Seth Rogen on why he hasn’t joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe

Last Updated on August 7, 2023

Seth Rogen has been a steady presence on the big and small screen for over two decades and is entering a hit franchise with the upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, but he has yet to cross over into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, something he says is intentional and comes out of fear.

Speaking with Polygon, Seth Rogen said he has shied away from working with Marvel due to his own process and the structure already in place. “We really have a pretty specific way we work; me and Evan have been writers for 20 years at this point. It’s a fear of the process, honestly. And I say that knowing nothing about the process. There are a lot of Marvel things I love. It’s mostly a fear of how would we plug into the system they have in place, which seems like a very good system, and a system that serves them very well. But is it a system that we would ultimately get really frustrated with?”

Seth Rogen also suggested that a gig at Marvel might mean he couldn’t bring anything to the table that would allow for his personal touch. “[Comic books we come across] have been the things that have really inspired us and made us want to work on these things for a long time — coupled with the inclination that you have something to add to it. There are a lot of comic books I love and things I love, but I’m like, What would I add?” For this summer’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, “[Co-writer Evan Goldberg and I] felt like there was an unexplored facet, and as people who have written a lot of teenage films and have been cinematically linked to that genre a lot over the years, we were like, Oh, like, that’s totally different for this, is if we do a teenage version of it…We are creating the infrastructure and process for them, not plugging into someone else’s infrastructure and process. We’re control freaks!” Mutant Mayhem, which garnered strong reactions after its June premiere, arrives on August 2nd.

As far as comic book adaptations go, Seth Rogen has stayed far away from the likes of Marvel, instead championing the likes of Preacher (rival DC’s Vertigo), The Boys (WildStorm / Dynamite Entertainment) and Invincible (Image Comics), which returns this November. There was also The Green Hornet, which has comic ties, but the less said about that the better…

Could you see Seth Rogen joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Which character would you cast him as? Give us your take in the comments section below!