There might not be anybody in Hollywood with the pulling power of Pedro Pascal right now. As the star of both The Mandalorian and The Last of Us, he has become the internet’s favorite “daddy” and looks on the verge of becoming the MCU’s Reed Richards. But he has lost his other superhero role over at DC.
James Gunn’s new DC Universe is already delivering some big swings and we learned this week that the DC villain Maxwell Lord, as played by Pascal in Wonder Woman 1984, will be portrayed by Sean Gunn in the future. So the upcoming DC movies will be pushing Pascal away, despite his gargantuan status in the world of new movies today.
Deadline reported that Gunn is joining the Chapter 1 Gods and Monsters era over at DCU, though we don’t know yet when we can expect to see him. He may well appear in Superman Legacy in some respect, but it doesn’t look like it will be in a major role.
It’s fair to say that Pascal’s performance was one of the most enjoyable parts of Wonder Woman 1984, which was a slightly disappointing follow-up to 2017’s Wonder Woman. Its predecessor was one of the best movies in DC history, but 1984 did not match up to those levels.
Thankfully, Pascal was there to elevate the whole thing by quite simply doing the most as the unhinged businessman Lord. In the movie, he is able to “become” an artifact that grants wishes, which leads to him presiding over global chaos. As you do.
Pascal delivers a truly unique performance as Lord, but we think that Sean Gunn is fascinating casting. With his recurring role as Kraglin in the Guardians of the Galaxy cast, we’ve seen him do comedy, tragedy, and awesome superhero action. All of this could definitely sit at the heart of Maxwell Lord when he rejoins the roster of DC characters.
Of course, this will attract the fury of Pascal’s sizeable stan army. We found one Twitter comment that simply read “name a bigger downgrade”, which is pretty damning, while another user wrote: “Imagine replacing Pedro Pascal with a nobody who can’t act”. That’s harsh and untrue, as we’ve seen Gunn do great work in the MCU.
We’ll definitely be intrigued to see what Gunn does with Maxwell Lord and how he fits into the wider franchise. In the meantime, though, we’re looking ahead to the Aquaman 2 release date as the last film under the old regime, before we have to completely change our DC movies in order guide.
Pascal, meanwhile, is in line to play Reed Richards when the Fantastic Four MCU release date comes around. We’re very excited and we think Fantastic Four could be great if it gets one thing right.