- Michael Bailey Smith, The Fantastic Four, 1992. The future Seinfeld and Tick star tested as Ben Grimm/The Thing for… the film that never existed. According to Marvel. Well, Marvel lied. The movie was so bad the suits felt it would ruin any later franchise and they, allegedly, bought up and burnt all prints and negatives. Except one print escaped and blew the whistle on the deception. Stan Lee later admiited to Kevin Smith that the film was never made to be seen but simply to protect Marvel’s rights deal with Germany’s Constantin Film. Warburton survived the setback; among his 150-plus credits is the TV voice of Buzz Lightyear.
- Jordan Peele, Storks, 2015. Up for voicing Beta Wolf, Warburton was eclipsed by the future hot shot Get Outdirector, Jordan Peele. This was Jennifer Aniston’s second toon gig after The Iron Giant, 1999.
- Zachary Levi, Shazam! 2018. A month after Brie Larson’s Captain Marvelopened in 2019, Levi arrived as… Captain Marvel. (He sold more comics thanm Superman in the 40s). The fact that DC and Marvel had superheroes with the same name was solved in 2011 when DC rebranded him… Shazam! He’s really a kid of 14, given superpowers (and body) by the wizard called, er, Shazam. When Billy Batson yells Shazam, he becomes, er, Shazam! Think Superboy in Superbloke’s body. With Robert Downey/Ryan Reynolds insouciance, Levi won what he calls Superman Meets Big (his favourite films as a tot), so he’s surely the sole actor in DC, Disney and Marvel movies. “That leaves only Harry Potter and Star Wars…” Other contenders were wrestler John Cena, The Hulk’s Lou Ferrigno Jr, Zane Holtz (TV’s From Dusk To Dawn), Jake McDorman, Billy Magnussen, Brandon Molale, Joshua Sasse (Galavant), Derek Theler (nearly Captain America in 2010), Parker Young (Alex Davies in Arrow). Plus Seinfeld’s Puddy, Patrick Warburton – but that was in 2001 when he was another superfunny, The Tick… and Shazam! had just started development.
Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls: 33