Wasted Potential: Actors that Should Have Been Superheroes

Slept? That's a new one to me. What the hell does slept mean?

 

It means he was put to sleep. Snuffed out. Dead.

 

I remember hearing rumors of, Josh Hartnett, having been approached for the role of both, Superman and Batman, for different projects over the years.... would have been interesting to see how he would of done, if he ever took on the role(s)

 

I could totally see Bats.

 

Angela Basset as Storm.

Mel Gibson as Wolverine.

Barry Pepper as Cyclops.

Idris Elba as War Machine.

Josh Brolin as Batman.

 

If someone had called Bloodsport "Deadshot" in the actual movie, nobody would have noticed either. They're the same damn character besides Elba being British and having a cooler looking helmet. It was clearly supposed to be Deadshot and I don't think they expected Will Smith to turn it down and when he did, Gunn just said screw it and changed as little as possible to differentiate the two.

 

Eh, I can't really agree. They both fit the same "niche", but aside from that niche they have almost nothing in common. . . or rather, every aspect that they could have in common is almost diametrically flipped. To quote from TVTropes, because they have the best quick summary:

Bloodsport is essentially this to Deadshot from the first movie. Both men are elite-level assassins and Notorious Parents with hidden hearts of gold who end up being dragged into Waller's suicide mission for the sake of their children. But where as Deadshot is the doting father of a cheerful young girl who loves him despite of his career as a hired gun, Bloodsport is a terrible father to a juvenile delinquent who are both constantly at each other's throats. Whereas Deadshot is motivated to join the Squad by his need to be back in his daughter's life, Bloodsport wants nothing to do with his kid, but is coerced into joining the team or else his daughter will be sent to Belle Reve by Waller to die. Where Deadshot was consistently at odds with Rick Flag during their mission in Midway City and had to overcome their grievances with one another to get the job done, Bloodsport and Flag are old war buddies who are far more cordial to one another during their operation in Corto Maltese. Deadshot was a jerk with the occasional good moment, whereas Bloodsport is a pretty good guy with the occasional jerk moment. And where Deadshot's skillset is defined by his Improbable Aiming Skills, Bloodsport's skillset showcases a bigger emphasis on him being both a Walking Armory and a Multi-Melee Master who's capable of mowing down entire armies with his superior firepower. And more strikingly, Where Deadshot completed his mission but is still entrapped as Waller's asset, Bloodsport succeeded in obtaining freedom for both himself and the surviving members of his squad via blackmailing Waller with the data collected from Jotunheim. Even their superhero adversaries are contrasting, with Deadshot being a Batman villain who was eventually appended by the Dark Knight during a night out with his daughter while Bloodsport is a Superman villain who put the Man of Steel in the ICU before he was arrested.

 

Good points but it's still pretty clear that the script was written with Smith's Deadshot in mind and Bloodsport was the easiest replacement to use.

 

Not a hero, but Jason Statham for Bullseye was something that sounded promising to me.

 

I was most intrigued by Will Arnett as Bullseye

 

They missed a massive trick on Viggo M not being Green Arrow in my book, in a proper DC film, not the tv series version....

Same as Angela Bassett as Storm, why they went for Berry when AB was available, to this day, I still cannot figure.

 

Only reason that comes to mind is they probably wanted to go a little younger for Storm.

 

My old Hollywood pick for Batman would be Gregory Peck. Robert Mitchum I could see as Nick Fury.

Oh, and Rock Hudson as Superman.

 

Somewhere there’s an alternate universe version of Tim Burton’s Batman with Alec Baldwin as Bruce and Willem Dafoe as Joker.

 

I wish Viola Davis had a role in the MCU. She’s amazing as Waller in the DCEU, but she deserves more.

 

It’s never too late, my friend. Plenty of actors have double dipped between Marvel and the Distinguished Competition. Hell, there are even rumors that the likes of Affleck and Cavill could join the MCU.

 

I've got several pages worth of actors who " shoulda/ coulda, have been X,Y,Z" on this site .

I'll just post a few of them from DC and Marvel here, since they're on several different threads on the site

For a 1960s Fantastic Four


Mister Fantastic : Russell Johnson


Invisible Girl : Elizabeth Montgomery


Human Torch : Tab Hunter


The Thing : Ernest Borgnine

In terms of Ventriloquist for the Burton-verse, I would have gone for John Lithgow.
He was actually approached for Joker for Batman 89, but I think he would have been more suited for Ventriloquist


For my 1970s, Francis Ford Coppola Batman , I would probably go with Gene Wilder as Mad Hatter


And Faye Dunaway as Selina Kyle/ Catwoman


For a 1960s Era X Men film


Professor X : Yul Brynner


Magneto : Christopher Plummer



Wolverine for a 1970s X Men film : Clint Eastwood

 

I often think of '60s Jack Lemmon or '70s Gene Wilder as the Joker.

 

I never thought of Gene Wilder as Joker in the 70s, but he could have been interesting.



Gilda Radner would have made a great Harley Quinn imo.

 

I think Max Von Sydow would have made a good Burtonverse / Heart of Ice origin , Mr. Freeze, circa 1980s



I also think Brad Dourif would have made an awesome Burtonverse Scarecrow imo. He was also up for Joker and then later Riddler during the Burton/Schumacer era's.

 

Henry Cavill would have made a great Superman… with JJ Abrams’ script. I still think that movie would have sucked but I think the character of Superman at least would have worked.