Shaquille O'Neal opens up about missing out on Marvel role

Shaquille O'Neal is sharing why he hasn't been able to land a role in the Marvel superhero franchise, despite wanting to be part of it.

The 54-year-old NBA legend revealed in a recent interview that Hollywood executives told him his own fame makes it difficult for audiences to see him as a fictional character. 

“I wanted to be in the ‘Avengers’ and they were like, ‘Shaq, we f***** love you and we’d love to put you in, but if your face pops up on screen people are going to go, ‘Hey, that’s Shaq!’ ” O’Neal told Variety. 

“He said it truthfully, and I was like, alright… I guess my face is too bigtime.”

O'Neal explained that this feedback has come up more than once when he's expressed interest in taking on more action-based roles.

“I would love to do more action roles," he said, but admitted that his character won’t be "believable” if he did.

This isn't the first time O'Neal has expressed interest in joining the Marvel universe. Back in 2018, he shared similar hopes in another interview, joking about wanting to go head-to-head with one of the franchise's stars.

While a Marvel role hasn't happened, O'Neal previously played a superhero character early in his acting career, appearing in a 1990s film based on a DC Comics character. He has said he'd love the chance to revisit that role using more modern special effects.

Earlier this year, he made a hilarious cameo in Scary Movie and also has an upcoming role in Grown Ups 3.