Tom Cruise Turned Down Gal Gadot’s Offer to Play the Villain in Wonder Woman 1984?

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Tom Cruise is a bonafide movie star and action hero who rarely plays the bad guy. It’s even rarer for the leading man to take on a supporting role. A new report from the National Enquirer claims Gal Gadot asked Cruise to do both in Wonder Woman 1984, but he refused the offer because he “wasn’t about to take second billing.” Mediaite looked into the casting rumor and we can clear up the situation.

The first and only time Cruise played a supporting villain was in 2008’s Tropic Thunder, in which he portrayed an aggressively obnoxious Hollywood mogul named Les Grossman. Les was in fact a gross man. Cruise’s infamous appearance was more of an extended cameo than a substantial supporting role, but according to the Enquirer, Gadot wanted the movie star to play the main supervillain in her upcoming Wonder Woman sequel.

The unsubstantiated report says Cruise scoffed at the notion, with an unknown source telling the magazine, “What mattered to him is Wonder Woman 1984 is Gal’s project – not his. But when and if he does this kind of movie, he knows he’ll be running the show and the camera will be focused squarely on him and not on anyone else.”

According to the Enquirer’s questionable source, Gadot had “forged” a friendship with Cruise on the set of 2010’s Knight and Day, so she was “hurt” when he supposedly turned down the Wonder Woman offer. The actress did have a brief role in Cruise’s 2010 action film, but she was relatively unknown at the time and there’s no indication that the two “forged” a friendship while shooting. There’s been no apparent connection between the two stars in the decade since that film’s release.

The Enquirer’s unidentified source continues, “It wasn’t like it was a small part. As the villain, he was going to get camera time… but Tom likes to be the hero. He’s sorry that Gal and director Patty Jenkins were disappointed, but that’s his decision.”

The Enquirer’s story is fairly illogical. For starters, Kristen Wiig is co-starring as the main villain in Wonder Woman 1984, playing a character named Cheetah, one of the most famous adversaries in the Wonder Woman comics. Gadot told Parade magazine in May, “I’m so happy Kristen said yes to this… Honestly, she’s my favorite villain. She’s so bad-ass and sexy and funny and sophisticated.” Clearly, Cruise wouldn’t have been offered the role of Cheetah, an evil woman who assumes a feline appearance.

Meanwhile, actor Pedro Pascal plays a supporting villain named Maxwell Lord, described as a suave businessman, but he’s not the main bad guy and therefore it wouldn’t be a role for Cruise to turn down. No offense to Pascal, who stole scenes as Oberyn Martell on Game of Thrones, but he’s not exactly the next guy down on the ladder from Cruise. Had this been a part considered prominent enough for a star of Cruise’s caliber, it likely would have gone to another A-lister.

Mediaite should also note that not a single Hollywood trade publication has reported anything about Cruise turning down a role in Wonder Woman 1984. Variety, the Hollywood Reporter and their ilk are known for getting these types of scoops. The Enquirer, which has been accused of shredding documents related to President Donald Trump, isn’t known for breaking Hollywood casting news.

Mediaite has reached out to reps for both Cruise and Gadot, but it’s highly implausible he ever turned down the role of the villain in Wonder Woman 1984. However, Mediaite can totally see Gadot playing the villain in a future Mission: Impossible sequel. Maybe we’ll start that rumor to get the ball rolling.