‘Superman & Batman’ movie will follow ‘Man of Steel’

[Christopher]

Comic-book characters are "recast" every time a new artist or writer takes over the series. It's the nature of such long-running characters that they get changed and reinterpreted.

And Ruffalo was definitely better than Norton, and tons better than Bana.

 

[Dream]

Comic-book characters are "recast" every time a new artist or writer takes over the series. It's the nature of such long-running characters that they get changed and reinterpreted.

And Ruffalo was definitely better than Norton, and tons better than Bana.

RDJ might be the first actor to play a live action Tony Stark, doing a great job, but he won't be the last. I believe he will play the character until Avengers 3 and a new actor will be chosen to continue as Stark. There will be no reboot.

We have had multiple actors play Batman.

 

[Chrono85]

But will the new Iron Man be playing within the same continuity, or would it be a reboot of the franchise? I can't see them rebooting the franchise anytime soon, since they seem to introduce just about every major Marvel character .

 

[Agent Richard07]

I don't mind recasting when it comes to remakes but I don't like it when it happens within a series. For example, I don't mind that different actors played James Bond over the decades but I don't like that Saavik got recast.

As for a future Marvel turnover, I probably won't mind if everyone gets recast and it feels like a fresh start even if it's the same continuity. I wasn't bothered by Stargate getting that sort of turnover when it went to series.

 

[Chrono85]

I don't think that they should reboot the Marvel movie universe any time soon...it was annoying enough when it happened so quickly with spider-man. I think that they should just continue on, and people would come to accept the new actors, like they have with Bond.

 

[Christopher]

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has already recast James Rhodes, Bruce Banner, Howard Stark, and Fandral. I think it's safe to say they will recast other roles as the need arises.

 

[Chrono85]

It's too bad that Marvel can't mix the Spider-man character into their movie universe . It seems like Spider-man could fit pretty with The Avengers.

 

[Dream]

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has already recast James Rhodes, Bruce Banner, Howard Stark, and Fandral. I think it's safe to say they will recast other roles as the need arises.

I think of recasts like being a new artist drawing a character in a comic to look differently!

It's too bad that Marvel can't mix the Spider-man character into their movie universe . It seems like Spider-man could fit pretty with The Avengers.

Let's not get started on that! We will be here all day.

A consequence of Marvel Studios not owning Spider-man and X-men rights, is that it has made them focus on the lesser known superheroes to great success.

 

[davejames]

Is anyone else getting the feeling that maybe Warner Bros. was expecting a very different reaction to Affleck's casting, given his recent successes?

I'm sure they were expecting some whining from the comic book fans (who complain about almost every casting announcement), but the level of criticism and ridicule for this has seemingly gone far beyond that, and made it almost a national joke.

Frankly I'd be very surprised if the studio execs weren't seriously nervous right now at the impact this might have on the box office, and concerned that they might have accidentally thrown cold water on all the buzz and excitement that had been building for this movie beforehand.

 

[Captaindemotion]

Nah. All publicity is good publicity. This has simply heightened awareness of the film and the plans to team Batman and Superman up.

There were similar responses to Keaton, Ledger (as the Joker) and Craig as Bond. Even if Affleck does suck as Batman, people will still go and see it. The amount of actual boycotts will be negligible.

 

[Christopher]

I'm sure they were expecting some whining from the comic book fans (who complain about almost every casting announcement), but the level of criticism and ridicule for this has seemingly gone far beyond that, and made it almost a national joke.

No, it's no worse than the usual overreactions we've seen many times before. It may have gotten a bit more wide attention because Affleck's name is so well-known. But the nation has already moved on to obsessing about that Miley Cyrus person, apparently. And next week something else will be a national joke. The nation, at least the part of it that posts on the Internet and/or cares about celebrity news, has a short attention span. Whereas filmmaking takes years, so an uproar like this is just a minor -- and by now entirely expected -- blip along the way.

 

[davejames]

Maybe, but I can't help but think the general audience is going to be a bit less enthused to see the movie now that they know Affleck is playing Batman. Obviously we know Snyder will craft some amazing, kickass trailers that will get people excited again, but until then I suspect the buzz is going to be a much lower level than it would have been if it were Cavill vs Bale.

 

[Chrono85]

I really doubt that the general audience is going to care which actor is playing Batman, especially since it is really a Superman movie, and Batman will likely just be a secondary character . The only people that might care, are the knowledgeable comic book fans, and they are a small minority of the overall movie goers .

 

[Christopher]

I think that kind of horserace stuff is ultimately just as irrelevant to movies as it is to political campaigns. It's stuff that journalists talk about so they'll have something to talk about. Once the movie comes out, few people will remember the hoopla that happened at this early stage. They'll judge it by the actual content, not by the "buzz" way back in the summer of 2013.

 

[Captaindemotion]

Maybe, but I can't help but think the general audience is going to be a bit less enthused to see the movie now that they know Affleck is playing Batman. Obviously we know Snyder will craft some amazing, kickass trailers that will get people excited again, but until then I suspect the buzz is going to be a much lower level than it would have been if it were Cavill vs Bale.

The general audience, who enjoyed The Town, Argo and will probably enjoy Affleck's latest, The Runner, are a great deal less exercised by his casting than are the fanboisie for whom his name is a sort of reverse-catnip. As Christopher said, this will have been long forgotten by the time we see any footage from the film or even a still of Ben in costume.

 

[Christopher]

^"Fanboisie"? I love it.

 

[Captaindemotion]

^ Credit where credit is due, I 'borrowed' that one from
My Name is Legion!

 

[Greg Cox]

I think that kind of horserace stuff is ultimately just as irrelevant to movies as it is to political campaigns. It's stuff that journalists talk about so they'll have something to talk about. Once the movie comes out, few people will remember the hoopla that happened at this early stage. They'll judge it by the actual content, not by the "buzz" way back in the summer of 2013.

I'm inclined to agree. Seriously, has there EVER been a high-profile comic-book flick where there hasn't been some sort of on-line tempest or controversy along the way? Remember all the hoopla about Spidey's organic web-shooters and how that was absolutely, positively going to doom the movie?

If I was producing a big-budget comic-book adaptation, I would just take it for granted that the internet was going to be in an uproar at some point, figure that came with the territory, and do my best to tune most it out . . . .

If the movie is good, nobody is going to care. If it flops, everybody will say "I told you so!"

 

[davejames]

Well like I said, I'm only considering the perspective of the studio execs and marketing people here, who probably pay very close attention to every little detail (and every bad word said) about their upcoming summer blockbusters.

They undoubtedly want this movie to be a huge, billion dollar hit along the lines of Avengers, and anything that could possibly put that at risk or jeopardize it is probably going to make them a bit nervous-- at least for the time being.

 

[Captaindemotion]

I think that kind of horserace stuff is ultimately just as irrelevant to movies as it is to political campaigns. It's stuff that journalists talk about so they'll have something to talk about. Once the movie comes out, few people will remember the hoopla that happened at this early stage. They'll judge it by the actual content, not by the "buzz" way back in the summer of 2013.

I'm inclined to agree. Seriously, has there EVER been a high-profile comic-book flick where there hasn't been some sort of on-line tempest or controversy along the way?

Off the top of my head:

Michael Keaton as Batman. Too much a comedy actor, too small, too balding etc.

Val Kilmer as Batman: too blond.

Stallone as Dredd: took off helmet.

Ian McKellen as Magneto: too gay (seriously, at the time some fans were up in arms about this)

Hugh Jackman as Wolverine: too tall, too young, Australian rather than Canadian, not muscly enough, Logan can't be played by a song and dance guy. Probably gay too.

The X-Men's black leather outfits. Damn Internet nearly exploded.

Anna Paquin as Rogue. Too young. Accent wrong.

Halle Berry as Storm. Should've been Angela Bassett.

Spider-man's organic webshooters and Green Goblin's Power Rangers outfit and mask.

Daredevil being played by Ben Affleck (him again). Daredevil's leather outfit. Jennifer Garner not being Greek. Colin Farrell being Irish. Michael Clarke Duncan being black.

Topher Grace not being muscly enough to play Venom. Changing the symbiote story.

Ras Al Ghul being Japanese instead of Arabic. Wait, he's actually Irish? WTF? Even worse. Scarecrow being a young good-looking guy instead of a tall skinny middle aged man. Christian Bale's speech impediment.

Jessica Alba as Sue Storm. Too Latina. Pretty much everything about FF except Evans and Chiklis. Somewhat justified in this case.

Halle Berry as Catwoman. Apparently the film was crap, not due to bad writing, directing or SFX, but because she was black. That and her costume.

Superman Returns' costume.

Heath Ledger as Joker. Internet nearly exploded again.

Vinnie Jones as Juggernaut. Kelsey Grammer as Beast.

Robert Downey Jr as Iron Man. Internet explodes again.

Tom Hardy as Bane - too small and not muscular enough. Anne Hathaway as Catwoman. Not sexy enough, apparently.

Ben Kingsley as Mandarin. Insufficiently Chinese (wait till they see the damn movie).

Chris Hemsworth as Thor. Idris Elba as Heimdal. Tom Hiddleston as Loki.

Chris Evans as Captain America - why, he's already been The Human Torch!

The Eric Bana-Ed Norton-Mark Ruffalo saga. The Terrence Howard-Don Cheadle saga.

Michael Shannon as Zod. Insufficiently famous or British. Man of Steel costume.

Karl Urban as Dredd. Chin too small.

Jamie Foxx as Electro. Looks too much like Mr Freeze.

David E. Kelley's Wonder Woman. Where do I start?

I'm sure I've missed plenty. Any advances?