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Top 5 Inspired Superhero Casting

msnbc.msn.com — Up, up and away! Inspired superhero casting.

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  • killbert24, on 05/03/2008, -11/+2Good list. I tried thinking of someone else that belongs on here but couldn't.
    • XisZ, on 05/03/2008, -8/+2Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight
      • 8randon, on 05/03/2008, -0/+10good casting - but the joker isn't a superhero
        • XisZ, on 05/03/2008, -6/+1You knew what I meant -_-
          Right?
          • Drahkar, on 05/03/2008, -0/+3No. Not really. The list was superhero's and you put in a supervillian. What did you mean?
    • fadetoone, on 05/03/2008, -0/+5I dunno, I think Robert Downey Jr makes a good damn Tony Stark... and I would assume it's what inspired this list.
  • XisZ, on 05/03/2008, -23/+1Quick! Someone make a witty comment!
  • OfNumbers, on 05/03/2008, -13/+8How... In depth.
  • 8randon, on 05/03/2008, -14/+2edward norton in the hulk?
  • xrant, on 05/03/2008, -11/+1Top 5 dumb digg posts!
  • 1cat, on 05/03/2008, -9/+1cool list. my favorite is of course spiderman
  • carpeclunes, on 05/03/2008, -8/+1Five inspired superhero casting? That's almost six inspired superhero casting!
  • quest86, on 05/03/2008, -8/+2Very interesting list, however, I do not personally think Douglas Fairbanks belongs on the list...
  • Brian48216, on 05/03/2008, -7/+34Robert Downey Jr. for Iron Man?!?!?!

    HOW CAN YOU NOT HAVE HIM UP THERE?!
    • rodrigo74, on 05/03/2008, -3/+16Probably because no one saw the film yet

      hush. hush. Calm down now.
      • yacks, on 05/03/2008, -1/+1I have.. it's a pretty good flick.
      • bagboyrebel, on 05/03/2008, -1/+2Just got back from it, it was great.
  • einrobstein, on 05/03/2008, -3/+32I just saw Iron Man 3 hours ago, and I would definitely add Robert Downie Jr. to the list.
    • RonReezy, on 05/03/2008, -1/+8I saw Iron Man 3 and got excited...and I also agree. Robert Downey Jr. IS Tony Stark
  • PabloIV, on 05/03/2008, -5/+22I would say that Robert Downey Jr. was missing from the list, but you don't really need to be particularly inspired to cast a mid 30s early 40s, playboy, millionaire, with a substance abuse problem as a mid 30s early 40s, playboy, billionaire, with a substance abuse problem.
    • YamiJim, on 05/03/2008, -1/+11but but but....the GOATEE!
    • gradivus, on 05/03/2008, -1/+1I really doubt most couldnt pull it off. How many rich people survive long enough to have a drug problem at 40? This was his role of a lifetime. Best casting ever. This movie is the new standard,I dare say better than Batman(and I love the Bat but damn this movie was good,and it had Jeff Bridges). Really to put it another way,you are an idiot,shut up and go be a hater somewhere else,im sure there will be a few crybabies badmouthing perfection. This movie was jesus.
      • PabloIV, on 05/03/2008, -0/+1I'm not hating I loved the movie. What I meant was, Robert Downey Jr. was a pretty obvious choice, and he did a great job of it. But still, pretty obvious choice.
  • bicyclethief, on 05/03/2008, -8/+3Lou Ferrigno as the Hulk

    (the last believable-looking Hulk)
    • H3BR3W, on 05/03/2008, -1/+5For serious? Fading green paint is believable?

      New Hulk looks ten times more like he should in a film, in my opinion.. Still a little fake, but nowhere near as bad as bright green, CG turd Hulk or slow-mo Ferrigno.
  • H3BR3W, on 05/03/2008, -9/+15That's an awful list. I didn't make it past Tobey Maguire.
    • JMSantos, on 05/03/2008, -4/+5Tobey Maguire looks the part, he's just a terrible actor with a terrible set of writers.
      • OfNumbers, on 05/03/2008, -0/+5I was going to agree with you there, but I looked up his previous roles to refresh my memory and he did pretty good in Fear and Loathing. This Boy's Life too.
    • fani, on 05/03/2008, -0/+3Its becoming fashionable to just put down people and act knowledgeable doing so.
      That was a pretty good list - Chris Reeve, Tobey McGuire, Christian Bale are all very good choices.
      You don't know what you're talking about and sadly you're getting dugg up for your ignorance.
    • PhoenixAvatar2, on 05/03/2008, -0/+3It's just like magic. One bad movie and all of a sudden the whole series is *****. Tobey played a fantastic Peter Parker in Spidey 1 and 2 and if you don't think he did then you don't know the character as well as you should
      • hackiavelli, on 05/03/2008, -1/+1That's very true. But having seen Topher Grace in the last film I'm convinced he would have done better (which I never would have guessed watching That 70s Show). Grace has a lot more energy on screen while Maguire comes off more subdued.
      • gfnw, on 05/04/2008, -0/+1True, Toby Maguire played a perfect _Peter Parker_. He seemed out of place for Spiderman. I guess that's what happens when you have a hero who almost changes his personality when he dons his costume though.
  • diggum85, on 05/03/2008, -5/+0"So why not use an actor lost within his own passion? See, for example, “AMERICAN PSYCHO!.”
    • spookyttws, on 05/03/2008, -1/+7Or the Machinist, or Equilibrium, or 3:10 to Yuma, or The Prestige, or...God I love Christian Bale's work.
      • diggum85, on 05/03/2008, -2/+0RTFA!
      • NotOptium, on 05/03/2008, -0/+1Or...... Shaft
        (the new[er] one, with Samual L. Jackson)
        Yeah, that's right.
        • diggum85, on 05/03/2008, -0/+0Animal House was on tonight, was that Samuel Jackson playing Muhammed wearing a turbine at the rush party? I've always thought it was, but I'm not sure.
  • lrdntwnd, on 05/03/2008, -3/+12No Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark? That's probably one of the best castings ever (let alone in a superhero flick). He plays the arrogant ladies' man just perfectly ('cause he doesn't have to act :-P).
  • frogman54, on 05/03/2008, -2/+32Eddie Murphy as Pluto Nash.
  • StusGhost, on 05/03/2008, -7/+1Somebody should do villains now. Here's my quick opinion
    #1 Jack Nicholson / Joker (pending Heath Ledger's performance)
    #2 Gene Hackman / Lex Luthor
    #3 Ian McKellen / Magneto
    #4 William Dafoe / Green Goblin
    #5 Liam Neeson / Ducard/Ra'as Gul
    Honorable mention to John Malkovich in "In the Line of Fire". Not a comic book movie, but definitely a performance that needs to garner more respect. It only has some.
    • H3BR3W, on 05/03/2008, -1/+7#4 William Dafoe / Green Goblin

      - Where do you people come from?
      • OfNumbers, on 05/03/2008, -0/+5"The mask can be a limitation, but you just deal with it. You do get superhuman strength and pumpkin bombs and all this other stuff to express yourself with." - Willem Dafoe
      • StusGhost, on 05/03/2008, -2/+1I'm not alone H3BR3W you just have no taste!!! Case and point:
        http://www.bigpictureradio.com/5superherovillains. ...
        http://wizarduniverse.invisionzone.com/index.php?s ...
        • H3BR3W, on 05/03/2008, -1/+1I love Willem Dafoe...he's awesome. He was just an awful Norman Osbourne, and a worse Green Goblin. Sam Raimi is to blame for the latter, really. He completely made a mockery of that franchise. Glad to hear they're moving on with the fourth one without him, Maguire, OR Dunst. Maybe Spider-Man will have a chance at legitimate representation this time.
          If having taste means thinking a villain that looked and acted as if he were straight out of a Power Rangers episode was up to par...then yea, I have appalling taste.
          • bagboyrebel, on 05/03/2008, -1/+2Dissing Raimi removes all of your credibility.
          • H3BR3W, on 05/03/2008, -0/+1Sam Raimi doesn't know how to make a Spider-Man movie, sorry. That whole trilogy was a colossal waste of time and money.
            Was I the only one who watched the third one? That movie is as bad as Elektra, Cat Woman, Hulk, or other debauchery in the same vein.
    • AndrewJC, on 05/03/2008, -0/+4Personally, I think that Mark Hamill (in the Batman cartoons) was a much better Joker than Jack Nicholson was.
      • rpad, on 05/03/2008, -1/+0He was fantastic as Joker, but Nicholson's physical acting was fantastic. Remember when Hamill played Trickster in The Flash live-action show? He was pretty wretched and showed that he couldn't pull off the physical comedy that Nicholson did.
      • H3BR3W, on 05/03/2008, -0/+1When The Dark Knight was first announced, I joked about having Mark Hamill just do a voice-over for whomever ended up playing him. Ledger's looks so dead on, though. I mean, the whole movie looks nothing short of perfect.
        Jack Nicholson knew his stuff when it came to the Joker, though. Batman '89 may have been a pretty nasty Bat-flick, despite what it meant to me as a kid, but I have to give ole' Jack credit where it's due. It was a good portrayal and quite a memorable performance.
    • Darph.Bobo, on 05/05/2008, -0/+1Obvious omission to your villians list:
      Terminator: Arnold Schwarzenegger
  • hinmanj, on 05/03/2008, -7/+3A bunch of marvel superheroes, and then BAM! THE MASK OF ZORRO! I would have rather seen Downey Jr. as Ironman cap the end of that list.
    • Maxamegalon2000, on 05/03/2008, -1/+5For what it's worth, Batman and Superman are DC, not Marvel.
  • Rikkochet, on 05/03/2008, -1/+43I know he was the inevitable choice, but I think Patrick Stewart was a perfect Professor X.
  • TommyDons, on 05/03/2008, -7/+1And the opposite of Christopher Reeve... Christopher Walken

    Well that just stamped my ticket for hell...
  • kickcows, on 05/03/2008, -2/+91920? seriously?
    • thewindfish, on 05/03/2008, -3/+4I hate when the authors of lists like this try to make themselves seem like legitimate film critics by listing movies so old that few of us could relate to it, let alone enjoy it. Who can actually sit through a movie made before the 40s?
      • einrobstein, on 05/03/2008, -1/+4I can. M, City Lights, Modern Times, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, The Wizard of Oz, Duck Soup, All Quiet on the Western Front, Gone with the Wind, Frakenstein, King Kong, Metropolis, The General, Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans, The Crowd, Gold Rush, Nosferatu, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Broken Blossoms, The Birth of a Nation, etc. are all fantastic movies and must-sees for any true cinephile (and all made before 1940). BTW I'm 21.

        But I agree that the author was trying to gain some cred with that pick.
  • detales, on 05/03/2008, -7/+1You know, this is probably a little off topic but every time I see an article on superheroes I can't help but feel like bringing up the documentary that me and my production company have been working on for the past year. It's about a group of people called Real Life Superheroes and if you're interested in seeing the teaser, you can check it out here:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EguGL5gCWw

    And trust me, I'm not trying to shamelessly plug it for publicity - posting comments on digg has not quite been written into our marketing strategy. I'm just a little drunk and think some of you guys with an interest in superheroes might find it interesting.

    boy i'm tired.
    • gradivus, on 05/03/2008, -1/+1Ummmm....Follow your dreams?
    • OfNumbers, on 05/03/2008, -0/+1I'm glad to know people still think they won't get shot for running around scaring dumb Americans. But getting shot WOULD make your video go viral pretty quick.
  • vodkataime, on 05/03/2008, -6/+1Hugh Jackman should be number 1 imho
    • ZackRI, on 05/03/2008, -0/+2Why? He's a intelligent, tall, attractive man, while wolverine is supposed to a wild, short, ugly guy. And I know while he might be a wild man he can still do some intelligent things.

      Least you didn't say Halley Berry as Storm, because I'm sure that "you know what happens when lighting strikes a toad" was exactly in character for storm.

      X-men might have started the comic book movie revolution and it might have been good for the time, that still doesn't mean it was a good movie in retrospect.
  • Danby123, on 05/03/2008, -4/+2.
  • lbdinh, on 05/03/2008, -5/+2I think Wesley Snipes as Blade should've been above zorro and batman.
  • idigital, on 05/03/2008, -0/+13Patrick Warburton as The Tick is a pretty inspired bit of casting imho.
  • jackalsclaw, on 05/03/2008, -3/+2what the hell about Hugo Weaving as V ?
    • frepnog, on 05/03/2008, -0/+0He was good. However, V mostly sucked, and bombed. So, not on the list.
  • johndajap56, on 05/03/2008, -3/+1Your forgetting the EPIC movie Catwoman played by Halle Berry, should've won an academy award it was so good
  • robertallen, on 05/03/2008, -7/+6Michael Keaton was the best Batman, in my opinion.
    • Ford_Prefect2nd, on 05/03/2008, -2/+3Was about to post just that.
    • grimward, on 05/03/2008, -2/+4Me too, although I've adored Christian Bale in all his roles he's done, he simply cannot beat Michael Keaton as the batman. Keaton is to batman as Sean Connery is to James Bond, that simple.
    • ZenMojo, on 05/03/2008, -0/+2Christian Bale was crappy in the costume, but he was the best Bruce Wayne ever. I suggest anyone that dugg people down here actually WATCH Batman again and skip to all of the scenes with Michael Keaton under the cowl. He really is brilliant in that movie.
      • frepnog, on 05/03/2008, -0/+0Not really. The problem with Keaton is that he is the same person in every role, he doesn't become the character, the character becomes Keaton. Just like any role that Kevin Costner plays. I enjoy the original Keaton Batman, but come on, Bale WAS the ***** Batman.
    • Darph.Bobo, on 05/04/2008, -0/+1Mr. Mom as Batman has got to be one of the worst superhero casting choices ever.
  • q00u, on 05/03/2008, -3/+1NO ROBERT DOWNEY JR?

    Buried as inaccurate.
  • zebragrrl, on 05/03/2008, -0/+2No mentions for Bill Bixby as David Banner, and the surprisingly good casting of Peter Weller (an admittedly wooden actor) as Robocop.. Other greats I can think of.. Bill Campbell in The Rocketeer, Ron Perlman as Hellboy, and I really liked Liam Neeson as Darkman (even if Larry Drake did kind of overly cheese the movie(s) up with his Durant).. and I must guiltily admit that I loved Matt Salinger as Captain America.
    • grimward, on 05/03/2008, -1/+1I liked Bixby/Weller/Neeson, but the rest.. brrrrr soooo horrible. (especially hellboy, what a stinker of a movie that was..)
    • ZenMojo, on 05/03/2008, -0/+1Some of those you listed aren't actually previously-existing superheroes. I'll fill out the list, though.
      1) Blade.
      2) Hellboy.
      • soccerharry, on 05/03/2008, -0/+0Are you suggesting that Blade and Hellboy didn't exist before their respective movies?
  • grimward, on 05/03/2008, -0/+2As I've mentioned before, the only gripe I have is the "bale as batman" bit. However, I would also like to add that Errol Flynn made a very nice Robin Hood too, but .. had Cary Elves actually made a non comedic variant of Robin Hood, I think he would have beaten Errol Flynn hands down.
  • robthom, on 05/03/2008, -0/+1Buried because fanboys are the spawn of satan.
  • crossmr, on 05/03/2008, -0/+3Zorro is a superhero?
    • Darph.Bobo, on 05/04/2008, -0/+1If you can put Batman on the list you can put Zorro on there. I agree with you, without a super power you can't accurately be called a Superhero. The term is however very loosely used.
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