When you’re one of the most iconic action stars of the modern era, offers are going to be flying in from all over the planet, but it’s only with the release of John Wick: Chapter 4 that Hollywood has finally managed to use Donnie Yen to his full potential.
The martial arts legend prefers to create his own projects from the ground up in his native China – where he regularly acts, directs, writers, produces, and choreographs the fight sequences – so it’s not a surprise that his Stateside sojourns in the likes of Blade II, Mulan, and xXx: Return of Xander Cage failed to maximize is awe-inspiring abilities, although Rogue One definitely gets a pass.
Boarding the best ass-kicking franchise in the business was always going to have that effect, though, but Yen revealed in an interview with Variety that he once turned down a personal invitation from none other than Zack Snyder to join the cast of Aquaman.
“Zack Snyder called. It was a friendly call, and he said, ‘Would you like to consider a cameo in the film?’. I couldn’t do it, so we didn’t explore it. But that kind of thing happens all the time.”
No offense to the highest-grossing DC Comics adaptation there’s ever been, but it’s hard to see where Yen would have fit in and not been wasted, with the part in question presumably some kind of secondary antagonist that ultimately gets their behind handed to them on a silver platter by Jason Momoa’s title hero.
As shocking as it may be for some SnyderVerse stalwarts to believe, he won’t have been the only person to say no, even if it’s fascinating to imagine what might have been.