Tom Hanks is back in the spotlight as the actor’s latest movie, Here, massively bombs at the box office. That’s not all as while he promoted the movie, Hanks talked DC and Marvel.
Regarding Here, it’s from Robert Zemeckis and is a “generational story about families and the special place they inhabit, sharing in love, loss, laughter, and life.” The film opened this past weekend and brought in only $6.2 million worldwide on a reported $45–50 million budget.
HCN991 SUPERMAN, Christopher Reeve, 1978. ©Warner Brothers/courtesy Everett Collection
What did Tom Hanks say about DC and Marvel?
Over the years, Tom Hanks’ name has come up for various DC and Marvel projects, but Hanks said he hasn’t had any talks. While discussing how he believes movie goers are more tuned in to the story side of things and less about the big VFX, Hanks is asked if he ever talked with James Gunn about the DCU or Kevin Feige with Marvel.
“No, No,” Hanks told Josh Horowitz. “I think it’s because… I’m not in their wheel house.”
Hanks continued, “I’m not against it, I guess, but at the same time… my combo plate is quite full. I got a lot of stuff that I’m dreaming of and you know trying to trying to make happen.”
Story matters
Regarding what he thinks about comic book movies, Hanks says he thinks fans expect something more.
“Remember in the 1970s and ’80s they tried to do TV version of Captain America and Spider Man? Even Batman, the Adam West one. The technology did not exist to make it look like it did in the comic books and now it does,” Hanks said. “You can do anything at all. You can probably say Christopher Reeve’s Superman was the first one that came close because of the cutting edge of the technology to allow for wire removal. We all believed [a man could fly] when we saw it. It was quite extraordinary.
“We are now enjoying the luxury of riches and because you can make anything happen on screen now, we are being brought back to the concept of, ‘OK that’s true but what is the story?’” Hanks continued.
“You can drain Lake Michigan and fill it with cuckoo clocks that form a three-headed dragon that breathes fire and destroys Chicago. You can do that. But to what purpose?” explained Hanks. “What is the story and what is it going to be saying about us?”
Hanks continues with mention of the X-Men, Spider-Man, Batman, and Captain America.
“There was a period of time, and I felt this way too, where we would see DC and MCU movies in order to see these better versions of ourselves,” said Hanks. “God, I feel like an X-Man sometimes. I am as confused as Spider-Man. I am as angry as Batman is. I love my country as much as Captain America.”
Hanks added, “We’ve been down that road. We’ve had 20 years to explore that kind of thing, and now we’re in an evolution and place where it’s: ‘And the story is what? The theme is what? The point of this movie is what?’”