The Surprising Superheroes Moonfall Star Eme Ikwuakor Wants To Play - Exclusive
Actor Eme Ikwuakor, currently starring in director Roland Emmerich's "Moonfall," is a big fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and wanted to land a role in that franchise ever since coming out to Los Angeles from Colorado more than a decade ago. He eventually did find his way in — sort of. In 2017, Ikwuakor was cast as Gorgon, a member of the Inhuman Royal Family, in the Marvel Television series "Inhumans."
Originally slated as a full-blown movie for Marvel Studios' Phase 3 slate, "Inhumans" was instead redeveloped as a TV series, with its first two episodes premiering in a limited IMAX theatrical release before the show debuted on ABC. Its tale of a cosmic race of superbeings living in a secret city on the Moon could not be adequately produced on a television budget, and the show became perhaps the biggest Marvel failure since the comic book giant launched its own studio in 2008.
While Ikwuakor acknowledges the show's many problems and wishes it had been "better received," he still relishes that he had the chance to do something Marvel-related. "One of the things I always wanted to do was to play a superhero," he tells Looper. "That was one of my goals, so being able to do that was actually a dream." That dream isn't over either — as Ikwuakor also reveals.
There are several comic book roles Eme Ikwuakor would suit up for
Asked if there are other Marvel characters he'd like to play in the MCU, Ikwuakor has an answer ready: "I like the Blade character. I like that or Bishop, which I absolutely love. Those two characters are awesome."
Blade is already spoken for, with Mahershala Ali slated to play the vampire hunter for Marvel in 2023. However, Bishop — a mutant from the future who travels back in time to join the X-Men — could be up for grabs when Marvel eventually reboots the X-Men (he was played briefly by Omar Sy in 2014's "X-Men: Days of Future Past," which is not, to date, part of MCU canon).
There's another well known, non-Marvel hero that Ikwuakor would love to try on for size. "I'm going to switch sides here a little bit and I might get hated on here, but I've also been in love with the story of Superman and the Man of Steel," he admits.
Superman's screen future is not clear at this point, with Henry Cavill still officially attached to the role and Michael B. Jordan recently in the mix as well, but Ikwuakor reveals why he has a personal interest in one day playing the last son of Krypton.
"The idea of a person that's coming from another place to help people that he doesn't know is a story that has really attracted me a lot," he explains. "I don't know if it's because of me being African American and growing up in a spot that wasn't very diverse. It's like, 'How is this person that could be considered an outsider coming in and trying to function and relate into a world where people might feel and look at him as different?' So Superman has been always been a character I admire."
"Moonfall" is now playing in theaters, while "Inhumans" can be streamed at Disney+.