Ten Actors We Want to See in Comic Book Movies

Sometimes when you're scrolling down through social media or flipping through the channels, do you [...]

By Russ Burlingame

Sometimes when you're scrolling down through social media or flipping through the channels, do you ever find yourself wondering, "How the heck has this person not had a comic book movie yet?"

And we don't mean the Al Pacinos of the world, who could end up in a comic book movie someday but are nevertheless outside-the-box choices. We're talking about the guys who are self-evidently superhero material and who somehow haven't made it into one of the dozen or so Marvel and DC movies to be made in the last few years.

Now that one of those names -- Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson -- has confirmed his big DC Comics role and will head to multiplexes as Black Adam in Shazam, who's left?

Well...

Nathan Fillion

No, Guardians of the Galaxy doesn't count. And if you don't believe us, read earlier comments where he apparently chose a role in that film where he was so well-disguised that Marvel would allow him to do another movie in the future.

Who could he be? That's a good question. He seems, from his build and his jawline and his smirk and his attitude, to be a surefire hit with the Marvel Studios formula. The biggest problem is his age. At 43, Fillion is the same age now that Robert Downey, Jr. was when Iron Man premiered...and Fillion hasn't yet taken a job, meaning that by the time his first Marvel movie hit theaters, he would be 45 or older. There have been reports that, since Marvel signs everyone to long-term deals, they aim for younger actors (except when they go for the dignified older actor to provide a supporting role like Glenn Close in Guardians or Robert Redford in Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

Many fans thought the best fit for Fillion would have been Edgar Wright's Ant-Man. But Wright is no longer attached to the film, and Ant-Man has already been cast. They went older than Fillion with 45-year-old Paul Rudd, though, so at least there's that.

Yvonne Strahovski

It wouldn't be shocking to see the Chuck and 24 veteran pop up on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. or Arrow, since she's built up a dedicated following on TV but her feature film career hasn't done quite as well (her last comics adaptation was I, Frankenstein).

It might also be fun to see Strahovski as The Enchantress in Thor 3. Not only does she have the gorgeous blonde thing down, but we've seen her fight before and she can pull off those scenes. A chance to throw down with the Warriors Three and share some screen time with her former small-screen love interest Zachary Levi would be just icing on the cake.

That said, a Justice League movie could probably use a big-screen Black Canary...and tell me it wouldn't be at least a little funny for the girl who was introduced to so many fans via the "Vicki Vale" song to appear onscreen with Batman.

You may also notice that both of the first two folks we've named shared screen time with Adam Baldwin (in Firefly and Chuck, respectively). We enjoy Baldwin's performances as much as the next guy, but it's difficult to picture just where he could fit in. He's so unique-looking and his performances so glowering that he would probably do best as a villain, and he'd probably nail it, but the reason he isn't on the list isn't that we didn't think of him, or don't like him -- just that he doesn't scream "SUPERHERO" when you look at him.

Idris Elba

Edit: Yes, we know he's Heimdall. Really, we'd like to see him in a lead role but we let our enthusiasm for the actor blind us to the fact that he probably doesn't qualify. Leaving it here so the thousand or so comments we got correcting us don't look totally insane.

Here's another guy whose age might push him toward the outside edge of plausibility -- especially because he looks his age a bit more than Fillion does, with the salt and pepper in his short hair and stubble.

That said, he's in terrific shape and, in general, Hollywood can't get enough of wise old black men, though, so age might not be as much of a stumbling block for an actor of color.

Of course, with Pacific Rim sequels on the way, it might be nearly impossible to cast him in a superhero movie since both of those are likely to take up a lot of production time. And if he were to take a DC job, it's likely Warner Bros.' former longtime partners at Legendary wouldn't be all that willing to work around the shooting schedule.

Alexandra Daddario

Daddario, a fan-favorite in some sectors to play either Wonder Woman or Donna Troy back before Gal Gadot was cast in Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, is still one of those people who just feels like she should be a superheroine.

She's that right combination of tough, smart and a kind of unique beauty that makes her look different than the next nine actresses you line up with the same basic physical description. Like Nathan Fillion, there's something difficult to explain about her exact appeal, but it's undeniable.

She's also been the best part of a number of bad movies, something she has in common with the next name on the list -- and with Jason Momoa, who is rumored to play Aquaman in the upcoming Justice League film.

Her stint on HBO's True Detective shows that she isn't averse to doing TV in the right circumstances, so maybe we can even get her as Donna Troy in Titans if it really comes to TNT...!

Armie Hammer

Hammer has already kind of played a superhero, in that he appeared as a masked vigilante in The Lone Ranger -- and he almost appeared in George Miller's ill-fated Justice League film as Batman, of all people. For that reason, it might be difficult to get him to sign on as a lesser superhero, and it might be difficult to get studios to sign on the line with him after the failure of Lone Ranger.

But The Man From U.N.C.L.E. seems poised to be a modest hit, and that could put him back on some studio radars. And as indicated above, he's often discussed as the best part of some very bad movies, so it's not hard to see why somebody might take a chance on him in an ensemble piece like a Justice League or Defenders-style team-up film.

Gina Carano

Why Gina Carano and not Ronda Rousey? It's simple: She's got a lot more box office upside.

She was the first face of women's mixed martial arts, and for good reason. Pretty, engaging and a relentless self-promoter, she always felt a bit like Shaquille O'Neal or somebody. And, yeah, for better or worse, he had a Hollywood career and continues to work in show business on Inside the NBA.

As an athlete, it's fine to be Ronda Rousey or Barry Bonds; you get the job done, and you don't have to be a shameless shill, smile for the cameras or any of that stuff. And while she's certainly capable of fulfilling her publicity responsibilities, she's never come off quite as likable or engaged as Carano did.

There's also the fact that Haywire, a starring vehicle for Carano, may not have made a ton of money but it's generally held that the movie wasn't all that bad, and that Carano was pretty good in it. By contrast, Rousey's big screen coming out party was in this summer's The Expendables 3, in which the franchise took a big hit in terms of both box office and the Rotten Tomatoes score...and while nobody blamed it on Rousey, nobody much was talking about her, either.

All of that only touches on what makes Carano great, and it's arguably not fair to frame her entire inclusion on the list by why somebody else isn't here (although I'd arguably have done the same thing with The Rock and John Cena, had this list been made six months or a year ago).

Carano just seems to enjoy her work. Whether she's acting, promoting or fighting, she seems to be having the kind of good time that's infectious, and you can see that in a lot of performances that may not be the best, but that stick with you (think Johnny Depp's Pirates films).

Josh Holloway

This has to be coming, right?! I mean, we finally got Evangeline Lilly in Ant-Man, after all...!

Holloway, age-wise, is kind of on the cusp, but given how perfect he is for a role like this, I could see building a Green Lantern movie around John Stewart or Kyle Rayner and handing Holloway a supporting role as Hal Jordan, making him about as old as Affleck's Batman and a similarly seasoned crimefighter.

Lupita Nyong'o

This is a tricky one, of course. 

Nyong'o is kind of the next Jennifer Lawrence (or one of a dozen actresses saddled with that distinction) -- another performer that charms everyone and gets talked about in every big role. Hell, she was the center of Star Wars rumors pretty much from the word go.

The problem, of course, is that there aren't a lot of great superheroines of color, and it would likely be difficult to find a character good enough for an actor so in demand and so beloved. Maybe as Storm in X-Men: Apocalypse? Or Monica Rambeau if they wanted to make a Captain Marvel movie that somehow didn't star the current version of the character? I don't know.

Benedict Cumberbatch

Well...yeah, right?

I mean, I'm not as big a Cumberbatch fan as seemingly everyone else in the world is, but the reality is, he's hugely popular, especially among the genre fans that make up much of the comic book movie audience, and you'd be hard-pressed to find somebody who doesn't believe he can elevate a movie's street cred and box office, even after the abject failure of The Fifth Estate.

He's rumored to be attached to Batman V Superman, but only in that same way that just about everyone in Hollywood has been rumored to be attached to it at one point; I still am not buying in yet, and if it turns out he is, good on them. If not...well, when Paul Bettany goes Vision, they'll need a new voice for J.A.R.V.I.S.

Margot Robbie

One of the few good things about the wildly uneven The Wolf of Wall Street, Robbie stepped into her big-screen career and punched her weight with box office heavies Jonah Hill and Leonardo diCaprio. Like Daddario, she's also got a unique look that makes her instantly recognizable even when you dye her hair or alter her appearance -- which is handy when you're doing a superhero film, where you might spend a chunk of time with a mask on.

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