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Retro-casting superhero films and shows

JRoss

JRoss

Commodore
Commodore
So last year I watched the animated Batman vs. Two-Face film with Burt Ward and Adam West. The cool thing about this movie is that it is set in the canon of the Batman '66 show. It also let us see Two-Face, who reportedly was forbidden by the network from appearing on the show. The other awesome thing about this film is that William Shatner plays Two-Face. They cast an actor who could have plausibly been on the show when it was on.

This got me thinking about that series and others. If I could add anyone to the cast of Batman '66 to fill out characters who never got their due on that series, it would be as follows. In keeping with the tradition of them replacing certain villain actors over time, I might list more than one actor for a role. Feel free to add on, just remember that the point is to cast actors who could have plausibly played the role at the time of filming.

Two-Face: William Shatner (He did a good job in the movie, and I consider it official)
Harley Quinn: Mamie Van Doren, Linda Evans
R'as al-Ghul: Michael Ansara, Omar Sharif, Leonard Nimoy
Poison Ivy: Tina Louise
Clayface: Boris Karloff (You know why)
Bane: El Santo
Killer Croc: Ted Cassidy, Richard Kiel
Solomon Grundy: Tor Johnson
Scarecrow: Peter Cushing
Dr. Hugo Strange: Christopher Lee
Deadshot: Lee Van Cleef

Also, I want to update this thread with ideas for other things, such as Avengers made in the 90s and such. Please feel free to add your own ideas or tell me why mine are bad.
 
I'm going 80s and want Mel Gibson as Wolverine. Probably not the most original, or politically correct, but he would have been awesome :lol:. Plus, Danny Glover as Professor X!
 
JRoss said:
Harley Quinn: Mamie Van Doren, Linda Evans
R'as al-Ghul: Michael Ansara, Omar Sharif, Leonard Nimoy
Bane: El Santo
Killer Croc: Ted Cassidy, Richard Kiel
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None of these characters existed in the 1960s, so I don't consider them fair game. Although if it had been possible, Michael Ansara would've been a superb choice for Ra's.


Poison Ivy: Tina Louise
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Ann-Margret has been a popular suggestion for her in the past.

Solomon Grundy: Tor Johnson
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I think they would've been more likely to go with Blockbuster at the time.


Dr. Hugo Strange: Christopher Lee
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I'd go with Vincent Price if he hadn't already been Egghead. (He would've also made a good Ra's al Ghul, although that would've been whitewashed casting.)


Deadshot: Lee Van Cleef
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At the time, Deadshot had been a one-shot (no pun intended) character who'd shown up in 1950 as a dapper, top hat-wearing "crimefighter" who showed up Batman and Robin with his amazing (and strictly nonlethal) trick shots, only to turn out to be staging the crimes to make himself look like a hero. He wasn't reinvented as the assassin we know today until 1977. So a Batman '66 version of Deadshot would probably have been played by someone more dashing and elegant. Fred Astaire comes to mind, though he was probably too old for the part.
 
Christopher said:
None of these characters existed in the 1960s, so I don't consider them fair game. Although if it had been possible, Michael Ansara would've been a superb choice for Ra's.


I'd go with Vincent Price if he hadn't already been Egghead. (He would've also made a good Ra's al Ghul, although that would've been whitewashed casting.)
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Yeah, I know that they weren't around back then. That's one reason why they have to be retro-casted. Vincent Price was my first for Strange, but, like you said, he was taken. That's why I went with Christopher Lee,as he is the next person who springs to mind after Vincent Price and Christopher Lee.
 
Professor X - Telly Savalas
Magneto - Christopher Lee
Wolverine - Clint Eastwood
Storm - Pam Grier
Cyclops - William Shatner
Jean Grey - Julie Newmar
Rogue - Dolly Parton
Gambit - Steve McQueen
Nightcrawler - Gene Wilder
Juggernaut - Andre the Giant
 
Turd Ferguson said:
Professor X - Telly Savalas
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Professor X's original comics design was modeled on Yul Brynner, hence the eyebrows. So Brynner would probably be the ideal choice there.

Although Savalas (specifically his Bond-movie turn as Blofeld) was the inspiration for Superman: The Animated Series's Lex Luthor character design in the '90s.


If the special effects of the '60s had made a Fantastic Four series possible, the ideal Mister Fantastic would've been Russell Johnson (who was Alex Ross's model for the character in Marvels). I'm having trouble thinking of candidates for the other three, though. I have a mental image of a '60s actress who looked a lot like Jack Kirby's rendering of Sue Storm, but I can't remember her name or where I saw her. I'm bad at this.
 
Well, it doesn't have to be whom you think most strongly resembles the character. It could also be whom you think the execs would have cast,or just and actor that you like.
 
How about Elizabeth Montgomery as Sue Storm? She's the first one that popped into my head.
Edit to add . . .
James McArthur as Johnny Storm
and Cary Grant as Batman '66 Deadshot.
Scratch that, Lyle Waggoner as '66 Deadshot. It would be a nice bit of irony seeing as he auditioned for Bruce Wayne/Batman.
 
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^Oh, I like those suggestions, everyone. I'd love to see the episode with Lurch. I'm assuming that it's the one with Carolyn Jones? Oh, and BTW, everyone, you can watch Batman on the Roku channel if you have it. It's free.

Oh, I somehow forgot to put in some of these. I had the list written down, too.

Deathstroke: James Coburn
Black Mask:EdwardG Robinson (I took to @Christopher and made sure to check some of these. I guess Robinson played himself on the show, too).


Not sure what I'm going to do next. Maybe other DC heroes for the show? Maybe Marvel characters in the same vein? For those I'll probably stick to the characters that existed at the time.
 
DarrenTR1970 said:
Scratch that, Lyle Waggoner as '66 Deadshot. It would be a nice bit of irony seeing as he auditioned for Bruce Wayne/Batman.
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Hmm, yeah, since 1950 Deadshot was a rival/replacement for Batman (basically a rival suitor for the affections of Commissioner Gordon and the public).


JRoss said:
I'd love to see the episode with Lurch. I'm assuming that it's the one with Carolyn Jones?
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No, it was "The Penguin's Nest" from season 2. The window cameos in Batman were unconnected to anything else in the episode -- just random celebrities popping out of a window during Batman and Robin's wall-climbing sequences and having brief comic exchanges with them.

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Lurch is at 3:51. Edward G. Robinson is at 6:54; it's not a very good one.
 
Errol Flynn as Tony Stark (even if he died before the character was created, I still think he’d be perfect)

Yul Brynner as Prof X, 60s-style.

Paul D’Amato as a 70s Wolverine (apparently John Byrne often used him as his basis for drawing him).

Robert Redford circa 60s-70s as Captain America (I’m convinced that his casting in TWS, in addition to evoking his great political thrillers of the 1970s, was because he always looked like you’d imagine Cap to look). If he was playing Cap, I think you’d have to cast Newman as Tony, of course. And go for the hat trick by getting Steve McQueen for Hawkeye. Though Burt Reynolds would also have been a good 70s Tony, as might Tom Selleck in the 80s (he even has the right initials!)

Natassja Kinski as Black Widow. Carl Weathers as War Machine. Bernie Casey as Falcon (I think he has to have been Alex Ross’ template for the character in Marvels).

David Niven is my travel-back-in-time-and-borrow-him-for-a-movie Alfred Pennyworth.

Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas as Superman and Batman. Either actor playing either role though I think Kirk would also have made a good villain (perhaps Two-Face to Burt’s Batman) and he also looked a bit like vintage Arthur Curry back in the day.

As for that other waterlogged hero, Prince Namor, I think Leonard Nimoy after a few months in the gym would’ve been perfect.
 
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Christopher said:
Professor X's original comics design was modeled on Yul Brynner, hence the eyebrows. So Brynner would probably be the ideal choice there.
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Yul Brynner would have made an EXCELLENT Professor X. For some reason, he was blanked out of my mind in my imaginary casting session :)
 
1930s/40s Spider-Man
Mickey Rooney- Peter Parker
Joseph Cotton-Norman Osborne
Freddie Bartholomew- Harry Osborne
Judy Garland- Betty Brandt
Jackie Cooper- Flash Thompson
Sidney Greenstreet-The Kingpin.
 
Professor X - Yul Brynner
(Edit: I posted this before I saw that he was already mentioned)

Magneto - Charlton Heston, just so these two can be in another movie together.

Kor
 
@Nerys Myk fantastic casting choices. I wanna riff on that.

Hmm.
J. Jonah Jameson: Edward G Robinson
Kraven the Hunter: Laurence Olivier (I'm thinking of him more as the gentlemen hunter type)
Doc Ock: Peter Lorre
Robbie Robertson: Paul Robeson
Venom: Robert Mitchum
Carnage: James Cagney
Mysterio: Orson Welles
Vulture: Basil Rathbone
Felicia Hardy: Lana Turner
Mary Jane: Maureen O'Hara
Gwen Stacy: Veronica Lake
Aunt May: Katherine Hepburn
 
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