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David Dastmalchian thrives on superheroes. You know him from his roles in superhero movies such as Marvel Studios' Ant-Man trilogy or DC's The Dark Knight, but when the actor talks about thriving on superheroes, he's talking about his own comic book fandom.

Popverse's Ashley V. Robinson recently spoke with Dastmalchian at length in our interview series Popversations, and one of the many fascinating stories he told was about his introduction to comic books - and how it came full circle when he met Stan Lee while on a Marvel set.

"I grew up in a suburb of Kansas City [called] Overland Park," Dastmalchian tells Popverse. "I got this gas station afternoon with my father, who you never asked for anything. He wasn't the dad that you would be at K·B Toys and be like 'Can I get that new G.I. Joe?' Because it was never going to happen. But I happened to see a comic on a spinner rack by the counter, and it was 60 cents. And I said to my dad, 'Could I have 60 cents for that comic?' And, for once, he busted it out."

That comic was 1984's Avengers #249 by Roger Stern, Al Milgrom, and Joe Sinnott. 

"Avengers vs. Maelstrom. I ended up obsessing over this cover. I loved this cover so much. I loved the Fantastic Four. I love the Avengers. I loved the team-up. I loved She-Hulk. I loved Captain Marvel. Scarlet Witch and Vision were always cool to me. And this is at a really cool time when Marvel was, you know, very bright, vibrant, and really fun: big team-ups. So that kind of got me hooked."

From there, some older friends were cleaning out their rooms and wanted to dispose of a bunch of comics so Dastmalchian lucked out and "took care of those comics" for them. After that, he found the first comic store of his own in Kansas City's historic Clint's Comics. The store has been around since 1967, and Marvel fans might remember them for their ads in '70s Marvel Comics.

"It was like a 30-minute bike ride," the actor reveals. "I used ride my bike to Clint South and I just discovered early on my love of DC villains, especially Joker. I kind of came of age - in sixth and seventh grade - at a time when comics were really thriving in a cool moment."

As you can see in the Popversations video interview, Dastmalchian is telling us all of this inside his office, which is full of the comics he's accumulated since 1984. But in the 2000s, he began to make his mark in movies, first with a role in 2008's The Dark Knight, 2015's Ant-Man, and 2017's Blade Runner 2049. It was in that success that led him to bring his first comic - the tattered, Avengers #249 from 1984 - to a Marvel set.

"Years later when I was working on one of the Ant-Man movies, I brought it to the set to show Stan Lee and he signed it to my son: 'To my friend Arlo.'... but it's for me."

Watch Popverse's full Popversations: David Dastmalchian now.

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