Kevin Feige Says Adam Driver Passing On MCU Roles “A Long Tradition” & “No Secret” They’d Like To Work With Him, After ‘X-Men’ Rumors

Oscar-winning actor Adam Driver (“A Marriage Story,” “Paper Tiger”) has seemingly been offered various roles in the Marvel Cinematic Universe over the years, but things have never come together, this coming after a string of unverified rumors in the past that he was courted to play parts such as Dr. Reed Richards in “Fantastic Four: The First Steps” and Doctor Doom in “Avengers: Doomsday,” although the latter always felt like a part meant for Robert Downey Jr. after the pivot from Kang The Conqueror. Well, it sounds like where there is smoke, there is fire.

During a brief part of a longer interview with Amy Pascal and Kevin Feige, for “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” the studio head was pretty blunt to Josh Horowitz of the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast about Driver passing on previous roles, when that subject was brought up.

“Many, many, many [conversations]…It’s no secret we’d like to [work with him], but it’s a tradition to zoom with him and passes. That’s a long tradition,” Feige quipped about his attempts to cast Driver in undisclosed MCU parts. “Couldn’t be more cordial.”

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These statements from Feige might telegraph that Driver has also passed on participating in “X-Men,” after recent internet rumblings scrambled to figure out what his possible role (expected to be villain-related) could be. Those going from Magneto to Mister Sinister to William Stryker, it’s so hard to really buy the role part of the rumbling at this point with so many jump-arounds and trades not backing up the claims (for now).

While we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves and promise the moon (others might want to do that at their own peril), there is a REALLY good chance that some of the main cast of the “X-Men” reboot from director Jake Schreier (“The New Avengers/Thunderbolts“) is one of the more likely announcements we’re expecting at the Hall H presentation over the weekend (not a 100%, but still likely). Some other things we think could be talked up, even if briefly, at San Diego Comic-Con include Ryan Coogler’s “Black Panther 3,” the Michael Waldron-penned “Nova” movie, and maybe something related to Deadpool.

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Feel free to watch that exchange with Feige and Horowitz via their Instagram account below. Maybe Adam Driver is going to find something he likes, but we won’t hold our breath until it’s made official.

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A post shared by Josh Horowitz (@joshuahorowitz)