Al Pacino Met With Marvel Studios; Here Are 5 Possible Roles For Him

Over the summer, Al Pacino saw and loved Guardians of the Galaxy. He saw it with his kids and was incredibly impressed with the work Marvel Studios was putting on screen. "I recognized the ingenious stuff they were doing; the invention, the attractiveness of the way they were performing it. It had Shakespearian feeling to it at times. I was caught up," he told Deadline. He then said he'd be open to appearing in a Marvel movie if he could "understand [it] in terms of how I fit in it."

That opened the door, and in a new interview, Pacino reveals he had a meeting with Kevin Feige to discuss the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The last time a star said they had a meeting like this, Vin Diesel ended up as Groot. So will Al Pacino appear in an upcoming Marvel Studios movie? What character will he play? And what, specifically, did he say on this matter? Read all the Al Pacino Marvel madness below.

Pacino revealed this on the Happy Sad Confused Podcast. You can listen to it via this embed, at around the 32-minute mark:

If you can't listen, here's what happened. The podcast host, Josh Horowitz, brought up the Guardians of the Galaxy thing and asked if anything came of it. Pacino responded, "I've met with the Marvel guy. It's a marvel how things happen" and then laughed. A few minutes later, Horowitz followed up and asked what came of the meeting and if it "the Marvel guy" was Kevin Feige. Pacino said it was Feige and that "I would imagine that either there's something he feels is right for me and if I feel..." and just at that moment, his phone rings. Talk about serendipitous and weird.

So what role could they be talking about? Well Cosmic Book News claims he's going to play The Grandmaster, one of the supreme elders of the Marvel cosmic universe, in James Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy 2. Is that true? We don't know if that character is actually in the movie or not, let alone if Pacino is playing him. So it's a good guess.

Want a few other guesses? We've got possible Marvel roles for Al Pacino on the next page.

This would be the coolest option of them all. That's because not only could Pacino be Quill's father, he could also be almost any other character in the Marvel universe. We know that Quill's dad is not the same as the comic books. That he's a very important, almost God like character. "An angel, bathed in pure light," said his dying mother. Pacino certainly could be that. He would be much older than Quill's mother, but when has that stopped a casting idea before?

Al Pacino has played the devil before, but never one that has connections to so many possible Marvel characters. Though he was introduced with the Silver Surfer (owned by Fox, but Marvel now has rights), Mephisto has a history with Thanos, Black Panther, Thor and others. Josh Brolin says that Avengers Infinity War is "Thanos against everyone" but having the personification of evil on his side would certainly up the level of a war that's spread over two movies, plus potentially tie in multiple other characters.

Baron Mordo is a character we keep thinking is going to be in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He's a good bet for the main bad guy in Doctor Strange, so it's possible Daniel Bruhl already has the role. (Rumor has it that Bruhl first appears in Captain America: Civil War, and that his character will end up being bigger in Doctor Strange.) If it's not Bruhl playing Mordo, wouldn't Al Pacino be incredibly awesome as this villainous character? Yes but, actually, here's a better idea...

This makes a ton of sense. The Ancient One is the character Mordo learns everything from – his mentor – who he then plots to kill. Assuming Bruhl is Mordo, Al Pacino as this older, wiser character just fits. Plus, he'd be a mentor to Doctor Strange as well and that would be the kind of important, heroic mentor relationship you have to imagine Pacino would be interested in. Almost like a Michael Corleone and Vincent setup.

Here's a wild one. We know from All Hail the King that the Mandarin – the real Mandarin – is still out there in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. When and where he'd reappear, is anyone's guess. But how do you top an Oscar winner like Ben Kingsley? How about an Oscar-winner like Al Pacino?

Of course, that's not even close to all of the possibilities. Other names we've seen floated online are Surtur, possibly in Thor: Ragnarok or maybe The Purple Man, though that would probably be more a Marvel Netflix thing. Either way there are so many options if it does come to pass. Who do you think Al Pacino could play in the Marvel universe?