Matthew Perry’s ‘Mattman’: the endearing meaning behind his last words revealed

Matthew Perry envisioned himself as a superhero called Mattman in an autobiographical project before his shocking death nearly two weeks ago.

The late Friends star had even pitched the concept to director and comedian Adam McKay when they were working together on Netflix’s 2020 film, Don’t Look Up, per The Hollywood Reporter.

“It’s about this guy. You’d recognize him. His name is Matt and he’s very famous and about 50 years old. His life is a little bit of a mess. He’s lost,” Perry introduced the character based on himself.

But then, “Out of the blue, a distant relative dies and leaves him $2 billion – and he uses it to become a superhero.”

The plot was a clear tribute to Perry’s favourite DC caped crusader, Batman, with the Fools Rush In star even having purchased a $20 million 10,000-square-foot “mansion in the sky,” complete with a batcave to store his DC memorabilia. Even the Batman superfan’s Instagram was filled with posts dedicated to the Dark Knight.

McKay was “fascinated” by Perry’s pitch, specifically for the insights it gave into Perry’s mind. So the award-winning director countered with his own idea honing in on Perry’s battle with addiction the metaphorical superpower it granted him to help countless others find sobriety.

However, Perry wasn’t interested in just making a “fictional version of what [he’d] struggled with,” so he dropped it.

But Perry hadn’t forgotten about Mattman. In fact, he made a reference to his superhero alter ego in the last post to his Instagram before his untimely death at the age of 54.

“Oh, so warm water swirling around makes you feel good? I’m Mattman,” were his last public words.