EDITORIAL: The 10 Heroes/Villains Who Were Brought Off The Page, And Onto To The Screen Perfectly
10 Times The Studio Cast The Perfect Roles (Yes, It Does Happen.... Sometimes)
By NBAfanaddict - 9/12/2012
CBM roles are really hit-or miss, with very little room in the middle. If you bomb the part, your ridiculed, forever known as the person who killed their favorite character, constantly used as a punchline, and example of miscasting. OR... you could absolutely nail it, and become hailed, and eternally lauded. The way to portray a character perfectly is to make sure you use them right. You make Batman dark, brooding and serious. You make Tony Stark a Here of 10 examples of the latter
10: Chris Evans/Human Torch
He was the best part of the FF movies. Cocky, funny, had the best one-liners. And he showed some depth in SIlver Surfer by showing Johnny's vulnerable side. Him and and Ben had great back- and forth. To me he WAS Human Torch. Which makes the next choice just as easy......
9: Chris Evans/Captain America :)
...Because as stated earlier, he WAS Human Torch. I didn't think Chris could play Cap as well as he did. He portrayed Steve as a strong, motivating leader, and in Avengers (though it was limited) he showed Steve internal struggle between dealing with being in the future, and with S.H.I.E.L.D not being as forthcoming as they appear to be. Chris Evans, you are a dynamite actor sir.
8: Patrick Stewart/Professor X
Keys to being a good Professor X :
1. Have a calming presence: Check
2. Have a soft-spoken yet firm belief in your mission
3. Have a oddly similar shaped head to the comic book character: CHeck, Check and Check
Patrick Stewart = Professor X
7. Michael Clarke Duncan (R.I.P) and Geoffrey Rush/ Kilowog and Tomar-Re
I'm going with a package deal on this choice. I have a feeling that if these two were featured more prominently, GL would've been a bigger success. Tomar introducing Hal to Oa (and then Kilowog) was one of my favorite scenes in the movie. And Kilowog training was at least my second favorite scene in the film. Rush accurately portrayed Tomar-Re's calm demeanor, which complimented MCD's perfect portrayal of Kilowog's gruffness.
6. Mark Ruffalo/Bruce Banner/Hulk
I enjoyed Edward Norton's portrayal of Bruce Banner. Afraid, nervous, always on the run. That's the banner that's been portrayed in recent years, and he did a fine job conveying that. Ruffalo however, did a brilliant job of showing a side of Bruce Banner that i hadn't really seen since the beloved Bill Bixby played Bruce. Shy, cautious, but in a nerdy, adorkable way. He understood the beast within him, and if anything seemed to accept it as part of him, and not trying to get rid of it. Plus his banter with RDJ as Tony was the best part of Avengers, hands down. Geek Power to the max baby!
5. Michael Fassenbender/Magneto:
I had a hard time not including Ruffalo in the top 5. But part of what made Mark great was, again, the back and forth between him and RDJ. Michael Fassenbender could've carried that whole movie by himself. His performance was remarkable. He played Magneto to a t. He showed the strong leader the Magneto is, he showed the raw emotion Magneto has inside of him that drives him, and he also showed his ability to be a baddass during Magneto's brief run as a deadly, and highly effective assassin. This guy would be a great choice to play a number of characters (i.e. Doctor Strange, Baron Mordo, Batman) but to me, he will always be, Erik Leshnerr
4. Mark Strong/Sinestro
Strong, demanding, dilligent. That pretty much sums up Sinestro as a character, and Mark Strong aced it. He had great chemistry with much of the cast, and i would've much prefered him to be the main villains. Strong did a great job portraying Sinestro as a force for order, no matter how it was achieved. I throughly enjoyed him as Sinestro.
3. Christopher Reeves (R.I.P)/Superman;
He. Is. Superman. End of story. He owned the role. Nobody will be able to top him. His bumbling Clark Kent so greatly contrasted with his confident Superman so much, you almost forget their played by the same guy. It may have 34 years since it first came out, but Mister Reeves portrayed the truest version of the Big Blue Boy Scout i've ever seen.
2. Robert Downey Jr./Tony Stark/Iron Man:
At the end of this movie RDJ said three little words.
I. Am. Iron Man.
He really didn;t have to tell us that, because we knew he was Tony Stark the moment he was riding in the hummer. Here's how much Robert's performance changed Iron Man
1. While i used to think Iron Man was a cheap rip-pff of Batman, after seeing the film He made me question if my life-long, childhood favorite character Spider-Man was still my favorite character (i'm still debating)
2. Before the movie came out, only hardcore fans (like my dad) knew who Iron Man was. Now? He referenced everywhere, from the Daily Show, to the Kids Choice Awards
3. It booted Iron Man a b-list hero, to the top of the Marvel echelon, alongside Wolverine, Spidey, and Hulk
4. Though the movie was called Avengers, they certainly did a good job making Tony the rock star
And he actually made Tony Stark seem worthy of the suit. Batman has a ridiculously arsenal of gadgets. And he is badass enough to deserve them. Tony Stark wasn't. He was a bland, drunk jerk. Now, he's an exciting, witty, sarcastic, and engaging jerk. He is now awesome enough to deserve the awesome suit. I praise the day Marvel decided to give RDJ the part. Best decision they've ever made.
1. Heath Ledger (R.I.P)/Joker:
And all of the above makes it so hard for me not to put him as no. 1!! The guy rocks!!!! However the movie is called "Iron Man". I should care about Iron Man the most. He's the title character. The Joker wasn't. It was "The Dark Knight". Unless the Joker re-named himself, i should be interested in, Bats. But i wasn't. Nothing against Christian Bale, but Heath was mesmerizing. Everytime he came on screen, i got excited. Hung on his every deluded word. Was amazed at how Ledger managed to portray everything about the Joker. His homicidal nature, his insanity, his glee in torturing Batman, and knowing Batman had nothing he could do to cause him to fear him; how he would get do it all over again, because Batman is incorruptible, and Joker would make it his life's goal to try and turn him into what Batman fears to be. He was exceptional. And the other thing is that i prefered Iron Man to the Dark Knight. And yet i still couldn't put Heath at no. 2. He was that amazing
Well that's my list. Agree, disagree? Agree with the disagreements, disagree with the agreements? COMMENT, AND BE MERRY!
Honorable Mention
William Dafoe/Green Gobby: Best villain from any Spidey film as far as i'm concerned
Emma Stone/Gwen Stacy: Not technically a hero, but who didn't love her in ASM. Sucks, she's probably going to get killed in the sequel, or the third film....
UPDATE: I feel like i left of lot of deserving people off of the honorable mention, so here are a few more.
Hugh Jackman/Wolverine: Accurately portrayed Logan as a Smokng, claw popping, badass with a grumpy old caring uncle vibe. Well done mister Jackman, well done.
UPDATE: I feel like i left of lot of deserving people off of the honorable mention, so here are a few more:
Michael Chiklis/Thing: The ever loving blue eyed Thing was brought to life by Michael, and he and Johnny actually make FF watchable
Andrew Garfield/Spider-Man: Finally glad we got a Spidey who can be witty. Needed more of it, but he was still good.
Martin Sheen/Uncle Ben: I enjoyed him in ASM. I liked how he was caring compassionate, but also gave Peter a strong, fatherly role model to look up to.
Morgan Freeman/Lucius Fox: I really liked him and and Bruce's witty banter. He was a very good supporting character
James Mcavoy/Charles Xavier: His stage presence contrasted nicely with Fassenbender's. The two of them make each other better, and showcase each other's strengths.
P.s. i was very disappointed that i didn't put any female characters on here. When i thought about all the female comic book superheroes that have been adapted, i couldn't find any i liked. I thought of the X-Men women (didn't get enough screen time to make an impression), Black Widow (eye candy, who they tried to make slightly more interesting in Avengers), Sue Storm ( A two-dimesnsional whiney brat, who cares more about her wedding than the freaking earth ending). And it was so blatant that she was eye candy. Seriously, with the way they opened up her shirt on the posters, i don't even know why they bothered even giving her a shirt..... Can we please get a woman who is written as not an object to gaze at (or other things....) but as someone who can hold her own?? Storm can control the Sue can control force fields, Black Widow is a highly trained assassin, and Storm can control the fricking weather, and we HAVE to show a cleavage shot i order for them to be interesting????? I have a little sister who always loves it when their is a female superhero on a show. I liked if she saw one who looked she was written by a woman, not a googly eyes man....
Ok, my rant is done. COMMENT!!!!!!!
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