Glen Powell Won’t Suit Up for the MCU or DCU — Here’s the Real Reason

If you keep seeing Glen Powell pop up in superhero casting wishlists, you can probably stop holding your breath. He is not on a cape chase. In a new chat with Collider, the 37-year-old made it pretty clear he is more drawn to scrappy underdogs than invincible icons.

Powell on superheroes: cool, just not for him

Powell says he gets why superhero stories matter and even what makes them tick for audiences. He is into the human side of those tales, the early grind, the identity stuff. But once a character turns fully super, he kind of checks out emotionally.

'For me, it is a different feeling leaving the theater and being like, Oh, that could be me.'

He also stressed he is not hunting a specific cape and cowl. He likes what Marvel and DC are doing; he just does not feel like a superhero himself, and that distance makes those roles less appealing than the ones where the odds are stacked against a regular person.

Where he is getting his hero fix instead: a fake name and a football helmet

Powell’s latest is Chad Powers, a Hulu comedy he created with Michael Waldron. The pitch: a disgraced college athlete puts on a disguise, transfers, and tries to win back his future by playing quarterback under an alias. Powell actually built it like a cape story on purpose — more Batman and Bruce than lasers and lightning. He digs the dual-identity sandbox: the version you show the world vs. the one you keep tucked away.

What he is chasing: the underdog fight

Powell says the roles that light him up are the David-vs-the-system adventures — think the lean, propulsive action movies of the 80s and 90s. That is why he is leaning into characters like Ben Richards in The Running Man, where a regular person has to outsmart and outlast a rigged world. His point is simple: those stories send you out of the theater feeling like, with enough grit, you could pull it off too.

• Powell is 37 and not pursuing Marvel/DC roles right now, despite the rumor mill.
• He likes the human, early-stage parts of superhero narratives but loses connection when characters go fully super.
• Chad Powers (Hulu), co-created with Michael Waldron, is built like a superhero tale with a secret-identity twist — just set on a football field.
• He prefers underdog action leads, specifically citing Ben Richards in The Running Man.
• The Running Man hits theaters on November 14, 2025.

Could he still pop up in spandex someday? Never say never. But if you are looking for Powell, follow the scrappers, not the gods.