Old School VS New School — Recasting Superheroes Again and Again
Superheroes don’t last. And like all superheroes, the actors who portray them must eventually hang up their capes and move on from the silver screen, super-ego boost. Perhaps it is a product of the comic book genre that the actor alter egos of our favorites heroes are replaced with Quicksilver-like speed. Have you ever tried doing a wikipedia search for your favorite comic book hero? You are likely to find numerous secret identities, origin scenarios and a host of deaths and revivals. Superheroes movies are by their very nature fraught with disposable actors and storylines. Batman is not a story about a specific actor, a specific story or a specific villain, but a story about the themes of vigilanteism, childhood trauma, and being a superhero with no powers, woven together to form a tapestry of utility belts, batmobiles, and “Ka-Pows!!!”.
Super heroes and villains have been recast innumerable times, sometimes the casting choice fits like an old pair of shoes you found in the closet, like Morgan Freeman in The Shawshank Redemption. Other times the casting is so awkward and weird that you find yourself squirming in your seat, like Morgan Freeman in Wanted. Here are the most recent superhero recasting choices, some are good, some are bad, and others try to find an adequate replacement for Bruce Lee (that sound was the collective laugh of all thirty ninjas laughing as they acknowledged the futile pursuit of the impossible).
1. Superman
Before everyone gets their panties in a bunch I would like to better define my criteria for recasting a well-known superhero. I am going to try to keep this list as film-based as possible, while also maintaining the most well-known version of each character. Was Christopher Reeve the first Superman? No, that crown was bestowed before Reeve was even born, but when the image of Superman comes to your mind I am sure that you envision him donning the iconic red and blue spandex. Reeve starred in four Superman films. Many consider 1978′s Superman, the first in the series, to be the film that sparked the modern age of the big-budget superhero film. Clark Kent’s legacy, however, was suspect to diminishing returns and by the time the fourth film was released in 1988 the franchise was all but dead. When asked about the film Reeve said, “the less said about Superman IV the better.”
In the 2006 return of the franchise, director Bryan Singer cast then unknown actor Brandon Routh in the role of the title character. Although the movie failed to recoup its lavish 270 million dollar budget, reviews of Routh’s performance were generally positive. The real question is whether or not Routh made a name for himself as the “man of steel” or if he was merely rehashing Reeve’s portrayal which was equal parts Cary Grant, and Jimmy Stewart, as Superman and Kent respectively. Both Reeve and Routh look the part, but only one is the image we all think of when the notion of leaping tall buildings with a single bound crosses our minds.
Winner: Old School
2. Batman
This was a surprisingly difficult one for me. Both Burton’s and Nolan’s portrayals of the vengeful vigilante were dark and powerful. The real issue is separating nostalgic sentimentality from actual iconic performances. Michael Keaton is the Batman from my childhood, and the face who I grew up associating with Batman. He’s confident, strong, and also kind of weird (again a strange association that I am unable to get rid of after his bizarre turn as Beetlejuice). Christian Bale’s Batman I find to be extremely uneven. His Bruce Wayne is spectacular, with a kind of snarky playboy confidence that one only develops after absconding with the entire Russian Ballet Company. Bale’s Batman is hidden under the smoky veil of that horrible husky voice. Bale certainly distinguished himself from the poor offerings that preceded him and followed Keaton, but he may be linguistically challenged.
Winner: Batman: Old School, Bruce Wayne: New School
3. Joker
Nicholson approached the role as a criminally insane psychopath, out to shape the world in his own twisted form. Ledger approached the role as a twitchy, insane monster out to burn the entire world down to the ground. Only one of them was in the highest grossing superhero film of all time, and only one earned an academy award for his portrayal. The winner here is clear, although I think these are the two most impressive performances on the list and it’s a shame they had to go up against each other.
Winner: New School
4. The Hulk
We will have to wait for Joss Whedon to harness the awesome, gamma ray-infused powers of the green one before we make any sort of ruling on the casting of Mr. Ruffalo. He seems like a fine choice, but after The Hulk and The Incredible Hulk failed to make any sort of “hulk-smash” dent at the box-office, Marvel has been scrambling to find an actor, and perhaps some source material, that are worthwhile heirs to Banner throne. Bana was brainy and introspective, while the usually spectacular Norton was somewhat off his game. Let’s hope that Ruffalo is more Collateral and less 13 going on 30.
Winner: Hopefully it’s the New School.
5. War Machine
There are plenty of rumors out there as to why Howard was replaced by Cheadle in Iron Man 2. Most of them hint at Howard being the first member of the cast to sign on to Iron Man. Even though he had a small role in the film, because he was the first to sign on that apparently warranted the highest pay day of any of the actors. He was paid even more than RDJ! Once the project moved to post-production, producers and director Jon Favreau were supposedly less than enthusiastic about his performance and had to cut and recut his parts. So, when Iron Man 2 finally started to move forward, it did so with a script that had a drastically reduced role for the Machine of War and huge pay cut for Mr. Howard. Howard walked, Cheadle stepped in, and Iron Man made stuff explode.
Winner: New School
6. Spider-Man
This recent recast and reboot for the latest Spider-Man film, apparently taking Peter Parker back to high school, is a big question mark for the time being. The biggest question will be if Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man Legacy is buoyed by Spider-Man 2 or if it is undermined by Spider-Man 3. Insert lame emo Spider-Man dancing joke here.
Winner: Any school is better than Spider-Man 3.
7. Punisher
I know what you’re thinking, “Ivan Drago played Frank Castle?” Yes he did, and it was brilliant. Before Thomas Jane took over, and Ray Stevenson usurped him, Dolph Lungren starred in a little known adaptation of the skull tee-shirted one sandwiched in between Masters of the Universe and Showdown in Little Tokyo. It’s a B film, it’s not terribly well-acted, and it’s magnificent. This is one you need to check out if you’ve managed to miss it.
Winner: Old School
8. The Crow
The Crow was such a sleeper comic book adaptation, fueled by ominous cinematography and the tragic death of its star Brandon Lee, that it has since spawned three sequels, each with a different actor in the title role. The latest and greatest news is that the entire series is getting a reboot with musician Nick Cave penning the script. Have we traveled so far down the reboot path that we are no longer rebooting franchises from the 80′s and have instead shifted our attentions to the great movies of the 90′s?!
Winner: Old School
9. Captain America
Did anyone actually know that the current incarnation, Captain America: The First Avenger directed by Joe Johnston and starring Chris Evans, is actually a reboot of the franchise that began in 1990. I can’t actually lay claim to having seen the original version, but as long as the budget for the new film is over 20 million dollars, which it is, and as long as they get someone who can act, which they have, then Johnston’s version should swim circles around the old-school version of the film that was directed by one of the seminal B film directors Albert Pyun.
Winner: A preemptive New School.
10. The Green Hornet
Here’s a good question for you: Do you know who Jay Chou is? Here’s another one: Do you know who Bruce Lee “AKA the most bad-ass martial artist of all time” is? I thought so! Also, whose idea was it to cast Seth Rogen as a playboy, superhero, Bruce Wayne- type? Seriously?!
Winner: Old School
(25 votes, average: 2.80 out of 4)
18 responses to Old School VS New School — Recasting Superheroes Again and Again
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Brandon Routh has some serious potential. Credit to Singer for seeing this. However, he played a better Clark Kent in ‘Zack and Miri Make a Porno’ than he did in Singer’s ‘Superman Returns.’
Batman – tough call. Personally for me, mix it up: Michael Keaton’s Batman (from ‘Batman Returns’ preferably) and Val Kilmer’s Bruce Wayne.
Nothing against Heath Ledger, I mean NOTHING! His take on the creepy Joker is exactly what that character needed. But for me, while not scary, Joker was best when played by Cesar Romero.
Hulk – well, Bana had potential. Ang Lee didn’t use him very well. Gotta give love to Edward Norton.
Toby Maguire will always be Spiderman as Christopher Reeve will always be Superman.
Didn’t Chris Evans already get to be a superhero? Was Cap really the same as Johnny Storm? C’mon!
The Punisher – give Michael Jai White a go.
War Machine – Don’t really care. But Terrance Howard, c’mon man! You needed that!
Did ‘The Green Hornet’ movie really need to happen? I mean Really?
As a blogger myself, I understand that sometimes an occasional typo or skipped word slips through, but the constant misuse of “there” for “their” (not just on this site), is maddening and only makes me give up reading what otherwise might have been a good article.
“Superheroes movies are by there very nature fraught with …”
If you can’t be bothered to use the language correctly, then you shouldn’t be writing at all. Picky and bitchy? Maybe. But the competition for readers is fierce, and if you can’t be bothered to scan for grammatical errors in the first paragraph, then I can’t be bothered to read the rest of your piece.
Thanks for the heads up. This is a mistake that irks me as well, so even if I can’t convince you to read the rest at least I can edit it and avoid having other readers experience a grammar aneurysm.
Joe Johnston and Chris Evans will ruin Captain America! That is all I have to say.
I know that no one agrees with me but I still prefer jack Nicolson as the joker. It was just more fun. When I see a super hero movie I want it to be fun not depressing like the new one.
Ray Stevenson’s Punisher movie was possibly the best slasher movie of the decade.
I believe he deserves a second outing as Frank.
Considering Batman – I always was of the mind that Michael Keaton made a great Bruce Wayne and a great Batman. Val Kilmer made a great Batman, but a horrible Bruce Wayne. George Clooney may have been in the worst Batman movie ever, but he really plays the part of a millionaire playboy well. And Christian Bale does great with the rage and the brooding, but that raspy voice has to go.
Oh, and Adam West is campy no matter what he does.
I know all your text was based on film, but one can’t help but throw in a few TV names as well:
SUPERMAN: Although I completely feel the love America has for Reeve, it must be taken into account that Reeve portrayed the 70′s Clark Kent: shy, stuttery and clumsy. I keep thinking that any attempt to reboot the Supes franchise should start with a mr. Tom Welling.
BATMAN: Funny, I always liked the weirdness of Keaton’s Bruce Wayne. You could tell there was something really wrong going up in that head. But when the costume was on – and I know my fellow comic book fans will vomit by reading that – I loved Clooney. Movie sucked, of course. Clooney ruled. And Bale is a great Batman too, but I still can’t shake the voice.
JOKER: As a Joker fan since I was nine, the cold, hard truth is: Nicholson IS Joker. Period. Ledger was wonderful, scary, breathtaking and deserves every praise for a Joker he shaped into the new millenium image, and will probably be the reference for any actor who decides to portray a psychopatic character. But again, Nicholson IS Joker.
CAPTAIN AMERICA: Nothing against Chris Evans, but hey, he is Human Torch. Is Hollywood on a shortage of buffy blond males? Same rule applies to ex-Deadpool-turned-Green-Lantern Ryan Reynolds.
PUNISHER: Thank you!!! Lundgren rules.
SPIDEY: I don’t think there will ever be someone better to play Peter/ Spidey than Maguire. I’m still trying to erase Spider-Man 3 from my mind, but it’s the screenplay’s fault.
HULK: Norton off his game is still better than any Bana or Ruffalo inspired performance any day.
CROW: Everyone involved in the process of making any Crow film without Brandon Lee should burn in hell for all eternity.
Seth Rogen is a joke and a loser. Jonah Hill should have been his sidekick in that film. Jay Chou…let’s hope his young career is not affected by this crappy movie.
You should at least check out the oldschool Captain America movie. It isn’t “8 1/2″, but it’s fun, and the Red Skull was pretty sick…
Also, no mention of David Hasselhoff being replaced by Samuel L Jackson as Nick Fury?
First of all thank you for giving props to the Lundgren punisher film as i always enjoyed it. It’s bad sure, it’s filmed in australia and it shows and the one liners are ridiculous, but more like ridiculously fun. As b-movie as it is it still manages to be better than Thomas Jane’s Punisher, that movie was horrible. Ray Stephenson’s however? Perfect, campy as hell (the movie I mean) but perfect because finally it’s the punisher as he should be. As for someone suggesting Michael Jai White as punisher….?!?!?!? Terrible casting idea, plus he’s had his chance with Spawn and blew it big time. Ray Stephenson is perfect as he is anyway, at last a good casting choice for punisher.
For Batman, I don’t know. Keaton is good but not really the comics Bruce Wayne. Val Kilmer, let’s not even go there. Clooney? Ok i’ve never even watched more than 15 mins of this film so i wouldn’t know but it doesn’t matter. Bale well…. I don’t know, i want to like him, but he’s off. I don’t understand how in all these years since Batman Begins it’s the first time i hear more than one person bitch about the voice, because i HATE it and it’s been one of my main argument since the beginning. It’s a REAL put-off. I UNDERSTAND the idea, after all wouldn’t everybody who knows him as Wayne recognise him right away if he kept the same voice? But it doesn’t work because his voice is horrible. As Bruce Wayne, alright but lacking charisma. For the Joker, Nicholson isn’t the Joker. He’s Nicholson as the Joker. Good? Well, not bad, has it’s moments, and closer to the comic book version than Ledger’s (which i really didn’t care for) but there’s still to much Nicholson tics underneath it all. And physically he doesnt come even close.
The Crow is a terribly overrated movie as was Brandon Lee (not disrespect meant but he’s b mobie fare). Without the advent of his death i’m not sure how fondly the movie would be remembered exactly, it would still be loved by the goth community but…it never was even a good movie. Just passable.
I was about to forget Hulk. I was disastified with both Bana (who i like otherwise) and Norton (who annoys me). First of all none of these actor appeared to have the same kind of geeky look and feel about them like the comics Banner does. And for Norton i kept seeing Ed Norton playing Bruce Banner. He’s one of those actors who i find distracting as i keep seeing Ed Norton being Ed Norton. And this second movie despite what most people feel was actually worse than the first one.
Routh as superman was ok but he was a complete rip-off of Reeves’ (i know it was intentional as it was supposed to follow the other films and i have to credit Routh for doing a rather perfect Reeves’ impersonation, especially as Kent, but it was still kinda distracting and didn’t help set him as the new Superman, it’s like if the movie was saying “we know you’d rather have had Reeves instead but that’s as good as it gets”)
By the way i’ve seen this early 90′s Captain America and it’s, of course, horrible (there’s torrents out there, same for the similarly shitty and ill-fated early 90′s Fantastic Four film which is even WORSE). It’s a rather well known fact but for those who wouldnt know, the actor playing Cap in that movie is Matt Salinger, the son of legendary author J.D Salinger (writer of Catcher in the Rye, if it needs mentionning)
Old School? When Michael Keaton and Christopher Reeves played this characters, THEY are the new school, so this article doesn’t work.
(sorry my bad english, I’m brazilian and I don’t have enough practice)
Michael Keaton’s Batman was never convincing. The reason: Keaton never looked liked someone who’d gone through intensive training to a degree that he could take out a half-dozen thugs without breaking a sweat. As well, he was in a costume that was so padded that realistic movement (hence, looking realistic in a fight) was impossible. Finally, Keaton’s Batman not only used guns and missiles (in the Batmobile and Batwing), but he casually killed thugs without a second thought. Bale wins as both Bruce Wayne AND as Batman. I honestly think that Val Kilmer was better as Batman than Keaton and George Clooney did a better Bruce Wayne than Keaton.
As for Routh/Reeve, that is more difficult for a couple of reasons. One, Routh WAS simply trying to immitate Christopher Reeve’s performance rather than try to create his own. I mean, everything about that film seemed to simply be an attempt to continue on with Richard Donner’s films as if over twenty-five years hadn’t happened. The only problem with Reeve was that -as Clark Kent especially- his performance is outmoded. Since he first played the part, the character was changed so that Clark Kent is supposed to be the real person, not just a throwaway disguise for Superman. Clark Kent should be soft-spoken and mild-mannered…not an absolute idiot who looks like he could never survive as an investigative reporter at a major newspaper. Routh compounded that by simply immitating that performance.
My choice for the Joker isn’t even on that list. My top pick is Mark Hamill’s dead-on perfect adaptation from the DC Animated Universe. To me, that simply IS the Joker. That being said, my only problem with Heath Ledger was the make-up (I like the Old School make-up) and the lack of the Joker’s trademark Smile-X poison (a staple of the character since 1940). My vote would still go to Ledger though because Nicholson didn’t really play the Joker. He played Jack Nicholson in Joker make-up. (Yes, that’s the only character he ever plays, but still…)
The Hulk…The Ang Lee version put me to sleep. So, it’s Edward Norton for me. But, they only played Bruce Banner. The only real Hulk was Lou Ferrigno. (Who looked farm more realistic than any CGI Hulk).
The Green Hornet…New School has Seth Rogen in the title role. Enough said, the choice is Van Williams. (I will commend Rogen for at least getting in shape for the part though. Nobody can say he wasn’t dedicated.)
Being a bit of a geezer, my Superman was originally George Reeves; while Chris Reeve more-or-less replaced him in my mind as Superman, Reeves remains the definitive Clark Kent.
As to “Green Hornet” – i’ll wait and see, but i’ll turn your rhetorical question back on itself – who was Bruce Lee *before* “The Green Hornet”?
are really those people the character that prove what peole will do and hopw we do it so come on here
hi
i superman in bpt ct is better den a human!
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