Wasted Potential: Actors that Should Have Been Superheroes

Yeah I can pull off a beard but a few times I’ve shaved it off and left the mustache for like a minute and then immediately shaved that off too lol. It’s scary.

 

In my mind, Sam Elliot had the mustache since birth lol. Can’t imagine him without

 

There are a few actresses I think would have made great Lois Lane's in the 1990s, but never got a chance since a Superman film never got off the ground then


Sandra Bullock


Courtney Cox



Rena Sofer


Julianna Margulies

 

For sure, but did you have to use THAT photo of Courtney Cox? What were they thinking giving her those awful bangs in Scream 3?

 

There's always the Monica look

 

Now there’s a Lois Lane.

 

Kevin Conroy as a live action Bruce Wayne/Batman in the mid-80s:


Dude was Julliard trained just like Christopher Reeve, jacked, and a jawline to rival Pattinson. Could have been something very special if it had a creative behind it on par with Dinner's Superman.

 

I knew him without one first before seeing him with one. He was part of the cast of the Mission Impossible TV series during Season 4 or 5 and there was never a moustache in sight.

 

On the Marvel front, I think Izabella Scorupco(Goldeneye) would have made a great 1990s, post Cold War era, Black Widow.






Gary Sinise would have been my choice for a 90s era Hawkeye


Julie Deply, of The Before Trilogy, would be my pick for Yelena


I also think the woefully underrated David Strathairn would have made an excellent 90s era Bruce Banner.

 

If they had made X Men films in the early to mid 90s, Tia Carrere ( True Lies, Wayne's World, Relic Hunter) would have made an awesome Psylocke imo.




Sharon Stone would have made a pretty wicked Emma Frost



And Sean Bean would have made a pretty cool Banshee

 

Lucy lawless as wonder woman

 

A young Michael J. Fox would have made a great Spider-Man.

 

Sophie Marceau of Braveheart and The World Is Not Enough would have made a great 1990s era Talia Al Ghul imo.



Catherine Zeta Jones ( Entrapment, The Mask Of Zorro) would also have made a good 1990s Talia as well.
Then again, I think there are several DC characters she could have pulled off well in the 90s.




On the Marvel side, there are two character actors who I think would have made great Doc Ock's in a 1990s era Spiderman film.

Larry Drake of Darkman and LA Law



And character actor Bob Gunton of Shawshank Redemption

 

Though I loved Alfred Molina as Dr. Octopus, I would have been interested in, also liked Gabriel Byrne as Dr. Octopus (especially given that he earlier, as a German, starred with young Kirsten Dunst in Little Women).

 

R Lee Ermey would have made a great 1980s or 1990s J. Jonah Jameson.




Bernie Casey would have made a great 1980s Robbie Robertson


In terms of 1980s Spiderman directors , if they went the High School or College route
I'd say John Hughes





Or Cameron Crowe


Ivan Reitman could also have made a pretty good 1980s Spiderman film imo.

 

Oh man, Ermey would have made an EPIC JJJ. I can’t believe I never thought about that before. Dude straight up LOOKS like him.

 

In keeping with the Spiderman theme, I think Jean Reno of The Professional and Mission Impossible, would have made a great Kraven The Hunter in the 90s.




And Robert Carlyle of The World Is Not Enough, Trainspotting, and Once Upon A Time could have a good 1990s Chameleon.




Paul Sorvino is my 1990s choice to have played Wilson Fisk aka The Kingpin

 

Watching Westworld and being reminded that James Marsden would have been a great Cyclops

 

I wish Julia Stiles played Sue Storm.

 

I think Naomi Watts circa the late 90s to late 00s , would have made a good Sue Storm



Mads Mikkelsen would have also made a great Doctor Doom circa the early to late 00's.

 

It’s still irks me that Marvel wasted Mads on one of their most forgettable villains. They should have saved him for Doom or someone else.

 

In terms of wasted opportunities, not casting Angela Bassett as Storm in the 90s and early 00s, was definitely one of them.

The lady was born to play Storm, and the 90s would have been the perfect moment imo.






If they had made Captain America or Avengers films in the 1960s and 1970s, I think Donald Pleasance would have made a good Armin Zola of Hydra

 

Bassett was actually offered the Storm role on the first X-Men film but she wanted too much money and they couldn't afford her.

 

Yeah. I remember when at the time when she I read she wasn't gonna get the role.

She was considered for the role as far back as when Katheryn Bigalow and James Cameron were still attached to X Men project.

I gotta think by the time the project got going , i.e., the late 90s, she would have been one of the bigger household names for the project along with Patrick Stewart.

 

Cameron and Bigelow were attached to X-Men at one point? I didn’t know that. Might have been interesting to see what they would have done but then, I remember a certain scene in Cameron’s Spider-Man film concept that made be glad he never got his hands on the the web-slinger.

Speaking of X-Men in the 1990s, I remember Wizard used to do a regular column back then where they would fancast hypothetical superhero movies and they did one for X-Men. I think Bassett was their pick for Storm and they also had Michael Biehn for Cyclops. I always loved that idea. But then I remember they also had Glenn Danzig for Wolverine so not all of their ideas were very well thought out lol.