While Tom Cruise has plenty of blockbusters under his belt, the actor has not gotten to work in the superhero and comic book sandbox despite multiple opportunities to. One of those potential opportunities was none other than Zack Snyder's Watchmen which, according to the director, Cruise passed on over a disagreement on which role he would play.
Snyder spoke about his experience trying to court Cruise for Watchmen on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, via SlashFilm, and how far along conversations got before the actor ultimately moved on from the adaptation. The director said that while he wanted Cruise to portray brilliant and cunning Ozymandias, the longtime Mission: Impossible star was more interested in the nihilistic Rorschach.
“I wanted Tom Cruise for Ozymandias,” Snyder said. “Tom wanted to play Rorschach. He wanted to play Rorschach, which I mean, obviously he could have done. But yeah, we had Jackie [Earle Haley] already, and Jackie is like, unbelievable. But I certainly would have considered Tom, in retrospect if I hadn't had Jackie.”
The role of Ozymandias would ultimately go to Matthew Goode and Jackie Earle Haley would be kept on as Rorschach. At the time of release, Haley's performance was widely praised as one of its strongest while Goode was considered one of the weakest in the cast, though online fan sentiment has since softened toward Goode's take on Ozymandias.
Watchmen would receive largely mixed reviews at release, with sentiment leaning a little more positively for Zack Snyder's adaptation of writer Alan Moore's acclaimed graphic novel. While critics were divided over Snyder's faithfulness to the source material, the visual design and many of the performances were well received.
The film has since found a renewed appreciation, with director Christopher Nolan saying the film was ahead of its time and should have been released in a post-Avengers film landscape.
“I am Iron Man.”
As for Cruise, Watchmen would hardly be the only high-profile comic book film he would not star in.
The actor was reportedly being eyed to portray the titular “genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist” and help kick off the Marvel Cinematic Universe with 2008's Iron Man. However, it was revealed in MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios that Cruise's asking price at the time was considered too high for what was, at the time, considered a lesser-known Marvel character despite Iron Man's long comic book history.
Robert Downey Jr., who was in the midst of his acting comeback, would ultimately be cast as Iron Man as he was considerably cheaper at the time due to his history of substance abuse and addiction. He would become a centerpiece character of the MCU, starring in three Iron Man films, four Avengers films, and appearing in various other movies such as Spider-Man: Homecoming and The Incredible Hulk.
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