Glen Powell demonstrated his range as an actor when he embodied Ben Richards in the 2025 dystopian thriller The Running Man. As Richards, he’s scared, tired, and just plain trying to survive long enough to get his daughter the medical care she requires. That relatively subdued performance was a far cry from the loud, confident one he displayed as Hangman in Top Gun: Maverick.
In this 2022 action drama, you see Powell move with undeniable swagger, armed with a charismatic smile that has become part of his on-screen persona throughout the years. The change is so big that it feels like you’re watching two different people. Yet, the simple truth is that both movies show Powell’s incredible range as an actor. He goes from owning a room in one to becoming almost invisible in the other. This alone makes these two roles so cool to talk about.
Powell Uses Hangman’s Cocky Attitude to Drive ‘Top Gun: Maverick’
One of the best scenes that shows Hangman’s personality is the Hard Deck bar scene at the start of the movie. Powell walks in like he owns the place. He makes jokes, pokes fun at his main rival, Rooster (Miles Teller), and orders a drink without a care in the world. Every move he makes is smooth and relaxed, and it also tells the viewer that he thinks he’s the best pilot in the world. For someone who wasn’t the film’s main character, that swagger made him stand out.
Interestingly, Powell initially auditioned for Rooster, eventually losing out to Teller. The producers then offered him Hangman, but he initially rejected it. It took a phone call from Tom Cruise, who played Maverick, to change his mind. Cruise more or less told him to take the character and make it great confidently. Needless to say, that’s exactly what Powell did. You can see that confidence in the flight training scenes. While the other pilots are nervous about the whole exercise and eager to prove themselves, Powell’s Hangman smirks and acts like he’s heading out on a casual Sunday drive around the neighborhood. Then, when he gets in trouble for leaving another pilot behind, he shrugs as if to say, “I still completed my mission, so what’s the problem?”
Ultimately, the Hangman’s charismatic side comes out towards the end of the movie. When Maverick and Rooster need help, Hangman flies in to save the day. The difference this time is that Powell ditched the jokes, and his face mirrors the seriousness of the situation. In that moment, the team finally sees that the cocky guy actually has the skills and the heart to be a team player. The change was completely natural, but it succeeded only because Powell had laid the groundwork with his incredible portrayal of Hangman as an arrogant loner.
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Powell Drops the Swagger to Play a Terrified Survivor in ‘The Running Man’
Powell’s Ben Richards in The Running Man is the stark opposite of his Hangman character. From the opening scenes of the movie, everything about him tells you he’s vulnerable and would find it difficult to survive in his dystopian world. The film is the second adaptation of Stephen King’s novel. It shows a world with a broken economy where life is very hard for regular people. Unlike his Hangman character, Powell’s Richards isn’t fighting for glory; he’s a scared, poor man desperately fighting to save his sick daughter. It’s that desperation that leads him to sign up for the deadly running man game.
In this game, professional killers hunt contestants on live TV. Being one of those contestants, Richards not only has to run and hide but also send video messages to the studio every day to prove he’s still alive. Powell’s incredible acting pedigree is clear in how he shows Richards’ fear in every scene. For instance, in the Boston scene, hunters track him to a hostel. There, a firefight breaks out, and a huge explosion kills eight Network soldiers. Richards ducks for cover, pressed against the walls, breathing fast, and you feel the panic and exhaustion he feels in that scene.
Also, when one of his allies, dies in a buggy explosion, Powell shows grief and anger, but also Richards’ focus on survival. Subsequently, when he grabs Amelia (Emilia Jones), a wealthy driver, to escape, Powell still keeps the terror front and center. You can see it in the way Richards grips the wheel, the way his eyes keep darting at every street, and the way he reacts to every possible threat. The fear never really goes away, but you can tell that it’s that fear that’s keeping him alive.
Watching Top Gun: Maverick and The Running Man back-to-back isn’t just a double feature; it’s a case study. It shows Powell as an actor with the intelligence to leverage his natural charisma in one role and the courage to abandon it in another completely. And in doing so, he’s become one of the most compelling actors of his generation. To see this difference up, close and personal, stream The Running Man on Apple TV+.
