The DC/Marvel Character Casting Shuffle
Many actors have played cross-company comic book characters over the years… though probably more than you originally thought
When we last saw him in 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine, depending on which screening you were (un)lucky enough to attend, Mr. Wade Winston Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) — aka Deadpool, aka Weapon X — was lying amongst the rubble of Three Mile Island, having literally lost his head in a battle with a certain adamantium-clawed superhero. Of course, not even a good decapitation can keep a good Deadpool down, which is why our final fleeting glimpse of the Merc With A Mouth came as a shock to absolutely no one: As his clearly not-dead hand crawled toward his clearly not-dead severed head, his eyes fluttered open, and his lips offered a pre-emptive “Shhhh…”, in a bit of fourth-wall breaking that was perfectly in keeping with the comic books. X-Men Origins didn’t get a lot of things right, but that was certainly one of them, and fans have spent the last six years anxiously awaiting the promise of that shot — a Deadpool solo spin-off movie, or at the very least, a follow-up film in which Deadpool played anything other a superfluous side character.
Which, come February 12, 2016, is exactly what we’re gonna get. Directed by former VFX artist Tim Miller, and starring Reynolds, Ed Skrein, and Morena Baccarin, Deadpool: The Movie finally sprung to life following a two-minute sizzle reel that leaked to the Internet in July 2012. This bootleg test footage (also directed by Miller), in which a fully-costumed, heavily-CGI’d Deadpool slices, dices, and sarcasms his way through a car-load of hapless henchmen, really seemed to get the character’s trademark snark down pat, and wowed 20th Century Fox executives enough to greenlight a feature film. Production then began on March 23, 2015, and ended on May 29; in between, Mr. Reynolds, always the cad, Tweeted a number of memorable reveals about the shoot (most of them NSFW), in an epic attempt to assure fans that the property was in good hands. And then, on July 11, all fears about the movie were finally laid to rest, when an exclusive trailer debuted to cheering crowds at the San Diego Comic-Con. It will be everything Deadpool devotees have come to expect from the character: quippy, profane, gratuitously violent, and a kick in the pants to all other comic book movies that came before it.
A high point of the trailer comes early on (like everyone else who skipped out on the ‘Con, I was able to catch a bootlegged version on the ‘net, before it vanished conveniently from circulation), when a pre-Deadpool Deadpool, strapped to a gurney as he’s prepped for some mysterious operation, begs the doctors in charge, “And please don’t make the super suit green. Or animated!” It’s a delicious meta-jab, not just at Hollywood’s affinity for CG- ing everything in sight, but also at the expense of Reynolds’s previous attempt at superheroism, 2011’s critically-panned Green Lantern. That character, of course, is the property of DC Comics, while Deadpool is owned by Marvel, which kicked up some controversy back in the day when the actor was cast as the Emerald Crusader. Was Reynolds being disloyal to the brand, crossing over to DC while his Merc With A Mouth movie waited in the wings? Or worse, would his commitment to future Lanterns actually prevent him from suiting up again for Marvel? Thankfully, Green Lantern was such a non- starter at the box office that the question was quickly rendered moot. A better question might be: Were there no hard feelings between studios, no fierce rivalries like the ones that existed for so many years in comic shops, that could possibly prevent any actor from jumping from one team to the other at will?
After all, we’ve come a long way from the 1930s and 40s, when stars like Cary Grant or Bette Davis were kept under contract by certain studios and loaned out to rivals for trade. Actors, these days, are free to pursue projects however they (or their agents) see fit — and comic book franchises are the bread and butter that can keep them fed for the rest of their natural lives. Is it any wonder we see so many of our modern movie stars hopping from franchise to franchise, regardless of publication or character? Keep in mind, this happens more than you probably think. And while most of these comic book casting crossovers fail to make a splash the way Reynolds has done (die-hard fans will actually recall Reynolds’s first foray into superhero-dom as the wisecracking Hannibal King in 2004’s Blade: Trinity, which no doubt got him the job in Wolverine), spotting the connections can always be fun.
And so. Below, I offer you a list of two dozen additional CBCCs (that’s 25 total, for those who can count). Some are old, some are new, and, as always, by no means is this list all-inclusive. I think even Deadpool himself would appreciate the self-referential-ness of it all.
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Actor: Ben Affleck
First Appeared In: Daredevil (Marvel, 2003)
Crossed Over To: Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice (DC Comics, 2016)
Actor: Jessica Alba
First Appeared In: Sin City (Dark Horse Comics, 2005)
Crossed Over To: Fantastic Four (Marvel Comics, 2005)
Actor: Halle Berry
First Appeared In: X-Men (2000)
Crossed Over To: Catwoman (2004)
Actor: Nicolas Cage
First Appeared In: Ghost Rider (Marvel Comics, 2007)
Crossed Over To: Kick-Ass (Icon Comics, 2010)
Role: Role:
Johnny Blaze Damon Macready
Publisher: Publisher:
Marvel Comics Icon Comics
Actor: Jim Carrey
First Appeared In: The Mask (Dark Horse Comics, 1994)
Crossed Over To: Batman Forever (DC Comics, 1995)
Role: Role:
Stanley Ipkiss Edward Nygma
Publisher: Publisher:
Dark Horse Comics DC Comics
Actor: Chris Evans
First Appeared In: Crossed Over To:
Fantastic Four (2005) The Losers (2010)
Role: Role:
Johnny Storm Jensen
Publisher: Publisher:
Marvel Comics Oni Press
Actor: Morgan Freeman
First Appeared In: Crossed Over To:
Batman Begins (2005) Wanted (2010)
Role: Role:
Lucius Fox Sloan
Publisher: Publisher:
DC Comics Top Cow Productions
Actor: Paul Giamatti
First Appeared In: Crossed Over To:
American Splendor (2003) The Amazing Spider-Man 2
(2014)
Role: Role:
Harvey Pekar Aleksei Sytsevich
Publisher: Publisher:
Dark Horse Comics Marvel Comics
Actor: Lena Headey
First Appeared In: Crossed Over To:
300 (2006) Dredd (2012)
Role: Role:
Queen Gorgo Ma-Ma
Publisher: Publisher:
Dark Horse Comics IDW Publishing
Actor: William Hurt
First Appeared In: Crossed Over To:
A History Of Violence The Incredible Hulk
(2005) (2008)
Role: Role:
Richie Cusack Gen. “Thunderbolt” Ross
Publisher: Publisher:
Vertigo/DC Comics Marvel Comics
Actor: Tommy Lee Jones
First Appeared In: Crossed Over To:
Batman Forever (1995) Men In Black (1997)
Role: Role:
Harvey Dent Kay
Publisher: Publisher:
DC Comics Marvel Comics
Actor: Diane Lane
First Appeared In: Crossed Over To:
Judge Dredd (1995) Man Of Steel (2013)
Role: Role:
Judge Hershey Martha Kent
Publisher: Publisher:
IDW Publishing DC Comics
Actor: James Marsden
First Appeared In: Crossed Over To:
X-Men (2000) Superman Returns (2006)
Role: Role:
Scott Summers Richard White
Publisher: Publisher:
Marvel Comics DC Comics
Actor: James McAvoy
First Appeared In: Crossed Over To:
Wanted (2008) X-Men: First Class (2011)
Role: Role:
Wesley Gibson Charles Xavier
Publisher: Publisher:
Top Cow Productions Marvel Comics
Actor: Ron Perlman
First Appeared In: Crossed Over To:
Blade II (2002) Hellboy (2004)
Role: Role:
Reinhardt Hellboy
Publisher: Publisher:
Marvel Comics Dark Horse Comics
Actor: Natalie Portman
First Appeared In: Crossed Over To:
V For Vendetta (2005) Thor (2011)
Role: Role:
Evey Hammond Jane Foster
Publisher: Publisher:
DC/Vertigo Comics Marvel Comics
Actor: Mickey Rourke
First Appeared In: Crossed Over To:
Sin City (2005) Iron Man 2 (2010)
Role: Role:
Marv Ivan Vanko
Publisher: Publisher:
Dark Horse Comics Marvel Comics
Actor: Zoe Saldana
First Appeared In: Crossed Over To:
The Losers (2010) Guardians Of The Galaxy
(2014)
Role: Role:
Aisha Gamora
Publisher: Publisher:
DC/Vertigo Comics Marvel Comics
Actor: Will Smith
First Appeared In: Crossed Over To:
Men In Black (1997) Suicide Squad (2016)
Role: Role:
Jay Floyd Lawton
Publisher: Publisher:
Marvel Comics DC Comics
Actor: Terence Stamp
First Appeared In: Crossed Over To:
Superman II (1981) Elektra (2005)
Role: Role:
General Zod Stick
Publisher: Publisher:
DC Comics Marvel Comics
Actor: Aaron Taylor-Johnson
First Appeared In: Crossed Over To:
Kick-Ass (2010) Avengers: Age Of Ultron
(2015)
Role: Role:
Dave Lizewski Pietro Maximoff
Publisher: Publisher:
Icon Comics Marvel Comics
Actor: Hugo Weaving
First Appeared In: Crossed Over To:
V For Vendetta (2005) Captain America: The
First Avenger (2015)
Role: Role:
V Johann Schmidt
Publisher: Publisher:
DC/Vertigo Comics Marvel Comics
Actor: Michael Jai White
First Appeared In: Crossed Over To:
Spawn (1997) The Dark Knight (2008)
Role: Role:
Al Simmons Gambol
Publisher: Publisher:
Image Comics DC Comics
Actor: Ayelet Zurer
First Appeared In: Crossed Over To:
Man Of Steel (2013) Daredevil (2015)
Role: Role:
Lara Lor-Van Vanessa Marianna
Publisher: Publisher:
DC Comics Marvel Comics
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That’s 25 down — yet we’re barely scratching the surface here, people! Do you feel I left anyone important off the list? Do you have any issues (Get it? Issues? As in comic books?) with anyone I included? Feel free to add examples/complaints in the comments section below!
Originally published at findingthewrongwords.blogspot.com on January 19, 2016.
