BURBANK, CA–After the recent completion of the hit streaming series The Penguin on Max, actor Mark Strong has made a bold announcement. Strong told reporters in an interview that he’s made it a career goal to play every villain who’s ever appeared in DC comics onscreen.

Strong is already well on his way to accomplishing his goal. His first DC role was as Sinestro, a rogue Green Lantern who goes bad, in the 2011 Green Lantern film. “I’m honestly surprised DC gave me any more roles after I appeared in that movie,” Strong admits. “But I see it as a second chance, and I’m gonna make the most of it.”

He then portrayed Dr. Sivana, Shazam’s nemesis, in Shazam! (2019) and its 2023 sequel Shazam! Fury of the Gods. “That’s actually where I got this idea,” Strong continues. “John Glover played my father, and he’s on a quest to play the father of every supervillain out there. And he was pretty cool to work with. So I figured, what the heck–I can go ahead and try to play every villain!”

Most recently, Strong portrayed Gotham City mob boss Carmine Falcone in The Penguin–taking over the role after John Turturro’s performance in The Batman in 2022. “Look, I really didn’t want to steal another actor’s gig,” Strong explains. “I originally auditioned for Sofia, but they wanted someone younger and prettier.”

“So I arm-wrestled John for the role of Falcone,” Strong continued. “When he lost, he made up some story about not wanting the role because of violence toward women or something. But hey–what does he expect from arm-wrestling a guy named Strong?”

Strong’s quest to play every DC villain continues. The 61-year-old actor has been cast as Poison Ivy in the upcoming sequel to The Batman and as Doomsday in next year’s Superman. Despite being Strong already, he has begun gaining weight for the role. He’ll also play Starro the Conqueror in the next Suicide Squad film.

In keeping with his ambitious goal, Strong is also being eyed to play Dumbledore in HBO’s upcoming Harry Potter series. “It’s another WB property, so it pretty much counts as DC,” Strong explains. “Also–keeping secrets from Harry and putting kids in danger? Of course Dumbledore is a villain!”

At publishing time, Strong was planning to direct and star in an original biopic so he can portray Joss Whedon, one of DC’s most notorious villains of all time.