Neil Patrick Harris

Ready for a wild rumor? How about Neil Patrick Harris being pursued to play DC comic book superhero The Flash? The last we had heard, Ryan Reynolds was in the running (get it?) for the role, but with the upcoming Wolverine movie it seems like his superhero destiny may be tied up as Deadpool.

But this, if true, is pretty much out of left field.

The Flash has been on again, off again and now on again with the recent addition of a screenwriter. We first mentioned it back in 2004 when David Goyer was supposedly going to write the script (he went on to write a little movie you may have heard of: The Dark Knight). Then there was nothing heard for three years until the announcement that Goyer was not writing the movie, but that Shawn Levy was attached to direct, then comedy director David Dobkin. That news quietly faded away and nothing was heard until earlier this month, when word surfaced that Dan Mazeau was attached to write the screenplay.

Now comes possible “insider” news that Neil Patrick Harris and possibly Scott Porter (according to ThinkMcFlyThink.com) are being looked at to play the Scarlet Speedster. Scott played the young Rex Racer in Speed Racer and has a recurring role on Friday Night Lights.

And of course who doesn’t know who Neil Patrick Harris is? For a 35 year old guy, he seems like he’s been around forever… starting out years ago as Doogie Howser, M.D. and then appearing in Starship Troopers (yes, he was in that). After that he bounced around doing one-shot appearances in TV episodes and a lot of cartoon voiceover work including Justice League and Spider-Man.

But what brought him back into popularity was his wild character in Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, which led to a leading role on the sitcom How I Met Your Mother. Finally, most recently he played a supervillain in the cult hit Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog.

Anyway, it’ll be interesting to see if this pans out - no doubt he could pull it off if he buffed up and I think he’s got the acting chops to do it.

Again, keep in mind this is FAR from confirmed - but what do you think about the possibility of Neil Patrick Harris as The Flash?