I always liked Dean Cain as Superman, but Reeve will always BE Supes

Tobey is great, Bale is awesome

Jack was a good Joker, but a little too JACK

Kevin Spacey made a good Lex

Jim Carrey as the Riddler (maybe just because I'm a big Jim Carrey fan, Frank Gorshin owns the role however)

Brandon Lee in The Crow.

Also Thomas Jane in The Punisher.

Just based on the effect of the actor in the role, not necessarily on the faithfulness of the movie adaptation:
Thora Birch as Enid Cohn
Paul Newman as John Looney/Rooney
Viggo Mortensen as Joey Cusack
Vincent Cassel as Blueberry

I completely agree, I love those movies but i don't think any of the actors came close to their comic book counterpart, maybe Poison Ivy but thats it. I love Jack but he was not the Joker, and as Michelle was hot but she was nowhere near the Selena Kyle(?) of the books.

Mickey Rourke as Marv in Sin City

Pat Stewart

And again, it's not the actors. I mean they are the owner of their character, but only to the extent of the director's vision... The script called for Selina to be batshit crazy, so that's how she was played. As for Poison Ivy... (which is hard to talk about because of how painful that movie was) she had the sultry seductress thing, but again, it was just far too campy. I never really felt her total love for all that is green and her violent hatred of humanity.

And of course, let us not forget Bane... One of the only villains to seriously hurt Batman through intelligence, planning and patience (an of course all jacked up on venom) and they turn him into Ivy's mindless goon. Disgraceful.



Doc

don't even get me started on Bane. From what i've heard in the books Bane figured out that Bruce Wayne was Batman just by the way he walked(i started reading after the fact so i'm not sure if that happened or not). And i think disgraceful is even too light of word on what they did in that movie.

Drew Carey as Dilbert.

It was a little more complicated, but still totally intuitive. He would stage crimes that Batman would respond to and then stakeout the batmobile. It would always leave the city traveling the same direction across the Robert Kane Memorial bridge up toward Bristol (which is to Gotham what West Chester is to New York), which confirmed Bane's theory that Batman would have to be incredibly wealthy.

He then did his research on everyone living up there... many were too old. Of the ones that were the appropriate age (narrowed down based on reports of Batman's description and on how long he's been operating in Gotham), only two had the right build - A former athlete and Olympic Champion who started his own fortune 500 and lazy, incompetent party boy Bruce Wayne.

Bane immediately knew it was Bruce Wayne and that this Playboy exterior was a front - the perfect disguise. He confirmed this when he had a fund raiser attacked and he observed from across the street. Bruce "accidentally" tripped up one of the robbers, and Bane noticed how well he handled himself. Later, as Batman was on patrol, Bane was able to tail him and observe him without being seen (not an easy feet, we're told) and noticed the same trained movement (You know that old Martial arts cliche, you can know a man, even under a mask, simply by fighting him).

That was when he made himself known and put into motion his plan on defeating Batman. This is key... most villains are filled with Hubris... and Bane is too, to be sure. But the difference is he realized Batman was better. He knew he could not take Bats in his prime, so he freed the inmates of Arkham. He watched Batman go out night after night on little to no sleep, getting injured and not properly tending to the wounds, eating little if anything at all... and only after weeks of this when Bruce was so dead tired and weak that he literally got back to the cave, took off the cape and cowl (didn't even take off the costume, just walked upstairs toward the bed) did Bane make his move, standing in the living room, holding an unconscious Alfred as Batman came up from the cave.



And look what Joel Shithead did to him.



Doc

off the subject but is there a TPB of that storyline.

It's actually a few... there are three books in all, Knightfall: Part one, Knightfall: Part two - KnightsQuest, and Knightfall: part 3- KnightsEnd. It falters here and there and totally reeks of late '80s, early '90s comic logic, but it's still pretty good. There's also a very good novelization of it by the same name - Knightfall.

Though if you want to read the best novel based off of a Batman storyline, read "No Man's Land"... cannot recommend it enough. I even got non-comic-fan friends of mine to read it and they raved about it.

< thread-jack ended >

Doc

Yeah, its the Knightfall storyline. I think the TPB is split into Part 1 and Part 2.

I also really liked Bale as Batman.

Mickey Rourke as Marv was a great idea. Christopher Reeve will ALWAYS be Superman in my eyes. Oh, and Ron Perlman as Hellboy was genius. A more well known actor would have insisted on his face being seen, but with Perlman it didn't matter and he had enough smart ass persona to bring the character to life.

While many will most likely disagree, I would have to say Thomas Jane was a good Punisher. Granted, the writers didn't know how to handle the character, but it was evident in Jane's performance that he understood what Frank Castle was all about and gave all he could for the fans with the material he was given.

I've always said I would love seeing the "Breaking of the Bat" storyline, and the aftermath with Azreal. Last time i mentioned it here I pretty much got told that it would never make a good movie and I didn't know what i was talking about

Paul Giamatti in American Splendor, probably doesn't count since he's real I suppose.

Kevin Conroy - voice of Batman
Clancy Brown - voice of Lex Luthor
Dana Delany - voice of Lois Lane
Mark Hamill - voice of The Joker

All of these actors turned in definitive performances as far as I'm concerned, especially Conroy.

Live action:

Hugh Jackman did great things with his portrayal or Wolverine.
Gary Oldman was a fucking fantastic young Jim Gordon.
Michael Caine's Alfred really hit the spot as well.

Reeve actually went through the rigorous weight gaining, unlike that muscle-suit wearing imposter.

Tobey's Spider-man was a blank in the movies. You don't get inside his head. When he puts that mask on he should be a whole different person, the fun and upbeat guy doing the wisecracks like in the comics.

Keaton's Batman had the coolest voice next to Conroy. His portrayal is still my favorite, i remember Burton once said Keaton had this madness in his eyes.

They very briefly touched on the Knightfall storyline in the new Batman animated series.

Was the about the aftermath of the earthquake in Gontham. I saw some of the TPB of that storyline. It was broke up into 4 parts and i had 1, and i found 3 & 4 but i never could find 2. I need those and i've been trying to find the TPB of i elieve it was called "Legacy", it followed the Contagion storylin Now that i'm way off topic.
And i loved Paul Giamatti

Was the about the aftermath of the earthquake in Gontham. I saw some of the TPB of that storyline. It was broke up into 4 parts and i had 1, and i found 3 & 4 but i never could find 2. I need those and i've been trying to find the TPB of i elieve it was called "Legacy", it followed the Contagion storylin Now that i'm way off topic.
And i loved Paul Giamatti in American Splendor, it helped me go out of find some of American Splendor books. I really like them, he gets a little preachy political wise in some parts but i guess thats part of his style.

The Knightfall TPB's don't cover any of that stuff about Bane figuring out who Batman is, just so you know.
Knightfall is my all-time favorite Batman stroyline.

Christopher Reeve Brandon Lee: The Crow Jack Nicholson - The Joker

Tommy Lee Jones - Agent K
Tom Hanks - Michael Sullivan
Bale - Wayne
Rourke - Marv

And I know it was completely over the top, but I loved Gerard Butler as King Leonidas in 300.

What about Bill Campbell as the Rocketeer and Jennifer Connelly as Jenny. She was so freakin' hot in that movie. I always thought that was one of the better adaptations; too bad it bombed.