What started out as a quick & dirty blog idea on doing a side-by side look at how comic book heroes have been visually translated on screen has now blown out to me going nuts trying to do a comparison for virtually every major comic book hero/villain that’s made an appearance on screen!
So I thought I’d start with the solo heroes from Marvel, then the teams, and move on to the villains. I’ll do Marvel first then DC then the rest.
Part 1: Marvel Heroes | Part 2: Marvel Teams | Part 3: Marvel Villains | Part 4: DC Heroes | Part 5: DC Teams | Part 6: DC Villains | Part 7: Miscellaneous
CAPTAIN AMERICA
Portrayed by: Reb Brown [TV] (1979); Matt Salinger [Captain America] (1991)
I recently found out that the 1991 Captain America movie wasn’t the first time Cap appeared live on screen. He starred in a movie serial released in 1944 but the Steve Rogers character was replaced with a guy named Grant Gardner and his trademark shield was nowhere to be found being replaced instead with a pistol. How American!
The next live action Cap features were several TV movies where we see him wearing a motorcycle helmet instead of the winged mask.
IRON MAN
Portrayed by: Robert Downey Jr. [Iron Man] (2008)
Well who’d have thunk it? The Iron Man movie was pretty damn cool. I was never a fan of the character in the comic books, mostly due to the fact that I’m a DC fan, but this movie, along with the Civil War comic series, made me realize that Tony Stark was quite an interesting character. Obviously Robert Downey Jr.’s portrayal played a big part in this realization, but he can make any character interesting anyway (can’t wait till Tropic Thunder opens here)
WOLVERINE
(included here due to the future solo movie X-Men Origins: Wolverine)
Portrayed by: Hugh Jackman [X-Men, X-2, X-Men: The Last Stand, X-Men Origins: Wolverine] (2000, 2003, 2006, 2009)
A 6-foot tall, singing & dancing, Australian Wolverine?!? No friggin fan-boy way! So was the cry of most fans when they heard Aussie stage actor Hugh Jackman was to play mean ol’ Logan in the X-Men movies. Well as far as I know, everyone was blown away by Mr. Jackman’s performance as Wolverine. No one cared in the end if he wasn’t 5-foot-3 like in the comics nor did anyone even talk aboot his lack of a Canadian accent. What can I say, Hugh Jackman as Wolverine was just plain cool.
HULK
Portrayed by: Lou Ferrigno, Bill Bixby [TV] (1978); Eric Bana [Hulk] (2003); Ed Norton [The Incredible Hulk] (2008)
The latest Incredible Hulk movie seems to have strengthened the new trend in comic book to movie adaptations started by Batman Begins. That is if your last attempt at the character didn’t work, start from scratch and have a do-over. The others that have done this are The Punisher and the upcoming Superman revamp. Sadly even though 2008’s Incredible Hulk was better than Ang Lee’s yawn-fest, Hulk, it was still just an average action flick.
THE PUNISHER
Portrayed by: Dolph Lundgren [The Punisher] (1989); Thomas Jane [The Punisher] (2004); Ray Stevenson [Punisher: War Zone] (2008)
For a second-tier character, Frank Castle, aka The Punisher has had quite a few movie adaptations. The first movie starred Dolph Lundgren of Rocky IV and He-Man fame. I remember seeing this as a kid but can hardly remember anything from it. The next version starred one of my favorites, Thomas Jane. Sadly his boyish good looks really took a lot away from the supposed grittiness of the character. The latest to play Mr. Castle is the fairly unknown Irish actor Ray Stevenson. We will get to see what he’ll bring to the table this December in Punisher: War Zone (which I honestly think will stink).
SPIDER-MAN
Portrayed by: Nicholas Hammond [The Amazing Spider-Man TV] (1977); Tobey Maguire [Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2, Spider-Man 3] (2002, 2004, 2007)
My cousin & I had this feud when we were little kids. He was a big Spider-Man nut and I was the Batman geek (erm, I mean AM, I still AM). Anyway I hated Peter Parker because he had the hot girlfriend-wife-to-be Mary Jane Watson while Bruce Wayne, the playboy, could never really settle down with any of the women he fell for. Mostly coz he fell for the psychotic ones like Selina “Catwoman” Kyle.
Just a little FYI, Nicholas Hammond played Friedrich, one of the Von Trapp children in The Sound Of Music movie.
BLADE
Portrayed by: Wesley Snipes [Blade, Blade 2, Blade: Trinity] (1998, 2002, 2004); Kirk ‘Sticky Fingaz’ Jones [Blade: The Series TV] (2006)
Much to my surprise, almost no one I’ve spoken to that’s seen Blade 2 actually like the movie. I loved it! Guillermo Del Toro is a comic book geek and he made this flick look outstanding and very, very comic book like. What’s wrong with you people?
DAREDEVIL
Portrayed by: Ben Affleck [Daredevil] (2003)
The movie was a joke but I’ll be honest, Ben Affleck sure looked like Matt Murdoch in costume to me! Oh and this movie is responsible for giving the world Beniffer! Groan!
GHOST RIDER
Portrayed by: Nicholas Cage [Ghost Rider] (2007)
A B-grade movie for a B-grade character. I have no idea why they made this movie. But at least Ghost Rider looked the part.
ELEKTRA
Portrayed by: Jennifer Garner [Daredevil, Elektra] (2003, 2005)
Another B-grade movie for a B-grade character. Aside from the bandana, the costume was pretty faithful to the comics.
SILVER SURFER
Portrayed by: Doug Jones [4: Rise Of The Silver Surfer] (2007)
What I thought would definitely be an all-CG character turned out to be a mix of special effects and amazing costume work. What’s with the Lawrence Fishburne voice though?!? I thought it was so out of place since I never imagined SS to have such a deep sounding black man’s voice!
