We know how much playing Groot in Guardians of the Galaxy meant to Vin Diesel. But what we didn’t expect was that his involvement with the Marvel Cinematic Universe might go beyond the Guardians sequel. In fact, judging from a recent post on the actor’s Facebook, he may have just put a previously-unannounced Marvel Phase 3 film on our radar.
Diesel posted the above photo to his Facebook over the weekend—note the caption.
Fans and outlets are taking this post, and the capital-I “Inhumans” mention, to mean that Marvel might be making an Inhumans movie after all! (And, clearly, that Diesel could be involved.) The Inhumans are the result of the Kree’s genetic testing on Cro-Magnon humans, turning them into superpowered beings. When the Kree abandoned them, the Inhumans created their own society, hierarchies, and rivalries. They also live on the moon and have access to the “terrigen mists,” which grant superpowers to humans and which may possibly be the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s workaround to introducing more superpowered characters like Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver without having access to mutants ala the X-Men universe.
So, could Marvel Studios be adding an Inhumans movie to its Phase 3 slate? About a year ago, right as he was confirming his role as Groot, Diesel mentioned that he had already been in talks with Marvel about “a fresh IP that would come out in 2016 or 2017” and that would lead to a “merging of brands.” Last we checked, there were a number of open slots on Marvel’s film slate, through 2019. There was a rumor that Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver would be introduced as Inhumans in Avengers: Age of Ultron, but Kevin Feige has since debunked that.
So, which Inhuman could Diesel play? Fans and outlets seem pretty agreed that he’d make a great Black Bolt, part of the Inhuman ruling class. His voice is so powerful that even a whisper can fell a city—so, Black Bolt has trained himself to almost never speak. That would be mighty convenient for Diesel, to play the strong silent type where we can see his face, then do some motion capture and “I am Groot” lines for Guardians 2.
It’s a fun little rumor to consider. Diesel’s little “Haha.” brings to mind The Rock’s full-throated laugh when he teased how he might be playing Shazam in a future DC film. These two just love dropping hints left and right—here’s hoping they’ll both come true.
[h/t The Mary Sue]
Image: Marvel
