#surrounded by villains from James Bond and the Avengers and Batman like

[forgetriestowrite]

Ludinus, getting electrocuted by a dead lady and her horny rat puppet: if this is how I go down I'm NEVER gonna hear the end of it at Villain Con

[bigskydreaming]

Batman AU where a pissed off Dick Grayson, after being fired from Robin and kicked out by Bruce, doesn’t go back to the circus when he was off finding himself. Before he became Nightwing. He meant to, even made it all the way to Europe on his way to their latest stop, but in London he got....distracted, when he ran into one John Constantine.

Now, back at this point in canon, Constantine was probably in his mid-twenties at most. I’ve always pictured him mid to late thirties in current comic canon, he’s one of those guys who comes off as older than he is, b/c like, lbr, dude lives ROUGH, lol. But me being me, like, I’m not looking to hook nineteen year old Dick Grayson up with a mid-twenties staggering disaster in whiskey-soaked human form. However, that does not mean that Dick, recently feeling disillusioned about numerous things as well as lost and directionless, two things that define John in a lot of his decades, let alone twenties - 

Like, it doesn’t mean he doesn’t THINK about it, and perhaps romanticize the idea of him and John being kindred spirits. As well as maybe a little attracted to Constantine’s patented performative way of living, aka “watch how I windmill through life, giving no fucks whilst taking whatever latest misfortune befalls me in an unaffected and devilishly snarky stride, because of the thing about the no fucks, see, that’s the connection there.”

And okay, if we’re being totally honest here, its not like it just COMPLETELY didn’t occur to Dick that he was coming up with reasons to justify sticking around and hanging out and also crushing on one of the people MOST likely to tick his dad off. I mean, let’s face it, John is like, the combination of three things Bruce has zero patience for and avoids or outright disdains whenever possible: 

1) Magic, ugh, unreliable, illogical. (Bruce’s super-objective POV on the subject) - Look. It makes no sense. Follows no logical rules. Every usage of it is a breakdown of the normal universe and the ordered mechanism of The Way Things Are Supposed to Work, the things Batman relies on, needs in order to be him, the Great Detective, the guy who understands how everything works and that’s how he stays one step ahead of everyone else.

In a word, magic and all its works are RUDE and they like....annoy him just on principle.

2) Eternally late and relentlessly slovenly (not everyone has a live-in BUTLER Bruce, jeez) 

and 

3) ...John Constantine. (Let’s be real. This one just is what it is. There’s not a whole lot of getting around it. Its hard for Dick at age 19 to pretend buddying up with John isn’t guaranteed to make Bruce grind his teeth, given that its hard for anyone at any age to pretend that while Bruce almost certainly respects the things John has accomplished at various times....being in the same zip code as him is something he tries to avoid. Their personalities are not super compatible).

So, its a tiny bit possible the Great Divergence of this AU from canon.... comes down to one accidental team-up with one of Batman’s Top Ten Favorite People, No Seriously....and then Dick kinda leaning into being a bit of a petty shit here. Look, its not his finest hour, but Bruce started it, and also, like whatever. Alexa, play ‘Teenage Wasteland’ but y’know, all...SUPER LOUD and ANGSTILY. 

Ahem. Anyway.

So even though Constantine rather famously likes neither people nor drama, and Dick is both those things.....Dick is also always effortlessly charming and makes friends wherever he goes. In the end, it should come as no surprise to anyone but Constantine that he is no more Immune to Dick’s innate Likeability Quotient than most of the rest of humanity. 

And for a couple of weeks they kinda just hang out, get into random mishaps with magical gargoyles and ensorcelled ravens around the Tower of London and also one specific clash with a demonically possessed umbrella that turned anyone who held it into like, Mary Poppins, but also, y’know, EVIL - look it was this whole thing, don’t ask, Constantine still doesn’t like to talk about it. He even offered to show Dick how to do a minor cantrip if his mischief minded companion would agree to keep his mouth shut on the subject from now until the end of eternity.

Dick had to hem and haw over that one for a bit, but ultimately his innate curiosity won out over his fondness for telling a rousing but also hilarious tale. It was a very narrow margin, but that was all that was needed to have Dick’s foot take its very first step along a very different road in this universe. 

See, Constantine’s not really expecting much to happen even as he walks Dick through the steps of the simple spell. Magic’s as unpredictable about who it’ll roll over and play tricks for as it is in how it operates and functions and like...basically accomplishes all the many varied feats that make Bruce develop spontaneous frustration migraines, because that’s not how reality works, none of this has anything to do with how reality WORKS, what happened to the RULES, dammit!

And sure, there’s all sorts of different kinds of magic, and all kinds of different lines various magic practitioners sort into....some are born into it, like the Zataras, and Constantine himself actually, though in a very different way from the former....others end up developing a knack for it after significant encounters with arcane or occult beings, forces, artifacts or the like, as though their exposure to such a focused concentration of it resulted in a kind of charge rubbing off on them, just enough to make them able to attract and gather and channel magical forces from then on themselves. Others are chosen to it, and some just have no clue why spells will work for them but not ten random pedestrians they stop on the street and use as a rather strange sample group.

But bottom line is magic isn’t just about practice and skill, you tend to either have a knack for it or you don’t, and more people don’t than do, so John’s pretty much expecting to fulfill his end of their little gentleman’s agreement and then watch Dick duplicate everything he did exactly, with zero result.

Except turns out, Dick Grayson DOES have a knack for magic, same as he has a knack for well, everything. The guy was crime fighting and kicking bad guy ass in middle school. Forget James Bond and Captain Kirk, forget even Batman himself, ROBIN is the original and ultimate Gary Stu. Of fucking course Dick would be good at magic if he ever tried it. There’s a fairly large school of thought in this universe that posits that the force they call magic is an almost living entity in its own way, perhaps even sentient. Most of the magicians and wizards and sorcerers in that school of thinking kinda all quietly nurse the opinion that magic just, like....likes Dick Grayson, and he just charmed it with his first attempt at that simple spell and had it wrapped around his finger by the time he said Abra Kadabra.

(Because of fucking COURSE John picked a spell he could end with Abra Kadabra, have you met the man? He’s the most dramatic of them all, why do you think he hates both people and drama so much??? He’s the people and the drama!)

So there we have one lost and directionless Dick Grayson, feeling like he’s lost his footing and all his old plans and projected paths don’t really fit him anymore, or at least not well enough to help him feel like he’s headed somewhere, doing something.

Buuuuuut, then there’s that petty teenage side of him again, the one that goes fuck Batman, and also I’m right to say so.....and at least that IS a direction to focus on, even if not the most noble one....so the same brain cells that linked up and logic’d him around to the conclusion that ‘Bruce will never think to look for me with John Constantine of all people, and LOL how much would he hate that’....like, big fans of the positive reception their prior performance had received, those same brain cells leap back into action with zeal and zest and steer him to the not all that distant conclusion:

“LOL, how much would Bruce hate it if I ended up being this like, super talented magician, with expertise he knows nothing about? Could you imagine?”

Turns out Dick could, and did, and so much like that initial inch in this direction, is the true basis of him following up on that and becoming a renowned sorcerous superhero in this universe the fateful last words “Screw you dad, you’re not the boss of me and I’ll do what I want!”

I mean. Yeah. That’s pretty much exactly how it began. Yup. Oops.

But the thing is, that’s just how it starts. A random string of chance encounters and events that capture Dick’s attention and interest at a time and a place in his life where he was looking for literally anything to do just that....but once it HAD his attention and interest, everything changed. It was no longer about thinking ‘hey this will really tick Bruce off,’ because Dick’s capable of that train of thought and gut/impulsive decision making, sure, but he’s not about to commit his entire LIFE to that just to flip Bruce the proverbial middle finger. 

It only continues, he only keeps going and furthering his magical studies because he genuinely comes to love it for the sheer versatility, the unpredictability of it, the way holding reality in one hand and magical forces in the other is like walking a tight rope with no safety net, and sure its not the same thing as flying, but on that note, did you know there are spells that can literally make you fly? 

Dick does, now, and he knows like, seventeen different ones.

And so Dick throws himself into studying magic the same way he throws himself into everything. He’s never done anything half-assed in his life. He’s physically allergic to the very idea of it. When he does a thing, he fucking COMMITS, and becomes the best he possibly can at it....which ultimately almost always puts him in the one percentile of that thing. 

He learns everything he can from Constantine, or at least as much as Constantine’s willing to teach him. Eventually their paths diverge, not because of any bad blood, but just because Dick isn’t interested in the same specialties as Constantine. So then he moves on. Travels the world, similar to what Bruce did when he was his age, training to become Batman. But Dick trains with magicians, wizards, alchemists. Madame Xanadu. Sebastian Faust. Raven. Even charms freaking Circe into teaching him an enchantment or two, because lbr, a mystically inclined Dick Grayson would inevitably intrigue the more infamous mystics of the DC universe in the same way a combat-focused Dick Grayson intrigues Deathstroke and assorted others.

Everyone except for Zatanna and Jason Blood, the magicians Bruce actually respects and relies on, and who Dick is sure would report back to Bruce about him, and he’s still ticked. Plus, Zatanna’s type of magic is innate, not really something that can be taught, and Blood’s stems from his sharing his body with a demon and Dick’s not really looking for a roommate right now.

Eventually, Dick is satisfied enough with his skills and knowledge to return to the Titans. He adopts the name Nightwing, same as in canon and for the same reasons. He’s still the same man, same leader, same fighter with all the skills he already had....just now with the added repertoire of someone who’s branched off in an unlikely direction. 

Hey, Bruce did want him to go to college and learn something new. Not Dick’s fault his particular field of study isn’t Bruce-approved. (Okay, its entirely Dick’s fault, since that was after all the point, but eh. Oh well).

Nightwing’s still an acrobat and hand-to-hand fighter. He’s invested too much time, effort, himself into those skills to just give them up. He’s an adrenaline junkie, thrives on motion, activity, the rush of going head to head with someone who can really push him, challenge him. His magic is incorporated into his fighting. He constructs who he becomes as magician around the foundation already in place due to who he is as an acrobat, detective and hand to hand combatant. His magic is an added skill, not a replacement for his previous skillsets.

So he has alchemical potions on his utility belt, amid his ordinary smoke bombs and gas pellets. Tools and spells of divination and scrying for when a trail goes cold and can’t be tracked further by ordinary means. But now the Titans have another mystical expert to turn to for magical related missions, not just Raven. Their specialties are entirely different, but they’ve worked together since Raven first came to this plane, and they still complement each other well.

Of course, this changes things in other ways too. Dick’s new focus takes him further away from his time with Batman than even in canon. He’s still traveling and training for most of the time Jason is Robin and never even meets him before his death. Of course he kept tabs on Gotham no matter where he was. He absolutely knows about the adoption, about a second Robin. And about Jason’s eventual death. But he’s still somewhere places unknown in the aftermath, not easily tracked down by Tim, who sets out to help Bruce on his own, wearing down Bruce’s resistance to him being Robin between just his and Alfred’s efforts. Dick remains largely estranged from the Batfamily as Cass is adopted, Steph takes her turn as Robin, etc.

And then Jason comes back from the dead. 

But again, things play out differently here. This Jason is never found by Talia and the League, never dumped into a Lazarus Pit. Instead, Leslie Thompkins opens up her clinic one day to find a catatonic Jason in a bed inside, not long after he’s resurrected. He recovers as mysteriously as he returned, helped along by being in familiar environs, surrounded by loved ones as he’s of course immediately returned to the Manor and attended on by Bruce, Alfred, Babs, Tim and Cass. So he has less resentment for Tim, for being replaced. Its harder to deny Bruce’s love for him when he has Bruce by his bedside, day after day, watching and waiting throughout his recovery. He never suffers from Pit madness. Is never influenced by League ideology. Never trains with monsters and murderers awful enough he wants to kill them himself after he’s done training with them.

And its hard to resent Bruce for not avenging him and killing the Joker, when no one’s seen the Joker since almost right after Jason’s death. The clown never returns to Gotham from Ethiopia, not as far as anyone can tell. By the time Bruce set out to hunt him down, after Jason’s funeral, the trail had gone entirely cold. Bruce hunted for him, sure, but Jason can’t be too mad about Bruce giving up before finding him. The Joker’s never been one to lay low. When even just a few months had passed without even a hint of the villain or his future plans, it was hard to imagine he was still alive - he never lacked for enemies, after all. Not unreasonable that someone else had gotten to him first.

Plus, of course, its hard to compare yourself to the ‘golden boy’ and find yourself coming up short, viewing yourself as less loved than Dick Grayson, when said golden boy still remains estranged. He’s the prodigal son in this reality, with Bruce’s anger towards his eldest for never coming back to the Manor, not even after Jason’s death - its obvious to everyone, even Jason. Tim doesn’t have the close, brotherly bond with Dick that he does in canon, and with less resentment from Jason for replacing him, its easier for the two middle sons of Batman to bond after Jason’s return.

Jason returns to crime fighting, probably still takes up the name the Red Hood - his sense of humor and irony had nothing to do with his death or the specifics of his return. He and Bruce still clash. They have their ideological differences, Jason’s harsher than Bruce would prefer. But this Jason has reasons not to force an all-out divide between he and his father, sticks to the line (even if reluctantly), not because he believes differently - he still thinks he’s right about Bruce’s way being flawed and will always argue so - but because he has reasons to stay. Things he actually feels he’ll lose if he pushes things too much, actually leaves the family. Because he has a family, he has no doubts about that here. Tim and Cass and Alfred and even Bruce. He’d miss them, if he lost them. So he makes sure he doesn’t.

And then, a couple years after his return, Jason starts feeling hunted by something. Some presence, some force constantly shadowing him, stalking him. Something supernatural. Otherworldly. In time, there’s no denying it. He’s actually attacked by some unseen, invisible presence, like some kind of monstrous beast that’s hunting him and only him.

Its hard to come to any conclusion other than that it has something to do with his resurrection. Nobody knows how that happened after all. Not even Jason. But there was definitely nothing natural about it, so with something unnatural hunting him, almost as if he’s ‘the one that got away’ or some kind of affront to the natural order of things, the Batfamily adds 2 + 2 and gets ugh, fuck, we need to call a magician for help, don’t we?

Bruce calls in Zatanna and Jason Blood first, of course. But this is well outside Zatanna’s area of expertise, she has no insight to offer. Blood’s a little bit more help. He’s at least able to confirm that the force is otherworldly, not native to this plane, and might very well have something to do with Jason’s time....not on this plane. And he is able to affirm that there’s nothing demonic about the presence, no whiff of Hell surrounding either it or Jason.

Finally, reluctantly, Bruce calls in John Constantine, at Blood’s suggestion. His number isn’t so much the last one in Bruce’s old-fashioned rolodex so much as its buried somewhere on the Manor grounds, locked in a puzzle box that affords Bruce countless opportunities to turn back or try something else before he finally gets it open and pulls out the card with his contact info and the header: IF YOU ABSOLUTELY MUST USE IN CASE OF EMERGENCY WITH ALL OTHER CONCEIVABLE OPTIONS HAVING PREVIOUSLY BEEN EXHAUSTED PRIOR TO THIS - HERE I GUESS.

Okay, maaaaaaaaybe I’m embellishing a little bit on that one there. But whatever.

And its not like Constantine is the actual last of the last he contacts here. For instance, even more than he’d like to not have to bring in John, he’d really rather not call Raven either, though he knows of her as well of course. 

In this reality, the Titans remain more distant from the Justice League and other heroes. They took Dick’s side when Bruce kicked him out, closing ranks, not to mention Roy’s falling out with Ollie resulting in a similar sentiment from them. And Dick and Roy’s diverged paths here similarly result in them paralleling each other in not reconciling with their fathers - they reaffirm to each other that whatever ‘their part’ in their disputes were, they deserved better than how Bruce and Ollie handled those situations, and they’re not going to let each other settle for being afforded less than the respect and care they deserve. 

So to be clear, its not that even after a couple years, Dick is still actively avoiding Bruce - Bruce’s failure to extend the hand first, make the first attempt at reconciliation and conveying that he still wants and needs Dick in his life, his family...that’s still the underlying issue, and the real change in family dynamics comes from Dick not caving and returning to a similar status quo to what he left, without Bruce ever actually addressing his own behavior and mistakes in driving Dick away without making any real attempt to get him to stay, or to follow him, or to ask him to come home.

As for the rest of the Titans, Wally still became the Flash here when Barry died, but he felt no real need to ‘move up’ to the Justice League, and with all of the rest of the original Titans remaining a cohesive family unit here, he chose to stay with them when not patrolling Central City. And when Kyle Rayner became the last Green Lantern and joined the Titans as in canon, the team was closer, more family than the line-up he was briefly a part of in canon, and so he remained with them as well. 

So the end result is in this universe, for the end of their teens and the early years of their twenties, the Titans go their own way, and they and the JLA keep to their respective ‘corners’ as it were. Meanwhile Tim’s generation remains known as Young Justice.

So back to the Batfam’s problem and Jason’s unknown pursuer. Constantine’s not much more help than Jason Blood was. After all, demons are his specialty too, just in different ways than they are Jason Blood’s. and the other magic he knows isn’t of a sort they need here either. 

He is however, able to offer one bit of advice - what they need, John says, is a magician who specializes in the otherworldly, not just the netherworlds. There are more things in Heaven and Hell than well...just Heaven and Hell. Plenty of other worlds, plenty of other dimensions....the kinds of places something like this creature could have come from. What they need is a planewalker. And luckily for them, Constantine just so happens to know the name of a planewalker who could help them.

Dick Grayson.

And of course the estranged eldest still comes when he’s called, because its never that he didn’t care, its just that he wanted, needed to be called. Even when tragedy struck the family, it wasn’t that he didn’t want to return and be a comfort to them, its just that he wasn’t sure his presence would be a comfort. 

(Though it takes numerous arguments while working on the mystery of Jason’s hunter, like, before this gets even brought up, let alone clarified. All parties involved are of course world-class experts at the cold shoulder, not to mention avoidance tactics and evasive maneuvers of all types.)

And as Jason and his other siblings get to know their mysterious oldest brother, the much alluded to but rarely spoken of first son, the Zitka in the room, the shadow they’ve all always been aware of but never known much about - other than that he had a definite Talent with a capital T for getting under their father’s skin, and while they might be closer with Bruce in this reality, Bruce is still Bruce and that’s still a Talent they all can respect and appreciate - well.

It would be a mistake, Jason realizes, to assume that just because Dick left, that meant that he didn’t keep informed on what he left behind. He has many many means at his disposal now, for getting information when he wants it. 

And it would be a mistake to assume that just because they didn’t see him care, that actually meant that Dick didn’t care. He didn’t have to actually meet Jason to feel at least a connection to the second son to be raised by the same father, the second person to wear his colors, bear his mantle, fight at Bruce’s side. He didn’t even have to know him, to grieve that now he’d never get the chance, when Jason died. To be outraged at the Joker, on his behalf. 

And its not like Dick didn’t have plenty of other reasons to hate the Joker as well - he was the reason he was fired, the reason he and Bruce were estranged, the catalyst of so much of his family’s misfortune.

And no one did ever find a trace of the Joker after Ethiopia.

Almost like he’d dropped off the face of the Earth.

Vanished from it entirely.

Of course, while Dick Grayson might be estranged from his father, he still abides by the code Bruce instilled in him at an early age. He doesn’t kill.

But there are worse things than death, some might say.

Especially for a man like a Joker, because he does have one thing he truly cares about: landing a punchline. Its why everyone assumes he was killed by some other enemy after Ethiopia....the Joker can never go long without making a reappearance. He needs an audience too badly to ever stay hidden for long. 

After all, what is a joke, if there’s no one to hear it?

And then as well, the family never did figure out how Jason ended up in Leslie’s clinic, after he crawled out of his grave. 

How someone found him so quickly, and knew the best place to take him. However Jason ended up resurrected, it surely had to involve considerable power of some sort, supernatural energies that surely had to attract some attention....

at least from someone attuned to the supernatural, who knew how to see such things....

and had reason to occasionally visit the Wayne family cemetery.

Yes, even in this vastly different universe, there’s still a way, still time to reunite a family even this fractured. When you’re a planewalker like Dick Grayson, there’s no road beyond your reach, its just a matter of finding the right one. 

And just because it takes time to find the road that finally leads home....that doesn’t mean its not out there.

[movietvtechgeeks]

Latest story from https://movietvtechgeeks.com/ten-superheroes-definitive-actors/

Ten Superheroes and Their Definitive Actors

We all have our favorite superheroes that have appeared on both TV and cinema and asked if they were real, we’d identify them with a face, and it would be that of the actor that portrayed them. For some of us who have lived longer than others, we’d probably think of faces the current generation doesn’t know of so this list will be limited to our heroes’ cinematic outings. But even then an entry or two would be from an older era. These roles have made or broken some actors but what matters is, that they brought the role to life and we couldn’t think of anyone else more suited. If only they didn’t age, right? Superman – Richard Donner’s Superman starring Christopher Reeve was a groundbreaking superhero film. The choice of Christopher Reeve as Superman was perfect. Reeve had the looks and the build to support the role. He wore the bright, red, blue and yellow costume without looking silly even by today’s standards. He also had a certain charm and charisma that embodied DC’s flagship hero. And though several actors have played the role on film and TV, many people still identify the late Christopher Reeve as the definitive Superman. Wonder Woman – the character had been waiting for so long for a cinematic outing. Whether Warner Brothers and DC were afraid a female-led film wouldn’t work, or Batman just makes a lot more money. But the world was greeted with surprise when Wonder Woman, starring Gal Gadot turned out to be such a great film. It’s now being compared to Richard Donner’s Superman film, and Gal Gadot is now being billed as the definitive Wonder Woman. Though she first appeared in Batman V Superman, the film’s reception has been disappointing that Gal Gadot’s appearance became muted but many agree that it was one of the best parts of the film. The DC Trinity is finally complete in cinematic form, and hopefully, she’s handled carefully in Justice League and in the Wonder Woman sequel to really cement Gal Gadot’s face to the character, replacing the lovely Lynda Carter who has as the face of the iconic female hero. Batman – Now this is a tough one. In deference to the recently departed Adam West, he just wasn’t well-known as the cinematic Batman even though the TV series had a cinematic special called Batman The Movie. Two actors actually fit the bill and there have been many since Batman was made into the superhero equivalent of James Bond surrounded by much hype as who will play the iconic hero as well as the villain of the year. Michael Keaton is credited into propelling the character to great heights in cinema thanks to director Tim Burton. Michael Keaton has brought the character out of darkness or rather back into it through the film simply titled Batman in 1989. Keaton played the role again in Batman Returns. The two subsequent films weren’t as well received as the first two and changing directors as well as lead actors aren’t well received back then as it is now. This franchise died taking the early superhero genre along with it in the disastrous Batman and Robin. Keaton had the seriousness it took despite doubts being a comedic actor. He had the looks and the build though Batman also popularized the rubber muscle trend. The quirky directing also worked plus the darker tone, the awesome costume and the awesome Batmobile and Batwing made this film very memorable, placing Keaton in an enviable role as the face of Batman. Though some fans would dispute this as the new Dark Knight Trilogy by Christopher Nolan, starring Christian Bale revitalized the popularity of the character in cinema. Not to mention Bale playing the character throughout the trilogy. The best film of the trilogy, The Dark Knight, was well received, thanks to a great plot, direction and acting with an awesome performance by the late Heath Ledger as the Joker who might as well have taken over Jack Nicholson as the face of Batman’s best villain. Iron Man – It’s very difficult to think of anyone else playing Iron Man than Robert Downey Jr. You could say that he was born for the role; and like Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, he has been playing the role since forever or more than a decade since the MCU franchise began. RDJ has the looks, RDJ has the build and RDJ has the snark of the character to a T. Robert Downey Jr. also shares some of the character’s own personal battles with alcoholism and thanks to the Iron Man film last 2008, RDJ’s career is at an all-time high. He has the majority of the MCU films under his belt, so it will be difficult to forget him as the definitive Iron Man. Spider-Man – This is another tough one, but there’s still no doubt that the majority still identifies Tobey McGuire as Spider-Man. McGuire has three films under his belt, and two of them were spectacular (pun intended). Spider-Man 3 is seen as a troubled sibling, but it’s not that bad. Some critics say though that Director Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy was too dramatic. What we have to remember though is that Marvel’s heroes are often thrust with real-world problems much like everyone else. They have to deal with problems regarding nerdity, love, responsibilities, and finances all of which are depicted nicely in the films. Tobey may now be memed for his role, but those serve to remind us that he’s still Spider-Man and not the other guy with the weird hair. Whether we’ll be singing a different tune after Spider-Man: Homecoming remains to be seen as Tom Holland seemed to have a handle on Spider-Man in the few minutes he was in Captain America: Civil War. Personally, Marisa Tomei nails it as the face of Aunt May but Rosemary Harris nails it too if we stick through the comics and the Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends cartoon. Captain America – Captain America has been around for a long, long time like Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. But unlike Wonder Woman, he had several cinematic outings before Captain America: The First Avenger. First, there was Matt Salinger in that lackluster 90s film, and there were those TV movies starring Reb Brown, but they were forgettable, low-budget and lackluster not to mention strayed too far from the source material. Actor Chris Evans certainly has the looks and the build to star as the Star-Spangled Man with a Plan. He also has the talent as he delivers his archaic period lines and attitude on the big screen. To further emphasize, Evans might as well be the face of the Human Torch as he played the Fantastic Four’s rambunctious Johnny Storm quite well. Seriously, these guys and the talk about their contracts. They need to be cloned. Wolverine – Hugh Jackman would probably be stuck down under as a great actor in that part of the world if it wasn’t for Ol’ Canucklehead. Hugh Jackman isn’t exactly well known for his other films, Pan being the worst. And imagine if Bob Hoskins got the role because Wolverine calls for a short, stocky guy? Lucky for us, Jackman got the part, and the height thing was thrown out the window. Unfortunately, Logan is the last we’ll see of him as Wolverine and Logan, being a great film compared to the other X-titles, is a great way of coming out on top. Professor X – speaking of another hero we won’t be seeing again; Patrick Stewart has also called it quits after Logan. His role in the film was perhaps his greatest and most effing tragic. We’ve known him as Professor X from the beginning of the film franchise and upon knowing there was going to be an X-Men film, the first person fans may have thought of is Patrick Stewart. Yes, because he’s old and bald but he’s also a great actor. Debate still rages in the Trek world if he’s better at being captain of the Enterprise than William Shatner. Again, Patrick Stewart pulls off the looks quite nicely and delivers his lines effectively. The role of Professor X has now been passed on to James McAvoy, but for most of us, Professor Xavier’s cinematic face will be Patrick Stewart. Nick Fury – Samuel L. Jackson has influenced the character of Nick Fury even before he took the cinematic role. Sounds like a Chuck Norris meme but it’s true. Samuel L. Jackson was the face of Nick Fury in Marvel’s Ultimate universe. That’s how great his appeal is. That is the very reason he secured the role of Nick Fury in the Marvel Cinematic Universe since Iron Man 1. ‘Okay, you can use my mother$%#ng face, but I gotta be in your mother$%#ng films!’ He nails the role through sheer talent, and he doesn’t have to worry about his looks straying from the source material. He is the source material. What was that? The Hoff was first? The point is? Blade – Not many actually thought of Blade as a comic book superhero, but everyone knew that Wesley Snipes nailed the stake right through the heart, at least for the first two films. Good Lord, Trinity… Anyway, there hasn’t been any mention of Blade in other media apart from an appearance in the 90s Spider-Man cartoon. The first guy for the role is often the best especially if the film was great, just like Christopher Reeve and unlike Ben Affleck in Daredevil. Wesley Snipes was perfect for the film with his looks and his action cred. His acting is okay, but the film pulls through on his badass appearance and action alone. The Snipes look carries through the Blade anime TV series and recent comic books. Now Snipes may be the face of Blade, but is a reboot with him recast in the MCU a good idea? Honorable Mentions Deadpool – Ryan Reynolds had his chance at being the Green Lantern. It’s not that he blew it, there were other factors at play. But he did nail Deadpool, and he’s more attuned to his character due to his own method of acting. He also has the looks and build though his good looks need to be tinkered to look like an oversexed avocado. Ryan Reynolds is the only face for Deadpool right now, and we give it to him unless Fox screws up the next film. He’s actually been Deadpool twice with the first in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. He was great in the first act, and comic book fans immediately knew he was the Merc with a Mouth. The last act where they sewed that mouth shut was probably what killed the movie for a lot of fans. Hulk – There has already been five cinematic Hulks. Bill Bixby, Lou Ferrigno, Eric Bana, Edward Norton and Mark Ruffalo. We count Lou as he played the actual Hulk opposite Bill Bixby’s David Banner (yes, not Bruce). Bana and Norton played the character once, if we’re going to base this on number of appearances but Bill, Lou and Mark have played it several times already. Unfortunately, Bill and Lou don’t count as the film The Trial of the Incredible Hulk was made for TV. To be fair, Edward Norton had the better and full cinematic appearance as Bruce Banner than Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk has yet to star in a solo film. But Mark has been in the game since Avengers and is set to appear in Thor: Ragnarok and Avengers: Infinity War. Edward probably owns this one until Hulk is better defined in the upcoming films. What do you think?

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