“The Marvels”: Here’s your primer to Park Seo-joon, your new MCU hero
On Tuesday, Marvel Studios dropped the trailer for “The Marvels,” its upcoming woman-centric superhero film, which offered much to dig into.
Helmed by “Candyman” director Nia DaCosta, the highly awaited showcase focuses on Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel (Brie Larson), whose powers become entangled with those of superfan Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani) — who we met in the Disney+ series “Ms. Marvel” — and Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) — who we last saw in the Disney+ series “WandaVision.” The trio must ultimately come together and learn how to use their unlikely powers to save the universe from mayhem.
As expected with any MCU trailer, “The Marvels” is riddled with Easter Eggs and surprise appearances, including one from Park Seo-joon. The acclaimed South Korean actor first disclosed his role in a 2022 interview with The Guardian, saying, “When I first heard that the Marvel Cinematic Universe wanted to speak with me, I couldn’t believe it. I actually couldn’t believe it.”
At the time of his casting, not much was known about Park’s role. But now — thanks to the additional clues — fans have finally pieced together who Park’s MCU character may be.
Although American audiences may not be that familiar with Park, he’s been consistently leading movies and TV shows for the past decade, and has a massive following long before his cameo in the Oscar-winning “Parasite.” It seems in this case, k-drama viewers may have the leg up on the MCU fandom.
Here’s a closer look at who Park is expected to be playing along with a rundown of his best roles and where you can watch to familiarize yourself with the next MCU hero.
Prince Yan, the Singing Prince
Prior to the trailer’s release, many Netizens theorized that Park would play Amadeus Cho, the Korean-American superhero who succeeded Bruce Banner as the Hulk. That theory, however, was a bust considering that Cho is a teen (in fact, Park is four years younger than Claudia Kim, who plays Amadeus’ mother Helen Cho in “Avengers: Age of Ultron”) and he isn’t strongly tied to Captain Marvel or the other members of the Marvel family.
It was later rumored that “The Marvels” characters would “go to a planet where they can only communicate in song,” per one insider on Twitter. Specifically, the planet in question is named Aldana, where the residents speak entirely in rhyme, per Issue #9 of Captain Marvel. Fans then speculated that Park was playing Carol’s new “husband” or Yan, the Prince of Aladna.
This seems to track judging from what’s seen in the trailer. In one scene, Park is seen sporting a colorful regal outfit, fitted with shoulder pads and a sword, worthy of royalty. His mouth is open wide – either yelling or possibly singing. Another scene reveals an elaborate choreographed dance, which seems to take place on Aladna.
“The Marvels” is set to premiere in theaters on Nov. 10. Watch a trailer for it below, via YouTube:
If you don’t want to wait until November to understand what the big deal is about Park and his casting, you can start checking out some of his best roles below – including plenty of action projects – which are available to stream now.
Park’s most notable filmography
By now, most of us have seen Bong Joon-ho’s dark comedic thriller about class differences it won an Oscar after all). But embedded within the story of the impoverished Kim family infiltrating the home of the wealthy Parks is a key cameo by Park Seo-joon.
In the movie, Park plays Min-hyuk, the friend of the Kims’ son Ki-woo (Choi Woo-shik). Min-hyuk is now a university student, his path to success has been set, and he does the Kims two favors. First, he gives them a scholar’s rock, which promises the family wealth. He also provides the way into the Park family, recommending Ki-woo as his replacement as the English tutor for the Parks’ daughter.
Fans of Park Seo-joon were delighted to catch him in such a cameo that, while brief, was impactful. – Hanh Nguyen
What’s significant about this 2018 rom-com series is that it was released just a year before “Parasite.” Therefore, Park had filmed his key movie cameo in secrecy at the height of the show’s popularity.
Based on a novel that was then turned into a webtoon, the 16-episode series stars Park as the privileged, arrogant and wealthy vice-chairman of a company, Lee Young-joon, who is thrown for a loop when his longtime secretary Kim Mi-so (Park Min-young) announces she’ll be leaving his employ. Realizing how much he relied on her and feeling long-buried emotions that he has yet to identify, Young-joon sets out to try to keep her by his side, even if it means wooing her.
While Americans may find this an HR nightmare in the making, the series is nevertheless a charming showcase for Park Seo-joon’s charisma and some serious business suit porn. – H.N.
File this under your new Netflix recommendations row for Asian revenge, along with “Beef” and “The Glory.”
In this 16-episode series based on a webtoon, Park Seo-joon plays Park Saeroyi, a man who carries out a decades-long revenge scheme against the Jangga Group founder, who had once employed Saeroyi’s father before he was killed. The revenge involves . . . opening restaurants!
Although it’s not one of Park’s more dynamic performances – delayed vengeance is his personality, not to mention a bad bowl haircut – the show is significant for its setting. The Itaewon district in Seoul is known as one of the most culturally diverse in South Korea, which also plays into the show’s more inclusive casting and storytelling. It also famously holds an annual Halloween celebration (the location of last year’s real-life tragic crowd crush), which draws revelers from around the world and wows Saeroyi after he’s newly released from prison, enough to inspire him to open his first restaurant there. – H.N.
Before “Secretary Kim,” Park honed his physical comedy chops with this 2017 action-comedy film about two students at the Korean National Police University who witness the kidnapping of a young woman, which leads to uncovering an unfertilized egg harvesting ring. (Yes, this is a comedy!)
Although they’re not fully fledged police officers yet, they’re determined to put a stop to the kidnappings and rescue the girls. Park is the brawn side of the pair, and there are the requisite training montages to support his role in the partnership. A fun time is had by all. – H.N.
This period drama boasts a star-studded cast – including k-pop idols BTS‘ V aka Kim Tae-hyung and SHINee’s Choi Minho – and revolves around a group of elite young warriors known as the Hwarang who come into their own during the ancient Korean kingdom of Silla (57 BC-935 AD).
Park sports a long, shaggy wig here – which could prep viewers for his flowing locks in “The Marvels” – and plays a young man born with less privilege who rises in the ranks of the Hwarang and harbors a huge secret. Besides friendships and power struggles, the series also offers a critique of the class system, which is an ongoing theme in k-dramas. – H.N.
If you’ve come this far, then you’re really dedicated to checking out Park Seo-joon’s back catalog. “Fight for My Way” is arguably one of his best roles in that it’s a slice of life series that leans into all the things he does best: action, comedy and nuanced emotion.
In the series he plays Ko Dong-man among a group of four friends who are struggling to have their dreams of successful careers come true. Dong-man is a former taekwondo champ turned nameless MMA fighter after a major disappointment in his past. – H.N.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhTSmjSQVF8
In addition to starring in “The Marvels,” Park is slated to star in “Dream,” an upcoming sports comedy-drama feature about a football player who receives disciplinary provision and, as a result, must coach the national football team of homeless individuals for the Homeless World Cup. Park will also star in the disaster-thriller “Concrete Utopia,” based on a webtoon film about a group of earthquake survivors, and “Gyeongseong Creature,” a horror series about a group of young survivalists who encounter a monster born of human greed.
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