"The last Superman I got offered, the script came, and I was like, 'There is no way I'm playing Superman!' Because I had already done Jim West (Wild Wild West) and you can't be messing up white peoples' heroes in Hollywood," he recalled.
"You mess up white peoples' heroes in Hollywood, you'll never work in this town again!"
Will Smith says he thinks the nihilistic and self-destructive anti-superhero Hancock is more suited to him than traditional heroes like Superman.
"Hancock is dark but he's fun," the 39-year-old actor told MTV.com
"You can get away with all kinds of things if it's funny. It's like staying on that edge of comedy, which is what I think is the beauty of this movie."