The 5 Worst Casting Choices In Superhero History

The most important part of any superhero movie creation has to be the casting of its heroes and villains. Can you imagine anybody else as Wolverine? Could anybody else have filled out Christopher Nolan's Batman suit as impressively as Christian Bale? However, for every triumph of casting there are blunders of the big screen and here are our top 5 of the worst. 5. Thomas Haden Church In Sam Raimi's disappointing end to his Spider-Man trilogy, Spider-Man 3, Spidey fans all over the globe were left scratching their heads at the choice of actor for its main villain. Sandman (in the comics) was a huge figure of a man, hellbent on annihilating Spider-Man using his superhuman strength, and durability, and an amazing gift to shape-shift as sand. An interesting character: so, who would bring him to life? The muscular action figure of Vin Diesel or perhaps the demanding and charismatic Russell Crowe? Erm no, it was in fact given to the aging, craggy faced mumbler that is Thomas Haden Church. Never before has a super villain had less charisma or energy. His low key, ultra dull performance sent audiences running for the exits and heralded the end for Raimi's franchise. 4. Ioan Gruffudd Ioan Gruffudd: Who? I hear you ask. With a name that just rolls off the tongue, Ioan hasn't exactly set Hollywood alight since his turn as Reed Richards AKA Mr. Fantastic in both Fantasic Four and Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer. The Welsh-born actor was more Mr. Not-So-Fantastic and seemed to struggle with an American accent, as well as lacking the gravitas that the role of Mr Fantastic requires. I'm not sure what the ladies think of the wannabe hunk, but I didn't buy his relationship with Jessica Alba's Sue Storm/Invisible Woman either. There was zero chemistry between them and I'm putting the blame squarely on his shoulders as Alba can do very little wrong in my eyes (gush). 3. Don Cheadle After contract negotiations broke down between Terrance Howard and Marvel Studios for Iron Man 2, it was to my utter dismay that they turned to the most irritating face in Hollywood, Don Cheadle, to play Colonel Jim "Rhodey" Rhodes. Iron Man's sidekick in the original was portrayed deftly by Howard: he brought a calm resolve to the role that added class and authority to the first film. Cheadle does what he usually does and turned the role into an overacted cartoon of a character. Rhodes got more involved in Iron Man's business and the mutual respect between Stark and Rhodes didn't seem to be there with Cheadle as it was with Howard. Maybe I'm biased as I will never forgive Cheadle's attempt at an English accent in the Ocean's franchise: "UN-bloody-believable mayte!" 2. Edward Norton I'm still unsure whether The Incredible Hulk should even have been made and Edward Norton's performance as Bruce Banner was unconvincing to say the least. Not that Norton isn't a great actor, beacause he is; he just wasn't right for the role. Banner is a lonely character riddled with angst and melancholia about his condition. He is a genius scientist driven to find a cure to prevent the Hulk from doing further damage. Eric Bana nailed Banner in Ang Lee's version Hulk, and although Norton's film is a more comic book, popcorn blockbuster type movie he didn't do justice to the source material. The role required a more intelligent and tortured portrayal of the Doctor exactly like Hulk's Bana: If it ain't broke, don't fix it. 1. George Clooney Was it the film, story, director, or actors that made Batman & Robin so bad? I imagine it was all of the above, but Clooney had absolutely no business being the Batman. The problem was every time he suited up as the bat it was a tongue in cheek moment. The film almost jibed at the fact that Batman is even a thing. The audience did not buy Clooney as a hero for a second - a shame though, as the very idea of Clooney as Batman interested a lot of people at the time and I really thought he'd be great. He made a much better Bruce Wayne than Batman as he fitted right into the suave billionaire mold, and if the film didn't require him to save Gotham in a PVC suit then he might have pulled it off. Despite this blip, Clooney remains untouchable in most other things, and rightly so, the man is a legend.

The 5 Worst Casting Choices In Superhero History

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Darren Pattison