John Cena seems to be teasing potentially playing X-O Manowar in a Valiant Comics cinematic universe, which would likely include Vin Diesel's Bloodshot. Sony once had hopes for a Valiant universe in the vein of the MCU, but things seemed to hit a roadblock when one of Valiant's biggest properties, Harbinger, moved to Paramount. Nevertheless, Sony continued to develop Bloodshot with Diesel as the lead, and after a small delay, the film arrived in theaters in February. Ahead of Bloodshot's arrival, Diesel shared his hopes for a Valiant cinematic universe, and even seemed to hint it was already in the works. However, certain factors seemed to suggest a shared universe wasn't going to happen.
Bloodshot was met with middling reviews and a poor box office opening. To be fair, that opening was also impacted by the growing coronavirus pandemic, which affected people's willingness to venture into public areas. Only days after Bloodshot entered theaters, several major chains across the US shut down. This vastly limited the number of people who were able to see the film. Not long after Bloodshot's release, the film moved to on-demand, much like several other movies from big studios. It's unclear how successful the move was, though Bloodshot did top some rental lists like FandangoNOW.
Additional Valiant characters have yet to be cast, but Cena seems interested in throwing his name into the ring for one. X-O Manowar, one of Valiant's key heroes, is a warrior named Aric from fifth-century Europe who is abducted by an alien race known as the Vine. Far away in space, Aric gains possession of a sentient X-O Manowar armor that allows him to become even stronger as he vows to take on the Vine and save his people. Cena acknowledged the role (and possible fan castings) by posting a picture of Aric on Instagram, which you can see below:
Cena is already primed to star in another comic book film: James Gunn's The Suicide Squad. All signs seem to point to Cena playing Peacemaker in the film, though Cena won't definitively say if that's his character or not. When it comes to X-O Manowar, Cena seems like a solid pick for the part, but it will all depend on if Sony is actually developing another Valiant film.
If they are, and it's set in the same universe as Bloodshot, this could reunite Diesel and Cena. The two will go head-to-head in next year's F9 as brothers Dom and Jakob Toretto. It's unclear if Cena will be sticking around for the tenth Fast & Furious film. Over the past few years, Cena's career as an actor has flourished, and being cast as the lead in a potential franchise-starter could continue to boost that career. However, Cena's post isn't an indication it will actually happen. Fans will just have to wait and see if X-O Manowar will be heading to the big screen.
Source: John Cena/Instagram