Tom Hanks Would Love To Play A Batman Villain, Or The Flash

You'd think an actor as popular, talented, and versatile as Tom Hanks would have his pick of the roles, and it's true he's had some interesting parts over the years. He's been a soldier, an astronaut, a cowboy, a ship captain, and an entertainment mogul. He has two Academy Awards, and three additional nominations on top of that.

But in a recent interview, Hanks reveals that the one job he can't seem to get is as a comic book superhero. "God, I want to throw a shield at somebody," he said. He named The Flash as a dream role, but said he'd also be up for playing a Batman villain. Hit the jump to read Hanks' comments.

They don't ask me, man. I keep trying... Come on, I can do it. I can do it. Even let me play a bad guy, let me play the bad guy against Batman. I'll do anything, call me. They've never asked. What do I gotta do? God, I want to throw a shield at somebody. I want that. And I don't want to play the guy in the suit who tells the superheroes what's going on, I don't want to be that guy. 'Well, you know Batman, Captain America, Iron Man, here's what we've discovered,' I don't want to be that guy. I want to get in there, I want to play The Flash or something like that. They'll never give me a chance.

Hanks would be an unusual choice to lead a superhero movie, given that most of the Marvel and DC stars are closer in age to his son than to him. But unusual doesn't necessarily mean bad. Besides, he's already played a hero once this year in Captain Phillips, albeit one of the non-superpowered, non-costumed variety.

He seems like an even better pick to play the bad guy, though. Hanks doesn't often get to play the villain, but he looked like he was having a lot of fun playing some shady characters in last year's Cloud Atlas. Rumors about Mark Strong or Bryan Cranston playing Lex Luthor in Batman vs. Superman have run wild in recent months. As long as we're speculating, Hanks' name is a fine addition to that list.