Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.
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Whoa, brave Pegasus! Before my very eyes, another year reaches its pulse-pounding season finale!
But is that what is on our minds?
That, I cannot say. For even one blessed with such hierophantic heroics as myself struggles, upon nights like this, to see into the hearts of mortal men.
You know?
That one.
The one in which the topic for debate is set by the first person to comment below.
Therefore, be sure to give the New Year a good launching, by posting that topic, in the box below and we can then hope 2025 shall continue as it has started.
Posts
31 comments:
Ok, here's one I thought of a few weeks ago.
Are there actors out there who would work really well as Marvel (or I guess other comics) characters on screen but who didn't get the job, or who ended up playing someone else or where the comic character hasn't appeared on screen yet?
I always thought Patrick Stewart would make a great Vulture.
And there's a huge muscled retired journeyman ex-footballer called Adebayo Akinfenwa who wants to get into acting. He'd have made a great Man Ape.
Interesting topic, dangermash! A mustachioed Timothy Dalton (a la Prince Baron, in Flash Gordon), would have made an excellent Tony Stark!
Phillip
A pity the Carry On team didn't do a Marvel film. I reckon they could have been quite good as the Defenders - Sid James as Dr Strange, Kenneth Williams as Namor, Bernard Bresslaw as the Hulk, Barbara Windsor as Val, and Charles Hawtrey as the Son of Satan.
-sean
Cracking idea Sean but I might go for Kenneth Connor instead as Doctor Strange. A pencil thin moustache always seemed to suit him.
I can’t think of a Marvel / actor combo yet but can I shoehorn in that I always thought J E Freeman (evil hitman in both Miller’s Crossing and Wild At Heart) would have made a perfect Judge Dredd.
I’ll be back if anything else more on-topic occurs to me.
Ted Cassidy ( 'Ruk' in Star Trek) as the Vision, him appearing to be John Buscema's basis for the Vision:
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/a-captivating-image-by-zooba57--761108405806974264/
Phillip
Phillip:
IIRC, Alex Ross had the same idea, casting Dalton as Tony Stark in MARVELS :)
b.t.
Frank Gorshin as the Inbetweener : D
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0708435/mediaviewer/rm3973785344/?ref_=tt_ov_i
Phillip
I see what you mean about Kenneth Connor visually, dangermash, but Sid James generally played one of the lead roles. And he would fit better opposite Joan Sims as Clea.
Seeing as you mentioned Connor though - and as he tended to play characters that whinged and complained - it occurs to me he would have been just right as the Silver Surfer.
Just realized I forgot Nighthawk (I suppose everyone does that when they think of the Defenders). Jim Dale maybe?
Btw, apologies to Steve's American readers, who probably don't have a clue what I'm going on about. You're not actually missing out much though...
-sean
The Mighty Marvel Monster Mash (1973-74)…
Jack Russell : Michael Blodgett
Frankenstein : Ted Cassidy
Morbius : Klaus Kinski
Brother Voodoo : Bernie Casey
Satana: Barbara Bouchet
Son of Satan: Dennis Cole
Lilith: Martine Beswick
Dracula: Jack Palance (OBVIOUSLY)
b.t.
Well played, Phillip ;)
How about Reggie Nalder (Andorian Ambassador) as The Space Phantom?
b.t.
Great topic DM! Alas Charlie is woefully naive of actors post 1975 or so but for the biggest of names.
And if I think about actors, I do know from Bogart to Brando to Matt Damen My head is immediately stuck on the most famous of roles that they played. I can only see Bogart as a nightclub owner from Casablanca or Brando as the godfather.
And then to map that mental image onto a comic book character… I am just getting nowhere!
Thanks for the topic, Dangermash.
I've always thought 1960s era Priscilla Presley was put on this Earth to play Mary Jane Watson.
Also, Roger Delgado was born to play Ra's al Ghul.
Wait… Steve you DID read DC comics???
Like Charlie, I'm not too adept with current actors (my wife, on the other hand, is pretty sharp in this regard). That said, here's a stab: Daniel Craig as Frank Castle / Punisher.
Yes, better leave this to those more in tune with today.
Oh well, Happy New Year everyone!
That’s why I chose period-appropriate actors for Marvel Characters that I dug back in my formative years :)
Happy New Year to the SDC Gang ( and especially to our esteemed host)
b.t.
Bt - The Andorian Ambassador is perfect for the Space Phantom - an inspired choice !
Phillip
OK, this is Charlie’s best attempt, lol. I can imagine a long-haired Brad Pitt dressed as Zardoz being a perfect fit for a Kill Raven?
Still can’t hew to the topic, but here’s another tangent…
When Batman came out in 1989 I thought it was boring. And I also thought that Jack Nicholson was too old and heavy to be the Joker.
I understand he was part and parcel of getting the film made, and that he’d been attached to the project for the entire preceding decade…
…but I remember having seen Withnail & I not long before and thinking how much better a choice Richard E Grant would have been. I still think that now.
Richard E Grant narrated "The Wombles To The Rescue" in seven 15-minute episodes on Radio 4 over Christmas.
If Sean can have the Carry On gang as The Defenders I''ll choose Brian Murphy & Yootha Joyce as Reed & Sue Richards.
And Ronnie Corbett as the Mole Man.
If you're going to have Brian and Yootha as the Richardses then surely Richard O'Sullivan needs to play Namor!
Allow Charlie to ask a playful question… As you fellows go through this exercise, do you start with an actor and imagine their role as a comedy ccharacter? Or are you starting with your favorite comic book characters and backing into the actor who would best represent them?
Dwayne Johnson as Namor (as per Big John Buscema’s cover for Sub-Mariner #1, back in the sixties), or Doc Savage (a movie starring him was rumoured previously).
Don Galloway (Sgt Ed Brown in Ironside) was nominated as Hal Jordan/Green Lantern back in the day, and would have been a perfect visual.
My personal favourite would be Robert Colbert (Doug Phillips in the Time Tunnel), playing Reed Richards as a two-fisted polymath, the way Jack Kirby portrayed him (not the socially inept young geek or elderly professor that recent iterations have misrepresented).
Matthew, on Jack Nicholson, what I don't understand is if they were going to have an old Joker in that '89 Batman film, why didn't they get the original and still the best instead, Cesar Romero? A much better choice!
Really, they missed a trick not also getting Adam West to play an ageing Batman, and adapting the Dark Knight Returns. Make it a sort of sequel to the original '66 film.
And yet a film studio will get Michael Keaton to play an old Batman. Go figure, eh?
Batman has probably been played by more actors than any other comic character, and they're all quite different. And I'm not sure any of them were really bad as such. I mean, obviously some of the films were terrible, like the one with George Clooney... but I reckon he'd have been alright in the part if he hadn't been lumbered with an awful script and director. And Bat-nipples.
Not his fault!
So I'm inclined to think that your average Hollywood leading person would be at least ok as a standard superhero, so long as they got into physical shape. Its the writer(s) and director that really matter.
See for instance Henry Cavill - he really looked the part as Superman. But he was in films made by Zack Snyder...
-sean
So dangermash, what do you think of the different Spideys? Its all very well to cast the Vulture, but come on - who do you think would make a good Peter Parker?
Btw, last night when I got in, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood was on the tv, and it occurred to me that Margot Robbie would be great as Supergirl. Especially in a period piece set during the Maid of Might's early 70s hot pants era.
-sean
Charlie, Brad Pitt isn't ginger. How about that guy from Simply Red - before he had a haircut - as Killraven?
Killraven... the Musical!
-sean
Charlie, I wasn't being serious with MY choices!
"If you're going to have Brian and Yootha as the Richardses then surely Richard O'Sullivan needs to play Namor!"
With Paula Wilcox as Dorma and Sally Thomsett as Namorita.
Love the idea of Yootha Joyce etc playing the FF . I can only think of Robert Smith ( the Cure) or David Bowie as the Joker and Billie Eilish as the Scarlet Witch.
I had a long think on my walk this morning about who I'd pick to play Peter Parker. It's a tough one. I couldn’t come up with a professional actor but did come up with a shortlist other people who might be able to do the job after a bit of training.
I started with comedians because we need some wisecracks. Possible names were:
- David Mitchell. Would work as a Ditkoesque socially inept PP at school. Not sure he'd be able to transition into a Romita version at uni though
- Matthew Perry. Again would work as the Ditko version but might also be able to develop into the Romita version
- Jimmy Carr. Has the looks but not the personality. I could only see him playing a villain.
- John Richardson. Also has the looks but less extreme personality than the others, so maybe he could be moulded into any version of PP.
- Sean Lock, just because Sean Lock. A bit too tall though.
Then I thought about geeky looking people. I only came up with one, chess grandmaster Anish Giri. Has the brains and the looks that would have seen him labelled as the geek at school and left out of all the action. But at uni, surrounded by people that have matured, he'd emerge from his cocoon. Because in reality he's funny and interesting.
But in the end, it's an easy choice. It should be me. The brains, the social ineptness at a young age and the transformation in me in my uni years. But I guess a lot of people here will nominate themselves.
Oh, and between the ages of about 50 and 57 I'd have made a great Foggy Nelson. Not any more though - I'm fitter now.
One more. On Portrait Artist Of The Year the other week, they had historian Dan Snow posing as the subject. The judges were talking about Dan's chiselled looks and how it was nigh on impossible to paint him without making him look like the hero in a comic book.
I think he'd work as Captain America but Captain Britain might be even better.
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