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.

Although Captain Britain is clearly a distaff English counterpart to Captain America, a closer analogue might be the more recent character of Captain Midlands. Invented in 2007 by Paul Cornell, Captain Midlands was brought into being by a similar ethos that created Captain America, priming him to become a more efficient killing machine on the battlefields of World War II. But whereas Captain America was the result of special steroids, Captain Midlands is the result of years of impeccable training by the British army. He has no supernatural powers, he's just in really, really good shape. At the age of 80, he's still robust and fighting alongside younger counterparts. 

In contrast to Captain America, Captain Midlands also has a distinct political point of view. Captain America wears the American flag, but, apart from his status as an American soldier, doesn't seem to ally himself to any particular political party or political ethos. Captain Midlands was intended to represent an older generation of British men who still think about WWII a lot. If Pegg can't play Captain Britain, then he could definitely stand in for his dad's generation.

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.

Motormouth and Killpower were also part of the 1990s Marvel UK surge, and perhaps the most unusual of the usual lot. Motormouth was a teenage girl who chanced upon a pair of magical sneakers that allowed her to travel between dimensions. She also, through machinations I would rather not relate, has supersonic screaming powers. She got her name from her tendency to cuss. Killpower was a genetically engineered assassin sent by an evil enclave of tech-obsessed Satan worshippers to retrieve the magical sneakers from Motormouth. Although a giant bruiser by appearance, Killpower was created only a few years previous and has the mentality of a 7-year-old. Motormouth teaches Killpower that killing is wrong, and they've been ersatz siblings ever since. 

Golly, what a fun role that would be to play in a feature film. An action-capable adult child who must be taught morals by a cussing punk rocker.

N.B. Be sure to contact the author about his really dumb Motormouth movie treatment.

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.

This is one for the weirdos. Forbush man was the mascot for a Marvel spoof comic called "Not Brand Echh" which ran from 1967 to 1969. "Not Brand Echh" was the MAD Magazine of Marvel comics, telling stories of Marvel superheroes, but fed through a Tex Avery lens. This was the second attempt by Marvel to compete with MAD Magazine after the failure of their book "Snafu" back in 1956, in which Irving Forbush was first introduced. Marvel would again go the parody route in 1988 with a spoof of "What If...?" called "What the–?!" in which Forbush Man would re-emerge, if only to die; he was killed in overdramatic fashion by a supervillain named Dumsday. Spider-Ham would also re-appear in "What the–?!" a few times. 

Forbush Man has no superpowers, wears pajamas, and we never see his face thanks to the cooking pot he wears over his head. He is dumb. He is funny. He takes the piss out of Marvel. If any film series needs the piss taken out of it, it's the MCU. They may be quippy and light, but the myth is never confronted. Couldn't you picture Simon Pegg, pot on head, playing a complete dingbat, confronting Thanos, and foolishly asking why he didn't just use those magic gems to make more resources for the overpopulated universe?

I could.