Ben Schwartz, perhaps best known to younger fans as the voice of Sonic in the Sonic the Hedgehog film and Dewey on Disney's recent DuckTales series, has an interesting idea for what obscure Marvel superhero he would love to bring to the Marvel Cinematic Universe - Slapstick!
Schwartz is starring in Disney+'s upcoming film, Flora and Ulysses, about a young girl, Flora, who adopts a squirrel with superpowers named Ulysses. Schwartz plays Flora's father, George Buckman, a down on his luck cartoonist whose love for superheroes has an oversized impact on Flora's upbringing (and thus, her approach to her new superpowered squirrel friend). With superheroes such an important part of the movie, Schwartz spoke to Nerdist about what superheroes he would love to play.
A few years back, Schwartz had talked about wanting to play DC's famous comedic hero, Plastic Man (who started at Quality Comics in the 1940s but was purchased by DC in the 1960s), tweeting at the time, "I’m ready to play Plastic Man. Is there like an application process or do I just dress up like him and make fun of Stretch Armstrong?" Schwartz continues to show an interest in Plas, noting, "I really wanted to play Plastic Man. I had a pitch, I had an idea for that movie. We didn’t end up writing it, but I would still love to play Plastic Man. I love the idea that there’s this thief type character, and he gets superpowers and then maybe he doesn’t want to use them for good because he was a thief to begin with, Eel O’Brian. So I really love that. I saw the comedy in that and there’s a cartoon series that was very comedic too so you can see where it plays.”
However, when it comes to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Schwartz made a fascinating suggestion by referencing Slapstick, a short-lived fun comedic hero from the 1990s created by Len Kaminski and James Fry...
He noted, "“There’s an unlimited number of people I’d love to play. There’s also a comic book series I loved when I was a kid called Slapstick, which is this little clown with a big old hammer.” Schwartz hilariously recalled that his Slapstick knowledge came in handy when he was being quizzed about obscure superheroes for an interview, “Earlier, this comic book outlet played a game like, ‘I’m gonna name two people and you tell me what’s real and what’s fake with Marvel Heroes.' And the first one was Slapstick and I said, ‘Literally, wait one second,’ and I took out my own comic book like, ‘I own it’ and it was a very wonderful moment for me.”
Schwartz also pointed out that he would be thrilled to play a villain, as well, such as Riddler.
Source: Nerdist