Vince Staples makes his case to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe
After catching a screening of Spider-Man: No Way Home, Vince Staples has decided he’s down to show off his acting chops in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The rapper made his keenness clear in a series of Tweets earlier this week, reacting in realtime to one of the film’s pivotal moments. “They need me in the MCU if they tryna have some real get bacc,” Staples tweeted in response to the scene. “Where is the vengeance?”
He set the scene for thousands of Tyrone Johnson (aka Cloak) fan-castings with a follow-up tweet, saying: “Put me in X-Men I’m marking everything out. Dead homies.”
Some fans have also noted his suitability for the role of T’Challa (the MCU’s Black Panther), as a potential replacement for the late Chadwick Boseman. It’s not entirely out of the realm of possibility, as Boseman’s brother recently said that he thinks the actor would want his Black Panther role recast.
It wouldn’t be Staples’ first appearance in film, having played a cameo role in the 2015 coming-of-age drama Dope, as well as his own Prima Donna short film, a Sprite commercial and an episode of HBO’s Insecure. He’s also built up a solid résumé as a voice actor, lending his talents to the English dub of the French-Japanese film Mutafukaz, an episode of American Dad! and the lead role in the Adult Swim series Lazor Wulf.
In the way of his musical output, Staples dropped his eponymous fourth album back in July via Blacksmith/Motown. NME gave the record a four-star review, calling it “a refreshing ten-track LP that perfectly illustrates who [Staples] truly is as an artist, and (hopefully) a star”.
Staples has since teased that he’ll follow up the self-titled effort with another album, tentatively titled ‘Ramona Park Broke My Heart’, as well as a TV series bound for Netflix. He also made his debut as a graphic novelist this month, with the publication of his book Limbo Beach.
Elsewhere in 2021, Staples has been on a collaborative hot-streak, teaming up with the likes of Pusha-T (for the track ‘Jungle Mantra’), Lil Yachty (for ‘In My Stussy’s’) and Emotional Oranges (for ‘Back & Forth’). He linked up with Fousheé for a performance on The Tonight Show in August, and next year, he’ll join Tyler, The Creator on a 34-date tour of North America.