You can’t see me… baby? It seems that WWE Superstar John Cena is looking to get his hands on some babes and some guns in an adaptation of the 1990s hit video game, and 2011’s stinker of a video game sequel, Duke Nukem. According to a report from The Hollywood Reporter, Cena is in talks with Paramount to play the now highly “outdated” video game hero Duke Nukem in the film that will be produced by Platinum Dunes, the company run by Michael Bay, Andrew Form and Brad Fuller.
While there is not much to go on here, such as no writer or director being named, it’s not stopped the WWE Champion turned movie star from putting his hat into the ring for the title role. Out of all the modern actors who could fit such an iconic look, John Cena is the closest to a real life Duke Nukem.
Cena and Paramount already worked together on the movie Daddy’s Home 2. He’s also set to show up in the Transformers spinoff Bumblebee. Cena’s other movie credits include an appearance in Trainwreck, while more recently he was the voice of Ferdinand in the animated movie of the same name. John Cena will also have a role in the upcoming comedy Blockers, where he does say a lot more inappropriate words than his clean WWE persona allows.
The Duke Nukem video game series has been dormant since 2011’s critically panned but million-selling Duke Nukem Forever. Gearbox Software, which owns the rights to the Duke Nukem series, confirmed in 2015 that it had done some concept work on a all new, “head-turning” Duke Nukem game. However, Gearbox might not make the new game.
“I think the faster way is that a correct developer can become interested and we can work with them,” Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford said at the time. “I think it’s a challenging problem. But, I’ll tell you one thing. When it does happen, there’s no doubt that the whole industry will turn its head and look.”
While it would be good to see the return of Duke Nukem in either a video game or movie role, it’s going to turn a lot of heads since in 2011 the game Duke Nukem Forever was panned for being outdated, especially in the treatment of women; which seems to be one of the more controversial of topics in Hollywood these days. People have said that Duke Nukem and his old ways of talking and thinking should stay in the past, but John Cena can turn the WWE into a family friendly product, maybe he can do the same with Duke Nukem. Only time will tell… Hopefully shorter time than it took to get Duke Nukem Forever on the shelves.
