Rumor: Marvel’s ‘Eternals’ Star Kumail Nanjiani To Star As Race-Swapped Booster Gold In James Gunn’s DC Cinematic Universe
According to a new rumor, Marvel’s Eternals star Kumail Nanjiani may soon be getting a second shot at superhero-dom courtesy of James Gunn and his brand new DC cinematic universe.
RELATED: ‘Blue Beetle’ Director Hints Character Will Reappear In Previously Announced Booster Gold Show
Word of Nanjiani’s potential leap from Marvel to DC was first broken to the public courtesy of pop-culture news outlet Nexuspoint News.
In terms of credibility, while the Nexus Point News outlet as a whole has yet to fully confirm any of its previously floated scoops, its co-editor-in-chief Demet K has broken a number of ‘Marvel Magic’ related scoops via his @ScarletWitchUpdates Twitter account.
These include Elizabeth Olsen’s return as Wanda for What If…? Season 2, the full identities of Agatha All Along‘s core cast, and the inclusion of an Agatha All Along featurette in the WandaVision steelbook release – which he obtained and fully leaked well ahead of its official shelf date.
To this end, though Demet’s pedigree has admittedly little bearing on the veracity of the site’s DC knowledge, it does suggest that the site’s editorial team has both legitimate insider contacts as well as some sense of which rumors have some possibility to them and those that do not.
Relaying information provided to them by a supposed insider source, the outlet’s Matthew W. alleged that the actor had not only “landed the role of Booster Gold in the DC Universe”, but was also “currently set to portray the character in the upcoming DC Studios’ series, Booster Gold, one of the upcoming entries of the highly anticipated DCU.”
As previously described by Gunn during the series’ initial announcement, “Booster Gold is one of comic’s really popular cult heroes. He is a fascinating guy. He’s a loser from the future who uses future technology to come back to present day and become a superhero so that people will love him. It is basically the superhero story of imposter syndrome on an HBO Max series.”
Born in the 25th century, Michael Jon Carter is a man defined by his hopes (or delusions, depending on who you ask), of grandeur.
Determined to make a name for himself after his father abandoned him and his mother and left them near-destitute, Carter originally sought to make his dreams come true on the gridiron, his admitted athletic prowess making him a natural for a future as a professional football player.
Eventually making a name for himself on the college circuit and earning the nickname ‘Booster’ for his exceptional throwing skills, Carter’s plans come to a screeching halt when he discovers that his mother has unexpectedly come down with a life-threatening illness, the treatments of which cost enough to make even Bruce Wayne sweat just a little bit.
Knowing they had little to their name, Carter begins betting on his own games to raise the funds, even going so far as to purposefully throw a number of wins in order to juice his winnings.
But though his ploy allows him to earn enough money to heal his mother, Carter’s illicit activities are ultimately uncovered by the authorities, who proceed to hand him a one-way ticket out of a potential football career and into a jail-cell.
Proceeding to serve his time, upon his release, a down-and-out Carter manages to wrangle his way into a position as a security officer as the Metropolis Space Museum.
Spending hours staring down exhibits recounting the exploits of the current era’s greatest heroes, Carter takes it upon himself to turn his life around by becoming a bona fide superhero all his own.
Stealing a number of artifacts from the Museum – including a force-field generating power suit, an energy-blast-ready set of gauntlets, and a Legion Flight Ring – Carter travels back in time to the modern age to prove himself as a hero worthy of standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the all-time Justice League greats.
(Of course, none of this goes to plan, and he eventually trades in superheroics for showboating before realizing his destiny as the savior of the timestream – but that’s a story for another day.)
Notably, as seen in his debut in 1986’s Booster Gold Vol. 1 #1, Booster Gold was originally conceived as a blonde haired white man.
As such, should the rumor of Nanjiani’s casting as the self-centered hero come to pass, it would represent yet another instance of Hollywood race-swapping – and the second overall for Booster himself, who was previously portrayed by Scrubs star Donald Faison in The CW’s Legends of Tomorrow.
At current, neither James Gunn, his co-DC Studios head Peter Safran, nor Nanjiani have offered any public comment regarding the actor’s potential addition to the new DCU.
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