Exclusive: Elliot Page In Talks For New Marvel Role

Elliot Page is in talks to join Marvel, and we speculate as Machine Man.

By Nathan Kamal | Published

Elliot Page is in negotiations to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but, significantly, an entirely new role. According to our trusted and proven sources, Elliot Page is not being wooed by Marvel to reprise the character of Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat, who he portrayed in several X-Men films, but some other mysterious role. Although we do not have a lot of information to go on here, we are going to take a very wild swing and speculate that Elliot Page is being brought into the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Machine Man aka X-51 aka Aaron Stack. 

Machine Man is a relatively obscure Marvel Comics character, initially appearing in 1977 as part of Jack Kirby’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, which itself was both an adaptation and continuation of the Stanley Kubrick/Arthur C. Clarke film of the same name. Eventually, the character was brought into mainstream Earth-616 continuity and has become, if not a well-known figure, at least a regularly occurring fixture of modern comics. But why would Elliot Page play Machine Man for Marvel, of all characters?

The character of Machine Man has found his greatest recent prominence in the Marvel Zombies line of comics, which began as a story arc in the Ultimate Fantastic Four series in 2007 and swiftly became immensely popular with readers. The idea of a zombie virus infecting the universe was introduced to the MCU via the Disney+ series What If…?, with an episode first exploring a desolate reality in which the Earth has nearly been overrun by zombies and then bringing them back in the season finale. 

Machine Man

Machine Man has been a key character in the comic book version of Marvel Zombies, because as an artificial being, he is immune to the virus and cannot be turned. Thus, he becomes a key part of the survivor’s resistance and one of the most prominent (and eventually, bloodthirsty) characters in the entire meta-series. Elliot Page could find an interesting role as the Marvel Machine Man, if that is what he is indeed being brought in as. 

Marvel Studios is currently developing a Marvel Zombies animated series for Disney+, which means there is a strong possibility that Machine Man will be introduced. This means that Elliot Page could potentially voice the character as he battles the zombified versions of the Avengers, X-Men, and pretty much almost every other organic being in the universe. 

Elliot Page as Marvel’s Machine Man could potentially use the curious yet unsure quality he brought to the Christopher Nolan film Inception, in which he had to navigate a strange world that follows rules he does not entirely understand. As an artificial being, Machine Man has a similar credulous quality that Elliot Page could potentially really nail for Marvel.

On the other hand, it is entirely possible that Elliot Page is being brought into the Marvel Cinematic Universe as a character without origin in the comics or even as one of the other X-Men. Only time can tell whether we will get to hear Elliot Page blasting away at zombies, but we kind of hope we will.