A new report indicates that Marvel Studios is seeking an actor to play the role of a character code named “The Benefactor.”
Geeks WorldWide reports Marvel Studios is seeking a “male actor, preferably Caucasian, in their 40s to 60s.” They report the character is described as “mysterious and nefarious.” They also note that the character’s scene will be shot sometime later this year in Atlanta.
Needless to say, if the nerd community gets an inch, we’ll go a mile with it.
Rumors are already swirling that Tom Hanks might be looking to fill the role of this mysterious character code named “The Benefactor.” As to who this character might be, a number of people are pointing towards Norman Osborn aka The Green Goblin.
Ant-Man and the Wasp connection
A number of outlets are pointing to the fact that The Benefactor could be connected to Ant-Man and the Wasp’s Sonny Burch played by Walton Goggins.
Burch was the secondary villain in the film who was trying to track down Pym technology in order to sell it on the black market. In fact, he offered Hope Van Dyne $1 billion dollars to purchase the lab that she and Hank Pym were building to construct the Quantum Tunnel.
While a number of outlets are reporting that Burch refers to one of his buyers as the Benefactor, I rewatched [easyazon_link identifier=”B07F4251BP” locale=”US” tag=”boundingintocomics-20″]Ant-Man and the Wasp[/easyazon_link] and didn’t notice that he referred to anyone as “The Benefactor.” Instead, he discusses an assortment of unknown buyers as dangerous people. And it didn’t come off like these dangerous people were a reference to some kind of greater villain.
It’s possible one of those buyers could be A.I.M. or Advanced Idea Mechanics. The organization was originally introduced in Iron Man 3 as a think tank founded by Aldrich Killian. It would evolve to become a scientific research and development agency funded by the United States government.
It’s possible that even with the death of Aldrich Killian, A.I.M. continued to exist and might even be operated by the terrorist organization known as the Ten Rings and led by the Mandarin.
While most people might be pointing to Norman Osborn, it’s possible this reported role of The Benefactor could actually be the Mandarin.
One popular theory about incorporating the Mandarin is that he will be the father of Shang-Chi in Destin Daniel Cretton’s upcoming Shang-Chi film.
But what do you think about the casting call? Are we going to see Norman Osborn in the MCU soon or do you think it could be the Mandarin? Sound off in the comments below or let’s talk about it on social media!