5 Marvel Characters We'd Love To See Simon Pegg Play

You may know Simon Pegg as Scotty from "Star Trek." You may also know him and Benji from the "Mission: Impossible" movies. Or you saw "Spaced," or "Shaun of the Dead." Or perhaps you're just a big fan of the 2006 heist film "Big Nothing." However you might have first encountered him, it's likely you know Simon Pegg, as he has been quietly traversing some of the highest-profile feature films out there, sometimes hiding in background roles (he was hidden under alien make-up in "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," appeared in two Steven Spielberg movies, did a few "Ice Age" flicks, and played John Lennon in "The Sparks Brothers"). 

As seems to be the wont of modern entertainment journalism, all interviews with celebrities and filmmakers of any caliber must eventually come back around to the Avengers film series; I never thought I'd hear what Jane Campion thought of Marvel movies, but here we are. Simon Pegg, however, has declared himself a nerd of the highest order, and is only too happy to talk about Marvel, comic books, "Star Wars," and all the usual talking points associated with geek media. 

And, yes, in a 2018 interview with JoBlo, Pegg revealed that he would indeed like to be involved with the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Specifically, he would like to play Captain Britain. Captain Britain, was first invented in 1976 for Marvel's UK-only comics line, but eventually spread into American comics as well, leading the British superhero troupe Excalibur in the late 1980s. And while Pegg would indeed be great as Captain Britain, Marvel has thousands of other characters he could try on, should he — under an oblique set of circumstances — be required to choose someone else.

Here's a list.

In the 1990s, Marvel's UK line of comics wanted to expand, and they launched an entire universe of their own, with a new canon of characters, reinvention of old ones, and their very own mega-crossover event called The Mys-Tech Wars. One of the older characters from Marvel UK was Death's Head, a robot assassin originally invented as a throwaway character in a "Transformers" comic. The creator liked the look of the character, so Death's Head was brought back in a "Doctor Who" comic. The character was eventually reimagined as a skull-faced robot monster that looks like something that would fight Eddie on an Iron Maiden album cover. Death's Head II was born. 

Death's Head II was a robot assassin who would absorb the abilities of the people he murdered. His left arm has liquid metal shapeshifting abilities, and could be used as a knife or a cannon. He's the kind of character that a disaffected 13-year-old metalhead would doodle in the margins of their notes. 

In an interview with Spin, Simon Pegg revealed that his taste in music runs more toward bands like The Cult, Oasis, and The Sisters of Mercy — so he is no metalhead — but I can hear his voice growling from within a nine-foot colossus and a gun arm.

The Clan Destine, maybe one of Marvel's more obscure superhero teams, is a family of British superheroes who, throughout history, have acted as soldiers, explorers, musicians, and just about anything else that being a long-running line of superheroes could afford them. As the name implies, though, the clan Destine is not about fame or visibility like most characters currently running around mask-free in the Avengers series. They prefer to remain undetected, aiding people and living life out of the public eye. Not from fear of persecution, nor protection against enemies, necessarily, but from modesty.

Adam, the patriarch of the family, was born in the 12th century in England. A relative of Adam would eventually have the very practical idea of forming an identity-changing database specifically designed for immortal figures. The Relative Strangers Protocol seems like a very handy organization for a world lousy with immortals and people with superpowers. After the youngest members of the family, Rory and Pandora, found they had superpowers, Adam — returning from space after a stint with The Silver Surfer — returned to Earth to explain they were part of the Clan Destine. Of course superhero shenanigans immediately ensue. 

Pegg as the immortal head of a British family of superbeings seems pretty comfortably in his wheelhouse. Plus Pegg could bring a character with stock coldness a little bit of comedic humanity.