Did You Know ‘Dragonball Evolution’ Wanted Stars Like Ron Perlman?

In the world of anime, it is hard to forget the abomination that is Dragonball Evolution. The live-action adaptation of Akira Toriyama’s franchise was eyed warily before it even began, and that paranoia proved to be on-point after all. The film is widely regarded as one of the worst adaptations that Hollywood has ever produced, but there are a few silver linings to the story.

After all, guys like Ron Perlman were able to dodge the movie before it could derail their careers.

If you aren’t up-to-date on all things Dragonball Evolution, then you should know the film had eyed some A-list talent to fill its cast. Before James Marsters was tapped to play Piccolo in the film, Ron Perlman was the guy being eyed to go green. However, the actor wound up turning down the role in order to do Hellboy II: The Golden Army.

It’s up to you to decide if Perlman made the right choice or not.

With Perlman out of the running, the studio brought on Marsters following his praised work on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The rest of the cast was filled out around the same time as Justin Chatwin was cast to play Goku, but rumors still persist about the lead role’s shortlist. Talent like Tom Welling has been attached to Goku in the past, and fans have said they’re glad the Superman star stayed further away from Dragonball Evolution than he does Kryptonite.

It has been years since Dragonball Evolution made its way to audiences, but fans have yet to forgive the adaptation for what it did to the series. Piccolo was one of the most criticized elements of the film, but Marsters did do what he could to keep the villain more canon-compliant. As a fan of the Dragon Ball anime, the actor pushed for Piccolo to maintain a grittier look than the high-fashion aesthetic the studio originally wanted for the Namekian, but still – the character never did get his shoulder pads. That alone is enough to make any fan of the original franchise revolt.

Dragon Ball Super‘s “Universal Survival” saga is part of the recent simulcast agreement that sites like Crunchyroll and Funimation have scored. Dragon Ball Super airs on Crunchyroll Saturdays at 7:15 p.m. CST. Toonami airs the English dub on Adult Swim Saturdays at 11:30 p.m.