One of the most talked about franchises in Hollywood at the moment is X-Men. With Phase 3 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe behind us and veteran actors Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, and Chris Evans saying goodbye, many actors are stepping up to make their interest in the franchise known, hoping to become involved with the massive IP.
We recently spoke with Dante Basco, who is known for voicing Prince Zuko in Avatar: The Last Airbender and his portrayal of Rufio alongside Robin Williams in Steven Spielberg's Hook, in order to help promote his involvement in Twitch's interactive and scripted sci-fi series Artificial: Remote Intelligence. We asked Basco what roles he'd like to play in the DC and Marvel movie universes.
Having spoken with Dante back in July, we were already aware of his desire to play Robin the Boy Wonder, so we shifted our focus to Marvel this time around. We learned that Basco is extremely interested in being a part of the MCU's iteration of the X-Men, and he even mentioned that he'd like to play Nightcrawler!
Check out the comments for yourself below, and if you'd rather listen to the audio as you read along, scroll down and click play on the Podcast link!
Joe: Thanks for speaking with me again so soon! I had the pleasure of breaking the announcement for your involvement with Twitch's Artificial, which is exciting!
Dante Basco: Of course, man, it's awesome, thanks for having me.
Joe: I know we spoke a bit before in the past and I remember you had mentioned that you'd really like to play Robin, the Boy Wonder.
Dante Basco: Yeah, definitely!
Joe: Well, I was wondering what other dream roles you have?
Dante Basco: You know I'd love to voice or act in X-Men. Being a person of color growing up, the stories always rang true to me that mutants aren't outcasts but instead to focus on what makes them special.
Something in the X-Men world would be great. I was a big fan of Wolverine, of course, like everybody else. But I'm also a big fan of Nightcrawler. I love seeing the different iterations and I'm curious to see what happens now that Disney bought FOX and they got the IP back.
Joe: I'm definitely excited to see Nightcrawler, Colossus, and everyone else in the MCU. Do you feel like you usually get cast in hothead roles after playing Rufio and Prince Zuko?
Dante Basco: You know, I've had all kinds of roles over the last thirty years. Not necessarily, but I guess I do kind of get cast as the hotheads sometimes like with Rufio and with Zuko. I'm usually cast as like the rival of the main character or a sort of bad boy character.
Joe: Is there anything else you'd like to share with our audience?
Dante Basco: Just that I'm excited for Artificial, you know? And I have a Let's Watch of Avatar: The Last Avatar every Friday at 3:00 pm PST to help raise money for COVID relief. Hopefully my first project with The Filipino Brothers will be out in the fourth quarter of this year. We also have some things in the works for the Rufio prequel, so hopefully we're able to get that off the ground. I also have my memoir which is From Rufio to Zuko, and once COVID restrictions clear up I'll be touring for that.
Do you think Basco would be a good fit for Nightcrawler, or would you rather see him as another mutant in the Marvel Cinematic Universe?
If you want to hear the audio component of this interview, check out the podcast episode below and make sure you share your thoughts with us in the comments section!
Every story has a beginning. Elle, Sebastian, Ruby, and Justin begin the new journey of the AI to be named. Catch up on the story, and jump in. Artificial is a Live and Interactive Science Fiction series where the audience changes the story. It is the first original sci-fi series on Twitch and was the winner of the 2019 Primetime Emmy Award for Innovation in Interactive Media.
Artificial: Remote Intelligence airs at 5 pm PST/8 pm PST every Thursday. You can catch the previous worldbuilding episode here.