Best Actor/Actresses in ComicBook Movies

[Bo-rilla Grodd]

All the talk about the recent casting of Wonder Woman, I started thinking who I have actually liked in comicbook movie roles. Some, I have liked for performances even if I dont feel it embodies all the traits of the character that is in the books ( Heath Ledger is a good example of this, IMO.) Certain performances, Ive liked because they are spot on to the character. So, this is a list that kinda combines both. My top ten performances in C.B.movies. (For one reason or another.) P.s. Im omitting animated once again, cause 8 outta 10 would be from Batman Animated series.

10. Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent- In a movie of great performances, he is the show stealer for me, both as Harvey and the tragic "two face" he becomes. He does cocky, strong, sad, mad, and insane all in one show. and very well.

9. Michael Keaton as Batman- He mite not be a great Bruce Wayne, but hes the Best Batman. I fight that forever, or until I see something that proves me wrong.

8. Thomas Haden Church as Sandman- Looks go a long way for me (im a shallow person) and he looks like he jumped straight outta the comic. He coulda been played a little dumber, I always felt that Marko had that goon mentality, but thats a minor complaint.

7. Michael Shannon as General Zod- Zod never really does anything for me, so the fact he kept my attention for which seems like an eternity deserves credit, but I feel he killed it in a couple scenes, and really made me give the character a 2nd chance.

6. Margot Kidder as Lois Lane- I have no love for the original superman movies, but if they did one thing right, it was casting. She had lois down to a tee, and even now, when I read Superman books, I hear her voice when Im reading Lois.

5. Christopher Reeve as Superman- Same thing I said for Lois. Reeve is Superman, in my head.

4. Brandon Lee as the Crow- The sadness, combined with the madness, combined with bein a Bad mutha, absolutely perfect.

3. Frank Gorshin as the Riddler- I really dont have to say much, but he really is the Riddler. With all the compliments I could give him, the one that stands out is his head. The shape and size of it, it looks just like the riddler in the books. That, and hes a great actor,........but mostly the head.

2.Robert Downy Jr. as Iron Man- I really dont need to defend this one, do I?

1.J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson- Never, in my eyes, have I ever seen a character leap from page to screen in such fluidity. He nailed the character, the brash, crap talking boss, that is completely full of B.S., with the subtle hints of humanity, just like Jonah has been since before I was born. Perfect, Perfect, Perfect.

thats my list and im stickin to it, lets see what you guys have to say.

[beastovjudgement]

Let's see... I left out the automatic, guaranteed choices such as Downey, Jr. and Ledger. In no particular order:

Sir Ian McKellan as Magneto, X-Men and X2. I know he was also in X-Men 3, but I try not to hold that against the man. It wasn't his fault.

Thora Birch as Enid Cohen/Coleslaw, Ghost World. She killed it.

Ron Perlman as Hellboy, Hellboy. Perfect casting.

Ray Stevenson as the Punisher, Punisher War Zone. I don't care; I thought he was great.

Gary Oldman as Jim Gordon, Nolan's Batman trilogy. I haven't given in to pressure to downplay the Nolan films' excellence, and Oldman was an exceptional Gordon among a very strong cast.

Deserving of a much larger role: Idris Elba as Heimdall, Thor. I have not yet seen the sequel, but Elba's brief appearances were among the highlights of the first movie. His casting had the awesome bonus effect of infuriating a bunch of white power jackasses, as well.

[S. Griffin]

Christopher Reeve, Michael Keaton, Gary Oldman, Sir Ian McKllan, and Idris Elba would be on my list, too, but here's a few that are on mine and aren't on anybody else's yet. A few of these will even conflict with a few actors on previous lists. Fun how that works out:

Terence Stamp as General Zod in Superman I and II. The man is an incredible actor with a powerful presence who set the standard for Zod even in the comic book world (a couple of decades later, but still...). Some may disagree, but I but I don't believe any actor has yet to surpass or even come close to Stamp as General Zod.

Thomas Jane as Frank Castle. His movie was terrible, but I feel like he was so perfectly cast to play the Punisher...Dirty Laundry on Youtube only serves to cement that.

Patrick Stewart as Professor Xavier. Sure, Ian McKllan is in the Singer (ignoring X3) X-men movies, but there's another knight in those films, and he's just as outstanding.

Jennifer Lawrence as Raven Darkholme/Mystique. I doubt there is any female role that Lawrence cannot play perfectly.

Mark Hamill as Joker. If Bo can get Gorshin's Riddler on there, then since Mask of the Phantasm saw theaterical release, Hamill gets on here. Mark Hamill is the quintessential Joker bar none.

[Bo-rilla Grodd]

Like I said, if I included animated series, It would be most of my list.
Gorshin saw theatrical, too!!!!!!!

[S. Griffin]

Like I said, if I included animated series, It would be most of my list.
Gorshin saw theatrical, too!!!!!!!

No ****. Like I said, if you can get Gorshin's Riddler on your list, then was including Hamill's Joker on mine because he appeared as the Joker in Mask of the Phantasm, which was released theatrically. The whole reason for that was Frank Gorshin appearing as the Riddler in a theatrically released '66 Batman movie. Every actor/character that was in Mask of the Phantasm is fair game; other Timmverse people would not be. Every actor/character from the '66 Batman movie would also be fair game; Yvonne Craig's Batgirl would not be, and neither would Julie Newmar, since she was not informed about the '66 Batman movie until after she had already committed to work on another project, which would have conflicted, and she was replaced by Lee Meriwether as Catwoman for the film.

[Bo-rilla Grodd]

Oh, I got it the first time. I think you took my statement a little different than it was intended.

You coulda voted for George Clooney ten times, that would be fine with me.

[S. Griffin]

Oh, come on. Who would pick George Clooney?

[Tango X]

1. George Cl... OH great!! There goes my list jerks!! *runs away crying*

[Caleb]

Hamill's Joker is the definitive version of that character, as far as I'm concerned. Yeah, Ledger was good, but Hamill (especially in Phantasm) just nails the manic, psychotic nature of The Joker without resorting to fancy psycho-babble. If we're counting Mask of the Phantasm (which it seems we're in agreement on), I'd also nominate Kevin Conroy. The ORIGINAL "Bruce and Batman should have a different voice" actor before Christian Bale decided to grahggle frahggle rarrgh. I'll admit, I'm kind of biased because I'm REALLY big on BTAS. But, in all seriousness, Hamill and Conroy both kill it in Mask of the Phantasm (Dana Delany) ain't bad either.

Really, there's something to be said for having all the actors in the studio at once, which BTAS did frequently. I know it's hard to sync Emma Stone and Ryan Reynolds' schedules up so they can act off of each other, but that sort of thing really does make animated movies feel a bit more authentic (to me, anyway).

The others I'd choose? In no particular order...

Honorable mention: Chloe Moretz in Kick-Ass, Mark Ruffalo in The Avengers, Mickey Rourke and Benicio del Toro in Sin City, Hugo Weaving in V For Vendetta, J.K. Simmons in Spider-Man

Tom Hardy in The Dark Knight Rises. He's a holy terror of a villain, with an effeminately Peter O'Toole like voice, and the complex body language of a gorilla. A lot of people compared him to Heath Ledger and somehow missed everything Hardy was doing without the use of an actor's greatest asset: two thirds of his face.

Michael Fassbender in X-Men First Class. (I think) Michael Fassbender is one of our greatest working actors. People tend to forget how good he is in First Class because of The Hunger Games, but Fassbender is phenomenal as Magneto - he nails the character's bubbling anger and hatred while somehow making him sympathetic. There's a little bit of McKellan's arrogance in the performance, but it's great how much Fassbender makes Magneto his own in First Class.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan in Watchmen. Say what you will about the movie, or how unwise it was to even ATTEMPT making Watchmen. But Jeffrey Dean Morgan IS The Comedian. The rest of the cast ranges from serviceable to downright terrible (Malin Akerman? Seriously?), but Morgan nails everything about Eddie Blake. If only it wasn't in THIS movie...

Peter Stormare in Constantine. Constantine is an okay Keanu Reeves movie, but a terrible John Constantine movie. And Peter Stormare's hilariously over-the-top version of Satan runs away with the movie in his whole five minutes of screen time. Perfect casting.

Paul Newman in Road to Perdition. Yes, it counts. Okay, maybe not. But Road to Perdition was a comic originally. And it's Paul freakin' Newman, for god's sake.

Everyone in Batman Returns. I can't choose. Michael Keaton was solid as Batman. Michelle Pfeiffer oozed sex as Catwoman. Danny DeVito is hilariously over-the-top and nasty as The Penguin. And Christopher Walken is...well, he's Christopher Walken, which works fine for this ridiculously dark superhero flick. Honestly, I can't single out just one performance from Batman Returns, so I'm choosing all four.

Tom Hiddleston in Thor. Yeah, yeah. The Loki backlash is in full-swing, now that he's fangirl'ed his way into three Marvel movies (More than poor, poor Don Cheadle? OH NO!). But, seriously, the guy's a hell of an actor, and there's no denying that he's really, really good at sneering his way through Loki's every scene. Watching Thor, it's easy to understand why so many people jumped on Hiddleston's bandwagon - the dude carries every scene he's in...even with Anthony freakin' Hopkins.

Ron Perlman in Hellboy (both). Could anyone else have played Hellboy? No. Well, maybe, but it wouldn't be the same.

Karl Urban in Dredd. Yes, it's fun to scream "I am...DA LAW!" in Sly's voice. But he ain't Judge Dredd. Karl Urban's gruff, monosyllabic, scowling Dredd, on the other hand? Now that's more like it. Seriously, Karl Urban's not the person I would have picked, but after watching Dredd, I can't picture anyone else behind the mask.

Robert Downey Junior in Iron Man. Cliche, I know. But credit where credit is due. He's just as solid in the sequels, quality regardless. But in the first Iron Man? Downey IS Tony Stark. Honestly, the MCU would probably exist without Downey, but it wouldn't be the same. He's a perfect example of an actor becoming synonymous with a character.

[Bo-rilla Grodd]

I agree, Karl Urban was awesome as Dredd!!