Superhero Casting You're Glad Didn't Happen

[Batmannerism]

Obviously Jack Black would not be doing a straight take on GL.

Nope, and that IMO would have worked with the film that they actually put out.

I always felt that GL's biggest flaw was an unlikeable lead who felt totally out of place with the rest of the film.

Of course, the only GL Jack Black could really play would be G'Nort, but that still would have been a lot more entertaining than the film we got.

 

[Lantern Venom]

Obviously Jack Black would not be doing a straight take on GL.

The tone was already a serious problem, and had it been even more comedic, the final product would have been worse. Hal occasionally has a sarcastic wit, but he's not a jokester. Combine that with the movie taking a turn back to Earth for a helping of an unnecessary love story and a sloppy serving of ' daddy issues, and it's easy to see where GL went wrong. It should have stayed serious with only a sprinkling of humor and most certainly avoided pandering to casual fans at the expense of the source material. Black certainly wouldn't have helped that.

 

[Eddie Dean]

Jack Black GL and Ryan Reynolds GL where two separate projects.

 

[Lantern Venom]

Jack Black GL and Ryan Reynolds GL where two separate projects.

IIRC, Black mentioned somewhere that Rob Smigel wrote the script and it was, according to Black, "hilarious". The idea of that ever seeing the light of day terrifies me. It would have been a disaster of Catwoman proportions, possibly even worse.

 

[CaptainWagner]

Jack Black as G'Nort is really quite genius. Wasn't his GL movie supposed to star Gardner, though?

Either way, I'd love to see him finally get involved in a CBM, even if he did "rage" against them at the Oscars when NPH hosted. I think he'd make a great Penguin.

 

[Batmannerism]

Jack Black as G'Nort is really quite genius. Wasn't his GL movie supposed to star Gardner, though?

Either way, I'd love to see him finally get involved in a CBM, even if he did "rage" against them at the Oscars when NPH hosted. I think he'd make a great Penguin.

Yeah, I mean a GL movie could be quite funny, Will Ferrell as Guy Gardner and Jack Black as G'Nort - or at least part of an ensemble anyway.

 

[Rowsdower!]

Jack Black was supposed to play a bumbling idiot character named Jud Plato who gets the ring through ambiguous circumstances. Other characters like Hal supposedly factored into the story, but they're mostly just there to be the straight men who stand around scratching their heads over why this total a**hole wound up with a GL ring.

I know everyone hates the Reynolds film and it was a bad movie but there's no way anyone will ever convince me that the Jack Black GL film would have been any good.

 

[David H.]

There was a character named Jud Plato?

Ticket sold.

 

[DX]

Freddie Prinze Jr. as Spider-Man.

Yes, this was actually considered by Sony.

 

[DACrowe]

What's so bad about SJ?

Nothing is wrong about Scarlett Johansson. But honestly while Ms. Johansson is great in plenty of other movies (Vicky Christina, Lost in Translation, Her)... she kind of phones it in as Black Widow. Other than the first Avengers film, and maybe The Winter Soldier, she's always looked primarily bored in the role. Not that I blame her, Natasha as written is often very one-note.

I also have never seen her give a performance like Blunt did in Sicario, or even Girl on the Train (which is not very good, but Blunt is strong).

I am indifferent, because Johansson is fine, but I wouldn't write off Blunt, especially after Edge of Tomorrow. Or to put it this way, I suspect Blunt could have pulled off the Russian accent from the word go.

 

[DACrowe]

Oh to answer the question in the thread:

Freddie Prinze Jr. as Spidey
Joshua Jackson as Batman
Dougary Scott as Wolverine
Tom Cruise as Tony Stark
Jessica Biel as Catwoman

We have dodged some bullets. (Looks at the Fantastic Four franchise). Of course, we have not dodged them all.

 

[Rowsdower!]

Agreed on all counts, DACrowe. The Freddie's Prinze Jr. one would have been particularly catastrophic. I know some people have a bug up their butt about Tobey Maguire but I still credit the first two Spider-Man films with being game changers for the superhero genre, even more so than X-Men and Blade because they proved that you can embrace the comic booky stuff and still make a great film. And a key reason why those films worked was Tobey. Miscasting Peter Parker likely would have ruined the films.

And oh yeah... speaking of which... anyone else here remember spiderfreddie?

 

[DACrowe]

Oh, I forgot about him. Poor spiderfreddie? Maybe he is happier now... somewhere because Spider-Man: Homecoming looks vaguely like She's All That. It must be a dream come true.

 

[MadVillainy]

He retired from live action acting. He voice acts on Star Wars Rebels. Has a cookbook. Married to Buffy.

Ole boy better be happy

 

[Rowsdower!]

He retired from live action acting. He voice acts on Star Wars Rebels. Has a cookbook. Married to Buffy.

Ole boy better be happy

To clarify,

"spiderfreddie" was the name of a Hype poster from around 2002-2004(?) that wanted Freddie Prinze Jr. to play Spider-Man. His posts were often angry rants, chock full of spelling and grammatical errors. They read like this:

YoU guys I think Gorge Clooney should get ONE MORE CAHNCE to play the bat!! I Know You Guys KEep saying it Shuld be Christin Bale but I've seen His Movies and he would be KINDA LAME!

I was never sure whether he was just a parody of an overzealous superhero fan or if he was actually for real.

 

[Ipodman]

Tom Hiddleston as Thor.

 

[David H.]

On the subject "what if" MCU, Nic Cage as Iron Man.

Not sure if Phoenix would have made a good Banner.

Leto was considered to play Doc Strange.

 

[BoredGuy]

Nothing is wrong about Scarlett Johansson. But honestly while Ms. Johansson is great in plenty of other movies (Vicky Christina, Lost in Translation, Her)... she kind of phones it in as Black Widow. Other than the first Avengers film, and maybe The Winter Soldier, she's always looked primarily bored in the role. Not that I blame her, Natasha as written is often very one-note.

I also have never seen her give a performance like Blunt did in Sicario, or even Girl on the Train (which is not very good, but Blunt is strong).

I am indifferent, because Johansson is fine, but I wouldn't write off Blunt, especially after Edge of Tomorrow. Or to put it this way, I suspect Blunt could have pulled off the Russian accent from the word go.

I agree on SJ, Winter Soldier was the only time she gave it a real strong effort, and also the only time she had a good amount to work with... Avengers 1 she was good, but just kinda "having fun" more than being "there to work"

I still don't get the calls for "Blunt for Widow" though.... I've never seen her play sultry or seductive or deceptive or anything that I picture as Black Widow-esque
I do love me some Emily Blunt though, while I'm happy Brie Larson got Capt Marvel, Blunt would've been my preference.

Hopefully Marvel finally finds some role for her, one of these days
She could've been an awesome Jess Jones too

 

[OutOfBoose]

Annette Bening as Catwoman. Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman is Heath Ledger's Joker for me.

 

[Rowsdower!]

I agree on SJ, Winter Soldier was the only time she gave it a real strong effort, and also the only time she had a good amount to work with... Avengers 1 she was good, but just kinda "having fun" more than being "there to work"

I still don't get the calls for "Blunt for Widow" though.... I've never seen her play sultry or seductive or deceptive or anything that I picture as Black Widow-esque
I do love me some Emily Blunt though, while I'm happy Brie Larson got Capt Marvel, Blunt would've been my preference.

Hopefully Marvel finally finds some role for her, one of these days
She could've been an awesome Jess Jones too

Yeah, I hope there's a superhero role in Blunt's future. She was my top pick for Wonder Woman AND Captain Marvel. I'm stoked about Larson of course; she'll be great. Jury's still out on Gadot as Wonder Woman though, at least for me. Hope she does well though.

But even if we don't see Blunt in a Marvel or DC movie, at least we'll see her return as the Full Metal B***h in Edge of Tomorrow 2.

 

[Darepool]

Well Mary Poppins is a kind of superhero.

 

[Rowsdower!]

Whoa I hadn't heard she was playing Mary Poppins! That's perfect casting.

 

[Silvermoth]

Tom Cruise as Iron Man. Ick.

Oded Fehr might have been an interesting choice though

 

[David H.]

I think Clive Owen would have made a good Stark.

There was a time when Jeremy Renner was rumored to play Cap in modern setting. I thought that would have been cool, too.

 

[Doctor Octopus]

Can't imagine Jeremy Renner as Cap.