In 2008, Will Smith made his first foray into cinematic superheroes with Hancock, a film that cast him as a dysfunctional immortal who had to learn how to be a hero. Hancock was a success with $629.4 million worldwide, but talk of a sequel hasn’t resulted in any finished film to date. Regardless, Smith is not only still up for Hancock 2, he wants Zendaya to co-star in it.
Smith made a surprise appearance on the XQC livestream this week, and when the subject of Hancock 2 came up, he said, “There’s a really cool Hancock 2 idea… and we haven’t even really talked about it. So, I’m going to give you one little piece: Zendaya will be approached for Hancock 2.”
Will Smith teases "Hancock 2" with Michael B. Jordan and Zendaya 👀 pic.twitter.com/kqYfmnkRyT
— slushy (@xqcreviews) February 19, 2025
Hancock began as a spec script by Vy Vincent Ngo that was originally titled Tonight, He Comes. By the time the film hit the big screen, Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan took a crack at the script and earned a co-writing credit with Ngo. Peter Berg directed the movie, which gave Hancock a costume that was somewhat inspired by the X-Men films that came out a few years prior.
As revealed in Hancock, the title character couldn’t remember the last 80 years of his life after suffering a head injury. He was also despised by the people of Los Angeles until PR specialist Ray Embrey (Jason Bateman) volunteered to help Hancock repair his image and become a true hero. Ray’s wife, Mary Embrey (Charlize Theron), also shared a unique connection to Hancock that went back far before she met her husband.
The ending of the movie suggested that Hancock was relocating to New York, but there weren’t many other lingering threads from the film. That said, if we had to guess who Zendaya would play in a sequel, she could potentially be Hancock’s daughter.
Sony has yet to officially announce Hancock 2, so the project may remain in development hell for now.
