Fancast: JLA vs The Authority

Credit for the above image was created by genekelly on DeviantART

I know what you're all thinking: you're thinking "Oh no! Another Justice League cast!! I've seen a thousand of them!". However, I've decided to spice things up this time and have them face off against the Authority. For those of you who don't know, the Authority is a superhero in DC's now defunct Wildstorm imprint. Created by Warren Ellis, it the team mainly composed of Ellis-created characters from Stormwatch. Led by Jenny Sparks, the Authority got the job done by any means necessary, even if they were extreme.

I was inspired to do by the Artwork above. For this cast, I've decided to pit the 90s cast of Grant Morrison's JLA against the founding members of the Authority. I hope you enjoy:

JLA (Justice League of America):

Henry Cavill (Stardust, The Tudors) as Kal-El/Clark Kent/Superman: The Last Son of Krypton, who gains extraordinary abilities from the Earth's yellow sun. He uses these abilities to protect humanity as Superman, the Man of Steel. When he's not Superman, Clark works as a reporter for the Daily Planet. Superman's powers include superhuman strength, speed, and stamina, invulnerability, flight, various vision powers (including heat vision, microscopic/telescopic vision, and x-ray vision), super breath (which includes freeze breath), eidetic memory, and longevity.



Reason for Casting: Cavill has been tossed around by fan casters before Zack Snyder casted him, and after seeing some of his work, I have confidence that he'll be great as the Man of Steel. He's very likable and his this magnetic charisma that works well for Superman.

Alex O'Loughlin (The Invisible, Hawaii Five-0) as Bruce Wayne/Batman: The son of billionaires Thomas and Martha Wayne, who saw his parents gunned down before him when he was 8 years old. Sworing to avenge his parents death, Bruce spent the next few years of his life traveling the world, learning various martial arts, trained himself to peak physical and mental conditioning, and studied the criminal mind. While hiding behind the image of a callous playboy, Bruce fights crime in Gotham as the vigilante Batman. Batman is the world's greatest detective, along with being a master martial artist, acrobat, strategist, tactician, and escapologist, and posses a genius level intellect. He is also armed with special equipment kept on his utility belt such as Batarangs (bat shaped boomerangs), a grappling gun, and smoke and flash-bang grenades.



Reason for Casting: An up-and-coming talent, yo may know O'Loughlin from the reboot of Hawaii Five-0. He's pretty good actor who has a dark persona (as seen in his performance of Mick St. John on Moonlight). that fits for Batman, and brings a nice balance of suave intellect and rugged warrior. Plus, he knows martial arts.

Julia Voth (Supernatural, Lillith) as Diana of Themyscira/Wonder Woman: A warrior princess of the Amazons who was sent to man's world as an ambassador. There, she fights for justice as Wonder Woman. Her powers include superhuman strength, speed, agility, and endurance, flight, and is an experienced hand-to-hand combatant. Diana wields the golden Lasso of Truth, which makes anybody ensnared in it tell the truth. She also wears indestructible bracelets that are capable of deflecting gunfire.



Reason for Casting: I may get crap for casting a model-turn-actress for Wonder Woman, but I still stand by it. While Voth has wowed me in anything, I think she has the potential to make a good Wonder Woman. A major complaint I'll probably hear from people is that she's too skinny for Wondie. A counter for this argument is that she can always work out and train to get a much more fitter physique (like what Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth did).

Zachary Levi (Chuck, Tangled) as Wally West/The Flash: The third person to use the Flash persona and nephew of the previous Flash, Barry Allen. Wally posses the ability to run at superhuman speeds, and this ability is augmented by the Speed Force, an extra-dinensional energy force which most speedsters draw their powers from. Wally can also vibrate through solid objects, causing them to explode.



Reason for Casting: Since the fan favorite pick of Ryan Kwanten is too old for the role, I've decided to go with Levi. He's a pretty good actor from what I've seen him in, and has a pretty good comedic timing for Wally. He'd do the role justice.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Premium Rush, Looper) as Kyle Rayner/Green Lantern: A gifted free-lance graphic artist who became the last Green Lantern after an insane Hal Jordan (his predecessor), destroyed the Green Lantern Corps. Kyle is in possession of a Green Lantern power ring, which gives him the ability of flight, surrounds him in a protective aura, and allows him to create hard-light constructs fueled by his willpower and limited only by his imagination. Unlike previous Green Lantern power rings, Kyle's ring does not require a 24 hour recharge and does not posses a weakness to the color yellow.



Reason for Casting: Levitt's a solid actor who's great at both comedy and drama, and can do action when the role requires it. I know he was a part of Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy, but that doesn't mean he can't play another DC character. It also helps that he's play dan artist before in 500 Days of Summer.

Phillip Winchester (In My Sleep, Camelot) as Orin/Aquaman: The half human-Hlaf Altlantean king of Atlantis and the protector of the seas. Aquaman's powers include underwater breathing, superhuman strength and durability, submarine speed, and the ability to telepathically communicate with sea life. Aquamna also wields the Trident of Neptune, a magical weapon that grants its wielder great power and the divine right to rule the sea. It also allows him to manipulate and conjure water.



Reason for Casting: Winchester's an actor who you may know from Crusoe or Camelot. He's a classically trained actor with a ripped swimmers physique thats perfect for Arthur Curry. Plus, he knows how to speak like royalty (as seen on Camelot). He'd own a role like Aquaman and make him pretty badass. And at least I'm not casting Alexander Skarsgård.

Christopher Judge (Stargate SG-1, Dead Space: Aftermath) as J'onn J'onzz/the Martian Manhunter: The last surviving Green Martian who was transported to Earth via a tele porter accident. He nows fights crime as the Martian Manhunter. J'onn's powers include superstrengh, super speed, flight, telepathy, intangibility, invisibility, and "Martian vision" (energy beams fired from his eyes).



Reason for Casting: You may know Judge as Teal'c from Stargate SG-1. He's a good fit for J'onn with his deep, powerful voice and tall height at 6'3". Plus, he has experience playing aliens before (Stargate SG-1).

The Authority:

Abbie Cornish (Sucker Punch, Seven Psychopaths) as Jenny Sparks: The Spirit of the 20th Century, and the leader of the Authority. Sparks is a Century Baby, a person who is born at the turn of the Century that posses superhuman powers and is immortal (not aging beyond their 20's, late 30's, or early 40's). She possess the ability to manipulate electricity, which she can use to draw electricity from electronic devices as well as from the human brain. She can also convert herself into electricity and travel anywhere electricity would. In her electrical form, she is healed from her injuries as well as poisons.



Reason for Casting: I initially had trouble casting Jenny because I couldn't think of any british actress who fits her, and I really wanted to avoid using Yvonne Strahovski because she's used too much. However, CBM User DDD suggested his pick of Abbie Cornish. She's a pretty good actress from what I've seen her in, is tall (for a woman) at 5'8", is Australian (which can easily pass as british), and knows her way around action (as seen in Sucker Punch). She'd fits Jenny like a glove.

Alexander Skarsgård (Straw Dogs, Melancholia) as Neil Sinclair/Apollo: A hero created by Henry Bendix, the first Weatherman and original leader of Stormwatch. Apollo is openly gay and is in a relationship with his teammate Midnighter. Apollo's powers include super strength, speed, flight, nigh-invulnerability, and can fire laser-like heat vision through his eyes. His powers are dependent on the sun, and is body is capable of absorbing solar energy and convert it into energy which he can use.



Reason for Casting: I've seen Skarsgård casted for Superman a couple of times, and I admit I'm not a fan of that casting decision. However, I can easily see him play Apollo, a Superman-esque character. He's a pretty good actor (as seen on True Blood), is a tall dude at 6'4", and posses the blond looks for the role.

Karl Urban (The Chronicles of Riddick, Dredd) as Lucas Trent/Midnighter: A hero created with artificial enhancements by the Henry Bendix. Mignighter has a sardonic sense of humor along with a love of violence and killing. He is also openly gay and in a relationship with his teammate Apollo. His power include enhanced strengh, speed, and resilience, being able to survive various injuries, and can defeat AIDS in six weeks. He also posses the precognitive ability to anticipate the moves of his opponent. He uses this ability to run through a given combat situation millions of times in his mind, almost instantly covering nearly every possible result before the first punch is even thrown. This allows for the perfect response and counterattack, such that if Midnighter can possibly win a battle, he will. He is also known to use a pair of nightsticks, a telescoping staff, and throwing stars.



Reason for Casting: When I first started casting Midnighter, I considered Liev Schreiber and Joe Manganiello. However, I decided against both, especially Manganiello (mainly because it would be weird to see Eric Northman and Alcide Herveaux as a gay couple). Anyway, Urban's a pretty versatile actor, and is capable of doing action, drama, and humor (when necessary). What mainly convinced me to cast him was his performance in Dredd.

Misha Collins (Karla, Supernatural) as Jack Hawksmoor: A former member of Stormwatch Black, who had been surgically modified to be linked to whatever city he finds himself in. Jack posses a symbiotic relationship with urban environments. When he is in one, he has vast, vaguely defined superpowers linked to the city, such as superhuman agility and strength, and telepathic control, such as animation and possession, of infrastructure and architecture, and allowing him to experience precognition and psychometry as if he and the city were one being. Jack does not need to eat, as he can convert air pollution into nourishment. If the city is damaged, he becomes less effective or develops an injury.



Reason for Casting: When I originally was casting Jack, I always had Misha in mind (even though at one point I had Gerard Butler as Jack). He's a popular pick for either Daredevil or The Question, but I've decided to give him a different role. He's good on Supernatural, has the build and voice for Jack, and I'm sure he can pull off his personality.

Joel Kinnaman (East Money, The Killing) as Jereon Thronedike/The Doctor: A Dutch former dot-com billionaire turned heroin addict who inherited the powers of the Doctor, a long line of shamans who are sworn to protect the Earth. At first, Jereon refused these responsibilities and instead spent his days shooting heroin and playing Sonic the Hedgehog. Jeroen was first contacted to join The Authority by Jenny Sparks and Swift, but refused to join and teleported them away. After contacting him a second time, Sparks shot herself in the head, forcing Jeroen to use his powers to revive her. He joined the Authority soon afterwards. Each Doctor possesses the collective knowledge & magical abilities of all their predecessors, making each new Doctor more powerful than the last one. Jereon's magical abilities include conjuration, dimensional teleportation, empathy, energy projection, flight, force-field generation, healing, morphing, nature manipulation, precognition, reality alteration, telekinesis, telepathy, teleportation, time travel, and transmutation. He also posses fifteen senses, making him spiritually enlightened.



Reason for Casting: This may seem like a random casting choice, but I feel pretty confident about this pick. Anyway, Joel's a good actor (as seen on The Killing), and is Swedish, so he can easily pass as Dutch. I mainly casted him because he looks like a former Drug addict, which suits The Doctor pretty well.

Zoe Saldana (Colombiana, The Words) as Angela Spica/The Engineer: A scientist who replaced her blood with nine pints of metallic liquid nanites. The Engineer has the ability to cover herself in liquid metal at will, fly, communicate with machinery, and create devices. These devices include radio-telepathy bugs, weaponry (including machine gun hands), rocket engines, replacement lungs, and even copies of herself. SHe also posses a genius level intellect.



Reason for Casting: First off, I don't know what the Engineer's ethnicity is, so I'm just going with my best guess that she's African-American. Anyway, Saldana's been used for a lot of roles, most notably Storm, so I've decided to give her an original role. She's talented and versatile, and knows how to play strong woman. She'd be good as the Engineer.

Grace Park (Battlestar Galactica, Hawaii Five-0) as Shen Li-Men/Swift: A Tibetian woman who was a former member of Stormwatch Black. She is a Seedling, people who were mutated at birth due to a radiation of a special comet that passed close to Earth and gained superhuman powers. Li-Men posses the ability to grow wings from her back at will, as well as claws and talons. With her wings, she can fly at superhuman speeds. She also has some birdlike enhanced senses; apart from superior hearing and eyesight, she is able to feel or "read" the air to locate moving things and mentally listen to the bio-rhythms of the planet.



Reason for Casting: I couldn't find an actual Tibetan actress, so I went with an Asian actress. Anyway, I'm a fan of Park's work, and I'm confidant that she can pull off Swift. I know she's a bit too tall for Swift, but I'm she could be good.

Please leave your thoughts and comments below. I hope you have enjoyed this article. If you lie my cast, then please thumb it up. Rude or hurtful comments will be deleted.