Lately, there has been a whole lot of conversation about bad castings in comic movies. Whether you’re talking about the recent “Fantastic Four” castings, Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor, everything Batfleck or, well, pretty much every comic movie role being cast these days, people are unhappy with who is cast and who they are cast as.
But I’d say, more often than not, comic movies do a pretty good job. In fact, when I started thinking about who I’d rank as the ten best casting jobs in the history of comic book movies, it was difficult to keep it to just ten (especially when I wanted to highlight a number of small roles with #10). So, instead of focusing on the horrible, no good job casting directors do with comic book movies, today’s Countdown looks at how they succeed.
This, of course, is just my opinion. Share yours in the comments, as there are a lot of great ones to choose from.
10. Most of the Supporting Cast of “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World”
Why they made the list: While I didn’t love “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World” and part of that was because I didn’t love the leads – Michael Cera was pretty good, Mary Elizabeth Winstead was so so – its supporting cast was dynamite. My personal favorites were Nelson Franklin as Comeau (tiny, tiny role, but he nailed it), Kieran Culkin as Wallace Wells (could not have been cast better and his best role – albeit small – since “Igby Goes Down”), Allison Pill as Kim Pine (love Kim Pine, love Allison Pill, love Pine as Pill) and Chris Evans as Lucas Lee (PERFECTLY CAST), but even tiny roles like Trasha from “Crash and the Boys” were amazing.
If we were basing the quality of a movie off the strength of its supporting cast, this would be an all-time favorite, personally. But we’re not, so instead, this crew ends up at #10 on my list.
9. Alfred Molina as Otto Octavius/Doctor Octopus
Why he made the list: While I don’t love Sam Raimi’s “Spider-Man” films, the one that succeeded by far the most was his second film, and much of that was on the strength of Molina as Doc Ock. They could have easily cast a bigger name for the role, but instead, they went with Molina, a character actor who brought conflict, weight and gravitas to a role that easily could have been a caricature of revenge. Effortlessly revealing his torment and brilliance, Molina made Doctor Octopus more than just a villain, but a man driven to making decisions that he felt he had to make.
In the end, when his story came to its end, we felt his pain, and we felt the loss that came from his demise. That’s thanks to the bravura work Molina brought to the screen.
8. J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson
Why he made the list: Do you want to know the real reason why Marc Webb hasn’t had J. Jonah Jameson in either of his two Spider-Man movies so far? The really real reason?
You can’t improve on perfection.
J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson is just that. I’m not even going to tell you why. Just watch the video below and bask in the glory.
7. Christopher Reeve as Superman/Clark Kent
Why he made the list: Whether you’re talking about the super powered reality or the bumbling reporter alter ego, Christopher Reeve perfectly captured the humanity and nobility of Superman as a character. It helps a lot that he looks pretty much exactly like Superman (and Clark Kent), but that only gets you so far. Reeve’s performance is the one that everyone else is measured against, and while he may not have had the chiseled featured or rippling abs of the people who followed him in the role, he grounded it in such a way that made these movies the classics we know them be (mostly).
6. Patrick Stewart as Professor X/Charles Xavier
Continued belowWhy he made the list: Could they really have cast anyone else? I’m not sure how it’s possible, but somehow the character and the actor look pretty much exactly the same, and it just so happens that the actor is one who is completely brilliant. It’s just an amazing bit of synchronicity in the universe, and with Stewart, he embraced the role and brought Professor X to life in front of our eyes. This is a case where there was one person who was born for the role, and Fox made the wise decision of putting him into it.
Bonus points for the fact that James McAvoy, the actor who plays the younger version of Charles Xavier, also crushes with the role, and that’s one of the many reasons why “X-Men: Days of Future Past” is the most anticipated comic movie of the year for me.
5. Hugh Jackman as Wolverine
Why he made the list: One of the weirdest things about Jackman as Wolverine is how close to not happening it was. Not only was there a laundry list of other actors considered before him, Dougray Scott was actually cast in the role. But they had to go with Option G, a relative unknown named Hugh Jackman, and then history was made.
There are a lot of things I love about Jackman as Wolverine – he’s an incredible fit for the character, visually, and he gives a killer performance no matter the quality of the movie – but the thing that I love the most is his dedication to the role. Jackman loves Wolverine, and he’s embraced the role and the history that comes with it. There’s a true passion that few others who act in comic movies have, and Jackman has become someone can drop factoids and story tidbits about the character casually like your average comic shop goer. While he would be great at the role even if he didn’t give a crap, probably, it’s that passion and level of care he has that helps make the role all the better.
Also, in the immortal words of Matthew Meylikhov, “look at those abs.”
4. Gary Oldman as Jim Gordon
Why he made the list: Like with Jackman and Wolverine, Gary Oldman was someone who made a concerted effort to look into the source material that his character came from (see: him advising Ben McKenzie to do the same thing). While I love that he did that, he’s Gary freaking Oldman. He’s legitimately one of the greatest actors in film today, and him being put into a role like Jim Gordon was a guarantee that we were going to get the best version of the character.
Gordon, at his best, isn’t infallible, he’s a man like you or me that tries to do the best he can for Gotham and his family and everyone else, but sometimes he fails one or the other in the process. His humanity, compared to often inhuman Batman, often gives Gotham its weight, and Oldman brought that in spades. One of my favorite scenes in the whole series was the recognition Gordon had on his face when Batman was leaving for (in his mind) the last time, as he knows finally who the man behind the mask was. It was a complex and subtle scene for Oldman as Gordon, but its his reaction that sells it and makes it every bit as powerful as it is.
Many of my favorite moments in this Batman centric series are Gordon ones, and much of that is because of the qualities Oldman brings to the role.
3. Robert Downey, Jr. as Iron Man/Tony Stark
Why he made the list: For the most part, the comics influence the movies, and it doesn’t always work in the opposite way. Because Robert Downey, Jr. is so good as Iron Man/Tony Stark, the comics started emulating the feel he brought to the role a bit (and when Salvador Larocca was involved, he even started to look like him). It’s hard to second guess them, as RDJ somehow made Stark disgustingly overconfident yet always likable, brilliant yet fallible, and the center of all things Marvel.
Continued belowI mean, when I was a kid? Iron Man was not my favorite. I remember treating my Iron Man comics with a certain level of disdain, wishing they were as awesome as my X-Men comics. Now? Iron Man is the coolest.
And much of that is thanks to the work RDJ did.
2. Tom Hiddleston as Loki
Why he made the list: It’s one thing to make a character work, and it’s an entirely different thing to make a character iconic. While Loki has always been an important part of the Marvel universe, Tom Hiddleston helped make him a transcendant, scoundrel of a character who, even when he’s trying to destroy Midgard, is really hard not to like.
As I’ve mentioned with other castings, Hiddleston is clearly passionate about the character, even getting a letter published in the final issue of Kieron Gillen’s run on “Journey into Mystery” praising Gillen’s mastery of Loki. That helps him find hidden depths and power in the role, and has made this villain the Marvel character that stands out above the rest in the films.
Plus, Hiddleston is just a completely and utterly brilliant actor. The year he first played Loki, he also played F. Scott Fitzgerald in “Midnight in Paris” in convincing and engaging fashion. This guy is just a supernova of talent, and here’s hoping for plenty more from him as the character in the future.
1. Heath Ledger as The Joker
Why he made the list: People love to note that Ledger being cast as The Joker was originally met with derision, and they’re exactly right. It was, and he was.
But as the internet often is, it was wrong, and what Ledger brought to “The Dark Knight” helped make it – in my mind – the best comic movie ever. His ferocity and fearlessness as The Joker made us both afraid of him and enraptured by him, and, like with Hiddleston as Loki, he became synonymous with the role and made it instantly iconic in a completely new way.
The Joker is one who has long had notable actors perform as him – Cesar Romero and Jack Nicholson, for two, but also the voice acting of Mark Hamill – but Ledger, to me, brought the character to life more than ever. The chaos and crystal clear insanity that exists in his brain wasn’t just a joke with him, but a completely genius knee slapper that made you underrate him until he had a knife in your side.
Posthumously, Ledger won an Oscar for his performance, and he’s the only person who has ever won an Oscar for his role in a comic movie movie. It was undoubtedly deserved, and it’s a legacy that has lived on beyond his death.
