Date: February 24, 2010
Source: MTV

There are a few actors out there who regularly pop up in our reader polls and Secret Identity casting columns as potential casting options for Superman, Captain America, and other prominent superhero movie roles. One of those actors is “Mad Men” star Jon Hamm, who has the distinction of not only being a favorite among readers and the Splash Page team, but also of having his name tossed around by various creators and filmmakers, too.

Along with receiving a fair share of fan support to play Superman, Green Lantern, and Captain America, comics-friendly filmmaker Kevin Smith raved to MTV News back in October that Hamm would make a great Superman or Batman. “Fear Agent” creators Rick Remender and Tony Moore also said Hamm is at the top of their list of actors who could bring sci-fi cowboy Heath Hudson to the big screen. Heck, we even suggested him for a role in a “Herbie: The Fat Fury” movie.

When MTV News caught up with Hamm last month, we ran down the long list of superheroes that fans want him to play. Here’s what he had to say about it:

“Well, it’s interesting. I’m a huge comic book fan, first of all,” Hamm told MTV News. “I’ve collected them, I’ve read them since I was a kid. I am a big fan of the classic comics and also the darker ones that have sort of predominated in the last 10-15 years.”

“I don’t know,” he said when asked if he’d consider a role in a comic book movie. “It’s a tricky road to go down with some of those heroes, because they’re not flawed. Superman is Superman — he’s invincible, so where’s the drama?”

“I think what people are finding with the success of things like “Batman Begins,” “The Dark Knight,” “Iron Man,” it’s much more interesting to talk about the person behind these heroic personae rather than the flying, shooting fire and lasers and all this other stuff,” continued. “Although it has been interesting to see the evolution of the comic book film, because technology has essentially caught up with the ability to tell those stories.”

Hamm noted that the growth of superhero movies has been helped along by the involvement of established directors in many recent projects.

“When you get a Chris Nolan or a Jon Favreau who really have a take on it, you’re able to make something better than just the average popcorn movie,” he explained. “Ideally, that will be the evolution of those things. … There’s a reason comic books sell hundreds of millions of copies every year – because they’re interesting stories.”

However, when we asked Hamm if he’d be up for one of the more recent roles still in active casting, he told us he had a decidedly different take on Marvel’s star-spangled superhero.

“I think that Captain America should be played by Stephen Colbert,” he laughed. “I think it would be perfect.”

Well, while there’s no telling if we’ll ever see Hamm as a superhero, there’s always the opportunity to see him as a supervillain — one of the most famous supervillains, in fact.