In case you missed the news last week, Warner Bros. announced a partnership with NBA Superstar LeBron James, which will cover a variety of film, TV and digital projects.Everyone is speculating this partnership will lead to an inevitable Space Jam sequel/reboot, but we can’t help but think of another major property that Warner Bros. owns: the DC Universe.After all, there are hundreds of DC superheroes to choose from, many of which would be an awesome fit for the NBA’s greatest superstar.Here are five superheroes LeBron James would be great at playing. (And we’ll spare you now by saying Steel is not on the list)
Orion
Darkseid’sย biological son, the New God Orion is one of DC’s fiercest brawlers and strongest characters.ย Both Orion and LeBron are built like football players and both can dish out and take massive amounts of punishment.ย If DC moves forward with Darkseid as a main villain of the upcoming Justice League movies, Orion would be a great way to sneak in LeBron James in a relatively small role in the movie.ย Plus, it would be pretty cool to see King James play a character created by King Kirby.ย
Videos by ComicBook.com
Icon
ย
An immortal superhero alien, Icon was a Superman analog created for Milestone Comics’ shared universe, which included other popular characters like Static and Hardware.ย While DC published and distributed the Milestone comics, Icon and other Milestone superheroes stayed in their own separate universe until 2009. DC recently announced they were bringing back the Milestone characters in a new series of “Earth-M” comics while Warner Bros. is developing a live action Static web series of some kind.ย If Warner Bros. really wanted to make a splash, they’d cast LeBron as Icon and bring his massive star power to a much deserving set of characters.
ย
Green Lantern
John Stewart is an obvious pick for LeBron James.ย One of four Green Lanterns to hail from Earth, Stewart is arguably DC’s most recognizable superhero due to his appearance in the popular Justice League cartoon.ย Stewart will allegedly appear in the upcoming Green Lantern Corps film with several other Earth based Green Lanterns.ย James and Stewart share the same tall, muscular build and both have a natural gift for leadership on the battlefield (or on the court, in LeBron’s cast).ย Plus, Trainwreck showed that LeBron works well in an ensemble cast, so if DC felt that LeBron couldn’t carry his own film, they could beef up the Green Lantern Corps movie with other big name actors as the other Lanterns.
Martian Manhunter
Asย Cleveland fans know all-too well, LeBronย can be pretty unpredictable with his decisions.ย If Warner Bros. is looking for a superhero that can be adapted to LeBron’s whims, look no further than Martian Manhunter.ย J’onn J’onzz is one of DC’s biggest superheroes and his absence from the DC Cinematic Universe is a glaring omission. LeBron matches Martian Manhunter’s imposing and muscular stature. Plus, the character fits in a variety of different movie genres. A flashy superhero with capes film?ย A gritty crime story?ย Sci-fi?ย Horror?ย No matter what decision LeBron makes in terms of genre, Martian Manhunter would be the perfect central character.ย
Earth 2 Superman
Warner Bros. already has a Superman.ย His name is Henry Cavill and he does a very admirable job of playing the Man of Steel.ย However, if Cavill ever moves on from Clark Kent or if WB really wants to shake things up, there’s actually an in-continuity way to bring in LeBron to play a new Superman.ย In DC’s Earth 2 series (set in an alternate universe), Superman dies protecting the planet from Apokoliptian forces.ย After Darkseid invades Earth a second time, a new Kryptonian named Val-Zod steps forward to assume the Superman mantle and lead Earth’s forces against a corrupted clone of Kal-El.ย LeBron James as Superman would not only make DC’s Cinematic Universe the center of Hollywood attention for years, it would also quite possibly make the Internet break in half.ย C’mon, you know you want to see LeBron wearing the “S” symbol on his chest.
