Not a coincidence. Ideally it would have been Duke Kahanamoku, but he was in his 50s at the time. Although he was probably fit enough to do it.
Note that Aquaman was not given the name "Arthur Curry" until Adventure Comics #260 in May 1959. The Golden Age Aquaman was just named Aquaman. (Talk about "woefully lacking in development.")
"The Manhunter from Mars" (1990) written & directed by John Carpenter Music by John Carpenter & Alan Howarth Special Make-Up Effects by Rob Bottin Special Visual Effects by ILM John Jones - Lance Henriksen J'onn J'onzz - Carel Struycken Diane Meade - Kim Cattrall Despero - Keith David
Two-Face: Bill Shatner, Jack Lord, George Hamilton Harley Quinn: Marta Kristen, Elke Sommer, or Goldie Hawn (Harley's in her twenties, not her thirties or forties) R'as al-Ghul: Michael Ansara, Omar Sharif, Leonard Nimoy or Henry Silva Poison Ivy: Tina Louise, Nichelle Nichols, Leslie Uggams Clayface: Boris Karloff (and I agree with you on this) Bane: Cal Bolder Killer Croc: No change Solomon Grundy: Cal Bolder or any other actor of a similar size, possibily even this guy Scarecrow: No change Dr. Hugo Strange: Christopher Lee or Roddy McDowell Deadshot: No change My choice: Richard Chamberlain. Susan Oliver would've been good as Sue. Swap Denzel's role and put Wesley in there, and it would work (Snipes was to play T'Challa originally in a planned Black Panther movie to be made by Sony back in the '90's.)
I really like Richard Chamberlain as Reed. Oh, and Goldie Hawn as Harley would be AWESOME. I put Mamie Van Doren mainly because I'm a big fan. Jack Lord as Two-Face is brilliant. Very dashing guy. While we're at it with the almost-captains of TOS, why not Jeffrey Hunter? I had never thought of Nichelle as Ivy before. As I reflect on it, I think she'd have been perfect. Probably would have brought the same energy to the role that she put into Mirror Uhura. I don't recall having heard Leslie Uggam's name before. Yeah, Leonard Nimoy would have done an amazing job as R'as al-Ghul. an't believe that it never crossed my mind. That Cal Bolder fellow certainly is imposing. Hmm, ifwe're going the bodybuilder route, I'll suggest Mickey Hargitay. Not quite as big, but I think they might have cast him. Remember how Cliff Robertson, who played Shame, had his wife as Shame's minion? Imagine Mickey Hargitay as Bane, with Jayne Mansfield as his assistant. I know they'd been divorced for years at this point, but she could have conceivably appeared in the first two seasons. Yeah, Wesley Snipes was the go-to guy for action back in the 90s. Hmm, if we had him as T'Challa, maybe Miguel A Nunez as Killmonger? The guy pulled off DeeJay in Street Fighter back in 94. EDIT: I also really like Elke Sommer and especially Marta Kristen as Harley.
One actor whom I want to call attention to is Penny Singleton. She was most famous for playing Blondie in the 40s and was also the voice of Jane Jetson. If you look up more pictures of her, she was a stunningly beautiful woman. She also had great comedic chops. I'd really recommend her as Harley in a 1940s-era Batman.
Yeah, I too can now see him as Dent/Two Face. BTW, when I said 'Richard Chamberlain as...' I meant him as Charles Xavier (there are some panels in one of the '60's X-Men comics that (to me) have him resembling Chamberlain without hair. Uggams played a THRUSH agent in an episode of The Girl From U.N.C.L.E., Natasha Brimstone. Another actor to play R'as could be....David Carradine! Other 60's starlets I now just thought of to play Harleen/Harley: Tuesday Weld Sue Lyon Hayley Mills (or her elder sister, Juliet) Susan Oliver Carol Lynley Mia Farrow Sharon Tate Inger Stevens Patty Duke
Oh, yeah. David Carradine as R'as is good. Okay, a bit recent for "retro", but here are my casting wishes for if they had continued on with the Christopher Nolan/ Christian Bale batman series. I'm not recasting, only suggesting the people that I'd like to see in unfilmed roles. Penguin: PHilip Seymour Hoffman Riddler: David Tennant Poison Ivy: Jessica Chastain Mr. Freeze: Sean Bean Hugo Strange: David Bowie Man-Bat: Andy Serkis Hush: Hugh Jackman
I don't really see Bowie as Hugo Strange, one name I heard a lot in association with the character was Robin Williams, and I think the serious version of him would have been perfect. Wouldn't Hush just be Christian Bale in a dual role?
I'm trying to keep it in theme with Christopher Nolan. Like how he reuses actors. Bale would play Hush post-surgery, sure.
I get the Nolan thing, but Dr. Strange just doesn't really strike me as the kind of character I think of when I think of David Bowie.