Donny Cates, who has worked on Venom, Guardians of the Galaxy, Doctor Strange and others, is adamant that the actor should be cast as the title character in Destin Daniel Cretton’s upcoming Shang-Chi. In a since-deleted Tweet, Cates offered his two cents by saying:
“As someone who has spent four hours in a room with Keanu Reeves breaking story, (it’s quite a story), I can tell you that the role you want him to play is Shang-Chi. Trust me.”
Shang-Chi doesn’t even have an official release date yet and is still in the pre-production stage, but there have already been several actors linked to the project in various capacities. Despite the John Wick franchise proving Reeves hasn’t lost any of his action hero credentials, he’s probably far too old to play ‘The Master of Kung Fu,’ but would still be a solid choice for a supporting role if Shang-Chi is the movie that finally convinces him to sign on to the MCU.
