Chris Pratt’s First Comic Book Movie Included Six Other Marvel/DC Stars, And Broke Everyone’s Brain
When people think of Chris Pratt and comic book films, their minds tend to go to Guardians of the Galaxy, but his first movie in the genre was actually way before that and saw him alongside several future Marvel and DC actors. It’s always fun to look back at a film from a long time ago and realize that it boasts several comic book actors, as we’ve seen so many performers take on roles for Marvel and DC. A great example is Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, which is a comic book film that features many future Marvel and DC stars like Brie Larson, Chris Evans, Aubrey Plaza, Brandon Routh, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and more. Chris Pratt’s first movie based on a comic book is along the same lines, though a lot of people weren’t even aware that the project was born from a comic series at the time of its release.
That film was Wanted, which is loosely based on the miniseries from Mark Millar and J.G. Jones that ran from 2003 through 2005. It sees its protagonist join a secret society of assassins that his father was previously a member of. The movie is most famous for its scenes where characters curve bullets, which legitimately had people unsure about real-life physics.
Wanted Is Loaded With Comic Book Actors
The cast of Wanted is an impressive bunch of actors on its own, yet it also features way more stars who appeared in comic book movies than you likely realized, even upon a rewatch. For starters, Chris Pratt has a relatively small role as Barry, a co-worker of the protagonist. This was years before Pratt broke out as Peter Quill in Guardians of the Galaxy and even before he appeared on Parks and Recreation. The protagonist is Wesley, played by James McAvoy. Three years after Wanted, McAvoy nabbed the coveted role of a young Professor X in X-Men: First Class.
The biggest star in the Wanted cast is Angelina Jolie. She didn’t show up in a Marvel movie until over a decade later, appearing as Thena in Eternals. That film didn’t become a huge hit, so it’s easy to forget that Jolie is part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Wanted also features the legendary Morgan Freeman as Mr. Sloan, the leader of the society. Freeman had a scene-stealing role in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight trilogy as Lucius Fox.
There are three more future Marvel and DC actors in Wanted, though they have relatively small roles. Common, an underrated actor and great rapper, plays a professional gunsmith, and he went on to appear as Monster T, a Joker henchman in Suicide Squad. Thomas Kretschmann plays the villain and did something similar in the MCU as Baron Wolfgang von Strucker. Lastly, there’s Terence Stamp as a rogue agent, and the actor played General Zod in Superman and Superman II. You won’t find many movies with a more stacked cast of Marvel and DC actors.
The Bullet Curve Broke How People Saw Physics For A Time
The thing that everyone remembers about Wanted is watching the characters curve bullets. The members of the Fraternity, the secret society of assassins, learn the ability to twist their arm a certain way while shooting, allowing the bullet to turn in midair. It grabbed attention as soon as the trailer dropped and became a hot topic of discussion for a while. There was a time when people started to wonder if this would be possible in real life, even though the physics behind it makes it clear that it couldn’t happen.
Nothing your arm does can change the trajectory of the bullet, though that didn’t stop Wanted from breaking people’s brains. There was a lot of talk online about the potential of pulling this off, and it reached a point where Mythbusters had to cover it in an episode. A 2009 installment of the series saw the team try to swing the gun in an arc to get it to curve. They lined up targets to determine the path of the bullet, and regardless of what they did with their arm, the path of the bullets remained straight.
The team even modified both the gun and the bullets, as well as had a robot attempt the shot, and the end result was always the same. The bullets couldn’t get curved, yet that still hasn’t stopped people from wondering. Even the Syfy Network’s official website wrote an article about the topic as recently as 2024. Wanted clearly left an impact on the world, making it even more fun to look back on the stacked cast of comic book actors.
Wanted is currently available to stream (free!) on YouTube.
