Guardians Of The Galaxy Villain Djimon Hounsou Would Like To Return To The MCU
Marvel Studios' "What If...?" season 1 was a real mixed bag, but one of the best parts was getting to see a very different spin on familiar MCU characters. The animated series' second episode, which focused on a reality where T'Challa was accidentally taken from Earth by Yondu and the Ravagers as a kid and grew up to become Star-Lord, had a lot of fun with this idea, transforming the would-be solemn King of Wakanda into a quippy cosmic superhero who's so beloved he even managed to convince Thanos to not wipe out half of all life in the universe.
Among the other highlights of this episode was Djimon Hounsou portraying his "Guardians of the Galaxy" character, the villainous Korath the Pursuer, as an enthusiastic Star-Lord fanboy, as opposed to Ronan the Accuser's po-faced (albeit inadvertently funny) minion. Hounsou had done a little voice-acting before this, like when he lent his vocals to the merciless dragon hunter Drago Bludvist in "How to Train Your Dragon 2," and seems to enjoy the process as a whole, telling Murphy's Multiverse:
"Well, for voiceovers you're mostly by yourself. In some essence, it's maybe also very nice to be by yourself and to be immersed and not really interacting. I mean, your only interaction is the other person reading the lines to you. So, you get to have a very special moment when you're doing voice recording."
What Comes Next for Korath?
While Hounsou did reprise Korath in live-action for "Captain Marvel," the character's death in "Guardians of the Galaxy" (which, lest we forget, takes place after Carol Danvers' origin story in the MCU's main timeline) seems to severely limit where he could show up again in the future. Hounsou, however, feels otherwise, particularly when it comes to "What If...?" season 2:
"He's a machine that you can't terminate. You may unplug him, but you can't really turn him off... Of course, if I was called back to play Korath. Yes, of course. It would be nice. I think ['What If...?' Season 1] was quite successful, no?"
As much as I hope "What If...?" season 2 dives into the endless possibilities of the MCU's multiverse in a more creative way than season 1 did, I wouldn't object to Hounsou coming back as Korath. He's one of those actors who's always a standout when he shows up in a film or TV series, yet his characters usually wind up playing second fiddle to others or, more recently, dying an abrupt death. (Seriously, Hounsou has died a lot on-screen of late.) Surely there are other realities out there where Korath avoided an early demise-by-metaphor at Drax the Destroyer's hands?
"What If...?" season 1 is now streaming in its entirety on Disney+. Season 2 has yet to receive a premiere date.