Actors Who Picked the Wrong Superhero Roles

[Deck Rickard]

Has there ever been an actor that landed a role in a superhero movie and it made you think that they would have been much better as a different character? This is a thread to discuss those (possible) missed opportunities.

A few of mine…

Jason Momoa is a decent Aquaman, but he was born to play Lobo.

Anne Hathaway was a good Catwoman, but she would have made a GREAT Lois Lane.

Nicholas Hoult is good as Beast but I think he could have made an even better Superman or Batman.

Ben Hardy was forgettable as Angel but would have made a great Barry Allen.

Halle Berry was a terrible Catwoman but would have made a great (real) Catwoman.

 

[Web-Head]

Can't say it was the "wrong role" since he was great in it, but Chris Pine as Steve Trevor and not Barry Allen makes me sad.

Hemsworth would have made a great Aquaman too

 

[Deck Rickard]

Yeah, Pine would have made a great Barry or Hal Jordan. Though his Steve Trevor was so good I don’t mind. Honestly, I never cared for Steve Trevor as a character until Pine played him.

 

[Spider-Fan83]

Ryan Reynolds - Hannibal King - Blade: Trinity

Eric Bana - Bruce Banner- Hulk (2003)
had potential as a good Bruce Banner, But, greater potential as many other hero roles
(possibly - Mr. Fantastic)

Ryan Reynolds - Nick Walker - R.I.P.D.

Fantastic Four/ Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
potentially good cast, wrong movies

Ryan Reynolds - Wade Wilson - X-men Origins: Wolverine
(Should have played the real Deadpool all along but in a good movie)

Brandon Routh - Clark Kent/Superman -Superman Returns
potentially right role, wrong movie

Ryan Reynolds - Hal Jordan - Green Lantern

the whole cast of Fant4stic

David Harbour - Hellboy - Hellboy(2019)

 

[Deck Rickard]

Ryan Reynolds - Hannibal King - Blade: Trinity

Eric Bana - Bruce Banner- Hulk (2003)
had potential as a good Bruce Banner, But, greater potential as many other hero roles
(possibly - Mr. Fantastic)

Ryan Reynolds - Nick Walker - R.I.P.D.

Fantastic Four/ Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
potentially good cast, wrong movies

Ryan Reynolds - Wade Wilson - X-men Origins: Wolverine
(Should have played the real Deadpool all along but in a good movie)

Brandon Routh - Clark Kent/Superman -Superman Returns
potentially right role, wrong movie

Ryan Reynolds - Hal Jordan - Green Lantern

the whole cast of Fant4stic

David Harbour - Hellboy - Hellboy(2019)

Hahaha yeah Ryan Reynolds kind of IS this thread, or at least he would be if he had never gotten a chance to play the “real” Deadpool. It’s amazing how many bad CBMs he was in before then. I think people forget about RIPD and Blade Trinity but those movies were god-awful.

I think Reynolds was also attached to the Flash at one point way back before Green Lantern. He would have easily been better than Ezra Miller as any version of the character.

 

[Captain Tired]

I remember a lot of people thought Jim Carrey would have been better utilised as the Joker. Shame his superstardom came about 6 years too late. On the upside though, we got Jack Nicholson.

 

[Deck Rickard]

I remember a lot of people thought Jim Carrey would have been better utilised as the Joker. Shame his superstardom came about 6 years too late. On the upside though, we got Jack Nicholson.

Yeah I’m not sure how Jim Carrey might have been as the Joker. Maybe he could have pulled it off though. I remember wanted Dano for the Joker after seeing him in Prisoners. But he was a great Riddler and I wouldn’t change that if I could.

 

[henzINNIT]

Jennifer Lawrence never seemed comfortable playing Mystique.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

He was great as Thanos and Cable though.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

Chris Pine for Hal Jordan.

Idris Elba for War Machine.

 

[Erzengel]

Jennifer Lawrence never seemed comfortable playing Mystique.

Fox choosing Jennifer Lawrence to be the face of the X-Men is probably one of the biggest mistakes in that series.

 

[Deck Rickard]

Just another case of “Wait, this actor is popular now? Let’s center the franchise on them!” And so you have Mystique going from a cold blooded killer to the heart and soul of the X-Men franchise. Ugh.

 

[Captain Tired]

I thought I was the only person who preferred Rebecca Romijn's Mystique.

 

[metaphysician]

I would argue that casting Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique in First Class was not a mistake. She's a really good actress, and having a "Mystique origin story" subplot was a weird decision but not an intrinsically bad one.

The mistake was "everything they did with the character from then on out". Bringing her back constantly was a dubious call, and having her almost immediately redeem was a *terrible* decision.

 

[Iceman]

I thought I was the only person who preferred Rebecca Romijn's Mystique.

I think nearly everyone did lol.

 

[Captain Tired]

Well I'm pleasantly surprised and glad!

 

[henzINNIT]

Romijn was fantastic and her Mystique is low-key one of the most iconic things in those movies.

I would argue that casting Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique in First Class was not a mistake. She's a really good actress, and having a "Mystique origin story" subplot was a weird decision but not an intrinsically bad one.

The mistake was "everything they did with the character from then on out". Bringing her back constantly was a dubious call, and having her almost immediately redeem was a *terrible* decision.

This is true. Lawrence was as good a choice as any for Mystique as she was in First Class.

I'll disagree slightly so far as I think Mystique had a really solid role in Days of Future Past. None of Mystique's roles in the prequel films were what anyone would have chosen, but her story through those first two films is actually pretty good. Having the battle for the future be a battle for Mystique's soul worked surprisingly well, with her being a center point between Xavier and Magneto, the story just about explaining why she was so different in the original films, and then allowing her prequel-self to go in a different direction moving forward. That was a good end point for her story with the X-Men, possibly even a good jumping off point for a spin-off.

Apocalypse and Dark Phoenix were just awful though, with Mystique and many, many other things.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

This thread is missing the legend of Jared Leto and his two stinking roles; Joker and Morbius.

 

[Deck Rickard]

This thread is missing the legend of Jared Leto and his two stinking roles; Joker and Morbius.

Perhaps, but with Leto it’s more a case of “they never should have cast you in any CBM role” than “you would have been much better as ___.”

 

[Bayne]

Romijn was fantastic and her Mystique is low-key one of the most iconic things in those movies.



This is true. Lawrence was as good a choice as any for Mystique as she was in First Class.

I'll disagree slightly so far as I think Mystique had a really solid role in Days of Future Past. None of Mystique's roles in the prequel films were what anyone would have chosen, but her story through those first two films is actually pretty good. Having the battle for the future be a battle for Mystique's soul worked surprisingly well, with her being a center point between Xavier and Magneto, the story just about explaining why she was so different in the original films, and then allowing her prequel-self to go in a different direction moving forward. That was a good end point for her story with the X-Men, possibly even a good jumping off point for a spin-off.

Apocalypse and Dark Phoenix were just awful though, with Mystique and many, many other things.

I would actually take it even farther. Not only do FC and DoFP work very well with the character, but the concept of what was done with her in Apocalypse is also actually a good and interesting extension of her basic story arc. It doesn't come across as well as it should because A) the movie is horribly written and B) it's too blatantly obvious that they're deliberately keeping her out of the makeup for reasons that have nothing to do with narrative or character which is just distracting. But it is a good idea for a followup to DoFP to examine how that decision to save the president caused her to be viewed by other people who don't know her and how those people's idea of her can effect how she sees herself, too.

By the time you get to Dark Phoenix, though, she's just turned into another Magneto who only exists in the story because she 'has' to even though there's literally no worthwhile role for her to play whatsoever.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

I always wanted Salma Hayek for Mystique or maybe an East Indian actress.

 

[Deck Rickard]

It’s tragic that the only time we got Salma in a superhero movie was in her small role in Eternals.

 

[henzINNIT]

I would actually take it even farther. Not only do FC and DoFP work very well with the character, but the concept of what was done with her in Apocalypse is also actually a good and interesting extension of her basic story arc. It doesn't come across as well as it should because A) the movie is horribly written and B) it's too blatantly obvious that they're deliberately keeping her out of the makeup for reasons that have nothing to do with narrative or character which is just distracting. But it is a good idea for a followup to DoFP to examine how that decision to save the president caused her to be viewed by other people who don't know her and how those people's idea of her can effect how she sees herself, too.

By the time you get to Dark Phoenix, though, she's just turned into another Magneto who only exists in the story because she 'has' to even though there's literally no worthwhile role for her to play whatsoever.

I think my objection to Mystique's role in Apocalypse is that her becoming team-Xavier is less interesting to me than the prospect of forging her own path seperate from either of those men. It's like she found independence in DOFP and then swung right back for the next one. I think it also damages Xavier's arc in that he had to be written as super naive so that Mystique could remind him that mutants are in danger. That never worked for me. Charles should know better; he may have had a more priviliged life than Mystique, but he had experienced plenty of mutant suffering by then, and has the power to actually feel the hurt his fellow mutants went through.

Making Mystique's blue form a symbol, and forcing her to appear human to remain annonymous was a smart way to reduce Lawrence's make-up time. I don't mind that so much. What will eternally irk me is that Hank encourages her to embrace that symbol... all while still hiding himself. Their dynamic would have worked so much better in that film if Hank had finally made peace with his blue self. Him actually being Beast was long over-due.

 

[Deck Rickard]

I feel like the prequel X-Men series was such a case of just making it up as they went along. It’s not as egregious as the latest Star Wars trilogy, but there were plenty of things they established in previous films that they just dumped in the follow up. Everything from Beast and Mystique embracing their true forms to Charles getting paralyzed was partially undone in DOFP just because it was more convenient to have actors not wearing a ton of makeup and for McAvoy to not be confined to a wheelchair. It mostly works but I think it set a bad precedent for future films, which is partially why Apocalypse and Dark Phoenix are straight-up garbage.

 

[MilkmanDan]

Anne Hathaway was a good Catwoman, but she would have made a GREAT Lois Lane.

Absolutely.

Nicholas Hoult is good as Beast but I think he could have made an even better Superman or Batman.

Not sure about Batman but definitely Superman. But mostly I just think he may have played the wrong X-Man. I can't help but see him as young Scott Summers.

I also think that if Bobby Cannavale wasn't part of Ant-Man's supporting cast, he could have been a good Ben Grimm.