Make Mine Marvel! Leonardo DiCaprio Asks to Play Stan Lee

Montauk visitor Leonardo DiCaprio is an A-list actor with with a penchant for bombshell blonde models, but that hasn’t stopped him from also embracing his inner geek. The Academy Award winner and star of The Revenant collects vintage action figures, comic books and, apparently, he dreams of playing iconic Marvel Comics writer, character creator and former editor in chief Stan “The Man” Lee.

While speaking in a panel at the Hasbro toy company’s debut convention, HASCON, on Friday, Lee told fans DiCaprio has expressed a desire to play him in a biopic about his life.

“Believe it or not, I’ve already discussed it with Leonardo DiCaprio,” Lee explained, according to Adventures in Poor Taste (AIPT!). “He’s a neighbor of mine and we were talking one day some months ago, and he said, ‘Boy it’d be fun to do your story on the screen.’ So I said, ‘Well, I’ll audition you.’ Gotta make sure the guy can do it.”

AIPT! notes that Lee called DiCaprio “a hell of a nice guy,” and pointed out—despite rumors he may play the Joker in an upcoming Warner Bros. DC Extended Universe film—the actor makes his Marvel, not DC. “He has all the walls covered with big Marvel posters and everything,” Lee continued, adding, “He’s got very good taste.”

To get a look at what Lee’s story might look like on film, take a gander at his 2015 graphic novel Amazing Fantastic Incredible: A Marvelous Memoir, in which Lee recounts his life—from first breaking into the comics industry, up to his current involvement in Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe films.

Whether Lee, or Dicaprio, likes it or not, DC and Warner Bros. seem determined to land him in the Joker role. They’ve even been wooing Martin Scorsese to produce the film, which might help convince his pal and frequent collaborator to take on the killer clown’s mantle.

Of course all of these machinations have been a bitter pill for actor Jared Leto, who played the Joker in David Ayer‘s much-maligned 2016 film Suicide Squad.

Would you rather see Leonardo DiCaprio as Stan Lee or the Joker?

Our answer: Excelsior!