Biggest Mid-Franchise Casting Replacements in a Comic Book Movie Franchise

[nocomics]

Tyler Mane/Liev: I agree I think Liev did a marvolous job as Sabretooth as well he had a bigger role anyways.

Katie Holmes to Maggie Gyllenhaal : I personally disliked Maggie as Rachel she was so robotic imo..

Brian Cox to Danny Huston as William Stryker: I agreed Brian was way better than Danny,to me Danny almost single handedly ruined Wolverine


Micheal-Val-George-Bale: Not sure what to say about this ever changing lead roles in this series. Im torn between Keaton/Bale as to who was the best Batman. I personally disliked Val/George as the cape crusader.

 

[Ace of Knaves]

I thought Liev was excellent. You could say Sabertooth in X-1 was written poorly, and I'd agree. But even if he was written well I don't think Mane could personify the pure antagonistic nature of Creed. And that devilish smirk...Liev rocked it.

Val Kilmer was great too I thought. I know some people mock Forever but I thought that Kilmer was brilliant in the more serious scenes. I loved the scene with his fathers journal and when he was arguing with Dick about what revenge can do to a man. And when Dick was like...

"No ones gonna stop me" (or something like that)

And Kilmer's Bruce was like...

"I CAN stop you..."

That was just bad ass.

People say Forever was a stupid brightly colour kiddie film. But the more serious scenes were very good I thought. The characterization of Bruce was great.

And Ed Norton? I'm a massive fan of Norton but to be honest I felt his performance in TIH was one of his weakest. He just seemed, I dunno, jaded? Disinterested? He didn't seem to put his all into the role and that's surprising considering his "apparent" enthusiasm for it.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

Got to be Brandon Routh for me, he totally embodied Reeve's Superman and it was like Reeve never left, great performance.

 

[BloodyWolverine]

If you mixed Harris and Gambon, it would equal the perfect Dumbledore. Harris has the kind, loving side and Gambon has the quirky, crazy side. However, it was a stupid idea to cast Harris when the poor man was old and dying of Hodgkin's. Harris is a great actor and I have nothing but respect for the man but there was no way he would be able to portray Dumbledore correctly or even have the chance over the 10+ years time frame. I cannot fathom the state of health poor Harris would have been in for movie 6 and 7 had he lived. It just wasn't a good casting idea to begin with.

Gambon does good but I wish the man had read the books. But, the perfect casting choice for Dumbledore goes to sir Ian but I do like what Gambon has done. Most fans hate him in GoF but that was the director's and writer's faults.

The first person to read for DD Was Ian McKellan before he excepted the role of Gandalf but i hear Columbus didn't want him because he was Gay. I think Ian would have been the perfect mix of Gambon and Harris. My one problem with Gambon was his performance in GOF for Harris played him wiser.

 

[BestGirl]

And Ed Norton? I'm a massive fan of Norton but to be honest I felt his performance in TIH was one of his weakest. He just seemed, I dunno, jaded? Disinterested? He didn't seem to put his all into the role and that's surprising considering his "apparent" enthusiasm for it.

I assumed Bruce was mellow all the time because he was afraid if he lost his temper or showed too much emotion he would hulk out.

 

[scifiwolf]

Routh did a fantastic job of taking Reeve's interpretation and using it as a guide, not a bible. I actually prefer Routh's Clark to Reeve's.

Kilmer did a great job as Bruce, especially when accounting for Schumacher. He delivered a fine performance in spite of the direction he was given. I believe it's common knowledge how much he fought to maintain the darkness of the first two films.

I have no problems with Katie, but I liked what Maggie did with Rachel. She felt a bit more real and three dimensional as a character in The Dark Knight than in Batman Begins. There were also moments in BB when I was acutely aware of the fact that I was watching an actress on a screen.

Dumbledore has been discussed at great length in the various HP movie threads over the years, and everyone seems to agree that casting Harris to begin with was poor judgement, considering the 10 year investment he was clearly not going to be able to make.

Lastly, I'll bring up Eric Bana and Edward Norton. I think Norton was a fantastic replacement, not because Eric did a bad job, but because Norton is equally talented. Any faults in Bana's portrayal lay squarely on the shoulders of Ang Lee. The man simply micromanaged each performance way too much. The performances in The Incredible Hulk were much looser, more natural.

In the end, I'd have to give my best switch award to Michael Gambon.