Credit: Inside the MagicJames Gunn is rebooting the DC Universe in his own image, and everyone wants to know if he’s going to bring his old Guardians of the Galaxy buddy, Chris Pratt, along for the ride. However, it turns out that Pratt might have to compete with the breakout star of The Boys for a plum role.
Ten years ago, James Gunn was a well-regarded script writer with a few directorial efforts under his belt but was not a particularly famous filmmaker. Chris Pratt was a comedic actor best known for his goofball role in the NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation and supporting roles in movies like Jennifer’s Body (2009) and The Five-Year Engagement (2012).
Then Marvel Studios released Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), a feature film based on a then-obscure cosmic superhero team that skyrocketed both men to the upper stratosphere of Hollywood.
In 2024, James Gunn is one of the most beloved comic book movie adaptation directors in the world and the creative chief of the DC Universe, Warner Bros. Discovery’s attempt to salvage the ashes of IP from Zack Snyder’s DC Expanded Universe.
Meanwhile, Chris Pratt is one of the world’s biggest box office draws, with Jurassic World, Super Mario, Garfield, and MCU franchises under his belt and a hugely popular Amazon Prime Video spy series, The Terminal List.
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Now that James Gunn has fully transitioned from Marvel to DC, there has been rampant speculation about whether or not Chris Pratt will follow him.
Pratt has mostly played coy and expressed his interest in straddling the fence, saying, “Well, it probably makes more sense that I would be Star-Lord again. But anything is possible, and especially with James [Gunn] over at DC. Maybe there’s something that would be right over there. Maybe both. How about both? Let’s do both. I think it’s 100% both.”
DC Comics fans have been particularly intrigued by the possibility of Chris Pratt playing Booster Gold, the smarmy futuristic showboat-turned-superhero created by Dan Jurgens. Gunn has already announced a self-titled Booster Gold series, and Pratt has addressed his casting, saying, “If James thought I was right for it, then you know that I would have to consider it.”
But other DC fans are pushing another blonde superstar for the role: Antony Starr, who portrays the main antagonist/evil Superman analog, the Homelander, on the Amazon Prime Video series The Boys.
But while Chris Pratt may have some competition in the role of a self-aggrandizing superhero, it turns out that Antony Starr actually has no idea what people are talking about.
I wouldn’t place any bets on Antony Starr playing Booster Gold.
The full #happysadconfused with the cast of THE BOYS: https://t.co/ElwWaK4oWV pic.twitter.com/AN4I15tYdU
— Josh Horowitz (@joshuahorowitz) July 8, 2024
In a conversation with Josh Horowitz on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, the Boys actor revealed he actually had no idea who Booster Gold was and threw some shade at the fan casting, saying, “Booster Gold. What does he do?” Starr responded. “No, tell me. I genuinely don’t [know]. I’m a little slow…Does he got blonde hair? Wow, how did you come up with that? You really dug deep for that one.”
Related: Goodbye, Chris Pratt? Marvel’s New Star-Lord Has Been Revealed
Starr also implied that the physical exertion and his age were against the idea of him playing Booster Gold, saying, “I’m getting old, and my body doesn’t want to do much action anymore. I want to sit and go, ‘Hey, you can’t do that stuff.’ I want to sit behind a desk on a CSI show.”
On the other hand, there’s only going to be one more season of The Boys, so maybe he’ll get a hankering to keep playing a weirdo superbeing for a while. Keep an eye on your James Gunn roles, Chris Pratt.
Who do you want to see play Booster Gold?