Why Oscar-Winning Composer Hans Zimmer Turned Down Marvel
German composer Hans Zimmer began his career playing keyboards for various New Wave bands around Europe. He played with Krakatoa in his native Germany, with The Buggles (of "Video Killed the Radio Star" fame) in England, with Krisma in Italy, and with Mecano in Spain. In the early '80s, he started to produce pop singles as well, overseeing "History of the World, Part 1" for the punk band The Damned. About the same time, he started to write commercial jingles and TV theme tunes, effectively giving him an "in" into film-scoring work. His first film as a composer was 1982's "Moonlighting," one of Jerzy Skolimowski's movies.
For there, Zimmer's output increased exponentially, and he brought his unique, sweeping sensibilities (but with a pinch of New Wave) to over 20 features. He scored Stephen Frears' "My Beautiful Laundrette," (soon to be remade) and Bernard Rose's underrated "Paperhouse." In 1988, he got an Oscar nomination for his work on Barry Levinson's controversial film "Rain Man," the film that won Best Picture. After that, he was officially on a hot streak.
Zimmer has remained in Hollywood ever since, writing scores for multiple mega-hits and high-profile awards-bait films. From "Days of Thunder" and "Backdraft" to "A League of Their Own" and "True Romance." In 1994, he won his first Oscar for his work on "The Lion King." He has also scored a lot of action blockbusters, including "The Rock," "Mission: Impossible 2," "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl," and Christopher Nolan's "Batman" movies. And this isn't even scratching the surface of his career.
But some people might say that Zimmer has a notable hole in his prolific body of work, as he has never written the score for one of the 36 films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This, those same people might be surprised to learn, was a conscious decision. Zimmer talked to the Happy Sad Confused podcast recently, (covered by EW), and he revealed exactly why he stayed out of the MCU. Mostly, he says he doesn't want to do "minor characters." Burn.
Hans Zimmer wants to invent his own scores
As it happens, Marvel Studios has reached out to Zimmer in the past, knowing that he has written music for Batman, Superman (he scored Zack Snyder's "Man of Steel" and "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice"), Spider-Man ("The Amazing Spider-Man 2"), Wonder Woman ("Wonder Woman 1984"), and the X-Men ("Dark Phoenix"). When it came to the MCU proper, though, Zimmer has stayed out. He seems to feel that he already handled the most famous comic book superheroes ever invented, and that dallying with less-popular Marvel characters isn't something he wants to look into. In his words:
"[Marvel has approached me], and it was always ... timing wasn't great. [...] And really, quite honestly, I'm looking for other things right now. Look, I've done the trifecta. I've done Batman, Superman, and Spider-Man. And Wonder Woman! I mean, what do you want me to do, some of the minor characters?"
Zimmer immediately realized how dismissive he sounded, however, and immediately added: "That was very arrogant of me to say that." He also noted that "Kevin Feige said that to me: 'Hans, what are you complaining about?'" Kevin Feige being, of course, the showrunner and chief architect of the MCU. Zimmer, whose next score will be heard in Joseph Kosinski's car race movie "F1," also admitted that he was also once approached about scoring a "Star Wars" movie, but that he also wasn't interested. He felt that he would want to invent his own scores, and not merely repeat phrases invented by John Williams back in the 1970s. As such, he feels he would be a bad match for the material. Besides, he already did his own space opera score with "Dune" and the Oscar-ineligible "Dune: Part Two."
Zimmer shows no sign of slowing, and is wrapping his work on Ron Howard's 2026 film "Eden." New projects are inevitable.