A Superman/Batman movie had been in development in the early 2000's after the disaster known as
Batman and Robin and several unsuccessful attempts to reboot Superman. But the guys who were writing it had Superman
fighting Batman instead of them working together yo stop a threat both of them couldn't stop alone. Anyway, I think the best way for a World's Finest film to go is to base it off the episode of the same name from
Superman: The Animated Series. I'll give you a brief summary of the plot:
The Joker steals a large piece of Kryptonite from Gotham and then he decides to come to the city of Metropolis offering to kill Superman for Lex Luthor for a price of one billion dollars. Batman's not far behind hunting the clown down. Superman finds himself out of his depth when matched against Joker's cunning and unpredictability, while Batman has trouble with the resources Luthor provides Joker with. Both heroes must agree to overcome their differences in order to put a stop to the Joker and Luthor.
My pick for director would have to be Zack Snyder. He's going to do wonders with
Man of Steel and I think he can help portray the Man of Steel and the Dark Knight's first on screen team up.
Anyway, enjoy the cast!!
Henry Cavill (
Stardust,
Immortals) as Kal-El/Clark Kent/Superman: The Last Son of Krypton, who gains extraordinary powers under Earth's yellow sun, and uses them for the betterment of humanity. He is secretly Clark Kent, a reporter fot The Daily Planet. Superman's abilities include flight, super strength, super speed, invulnerability, freezing breath, heat vision, x-ray vision, super-hearing, and an eidetic memory.
Reason for Casting: Henry will be fantastic as the Man of Steel when 2013 comes. He's a great actor, is pretty charismatic and likable, and has the gravitas for the role. Plus he's pretty buff and knows his way around action.
Alex O'Loughlin (
The Back Up Plan,
Hawaii 5-0) as Bruce Wayne/Batman: The son of millionaires tHomas and Martha Wayne. When he was eight years old, he saw his parents gunned down by a mugger. He then swore to avenge his parent's deaths. Bruce spent the next years of his life traveling the world, learning various martial arts, training himself to peak physical and mental conditioning, and studying the criminal mind. While hides behind the image of a callous playboy, Bruce fights crime as the vigilante Batman. He s armed with special equipment such as Batarangs (bat shaped boomerangs), and a specialized car called the Batmobile.
Reason for Casting: O'Loughin has a dark persona to him, as seen in his performance as Mick St. John, Vampire P.I. on CBS's brilliant yet short lived show,
Moonlight. He'd bring a nice balance of suave intellectual and rugged warrior to the Caped Crusader. Plus it does't hurt that he knows his way around martial arts.
Rachel McAdams (
The Notebook,
The Vow) as Lois Lane:An investigative reporter for the Daily Planet, and Superman's love interest. Lois is close with her co-workers Clark Kent and Jimmy Olsen, and she is strong, opinionated, yet sensitive.
Reason for Casting: McAdams is a fantastic actress who I'm sure could give us a more gutsy take on Lois, similar to how she was in John Byrne's
Man of Steel. I don't have anything against Amy Adams being casted as Lois, I just think she's too old for Cavill.
Hunter Parrish (
Weeds,
17 Again) as Jimmy Olsen: A photographer for the Daily Planet, who is good friends with Clark and Lois.
Reason for Casting: Parrish is a talented and underrated actor who deserves a shot at playing Jimmy. I think he brings a certain swagger to every role and would make an interesting. In every other media incarnation, Jimmy has been portrayed as a wuss and I think Hunter can put a stop to that.
John Hurt (
1984,
Merlin) as Alfred Pennyworth: A former MI6 agent and the Wayne family butler, who raise Bruce after his parents' deaths and helped him become Batman:
Reason for Casting: Hurt is one of my favorite actors, who brings this intellectual charm to every role. He'd make a good replacement for Michael Caine.
Bruce Wilis (
Looper,
Moonrise Kingdom) or Bruan Cranston (
Breaking Bad,
Total Recall) as Commissioner James Gordon: The police commissioner of Gotham City Police Department, and one of the few public officials that support Batman. He has a mutual respect for the Caped Crusader.
Reason for Casting: I was torn between my two Gordon picks, so I decided to post both picks. For Cranston he;s a fantastic and intense actor, as seen on
Breaking Bad and has experience voicing the character in
Batman: Year One. Willis, on the other hand, is very underrated, has played Police Officers before, and is great at drama (as seen in
12 Monkeys ,
The Sixth Sesne, and
UnBrekable). He even had the Gordon look down in
16 Blocks.
Villains:
Jon Hamm (
Mad Men,
Bridesmaids) as Lex Luthor:cThe owner of LexCorp and member of the Society's inner council, who is obsessed with destroying Superman. Luthor is a brilliant genius, but uses hired minions or staff on his payroll to confront Superman, while employing various methods (bribery, plausible deniability, legal trickery, etc.) to ensure that none of the incidents could be conclusively linked to him.
Reason for Casting: Some of the inspiration for casting Hamm was the Funny or Die video "Lex Luthor Bailout". However, the majority of the inspiration came from his performance as Don Draper on
Mad Men. In my opinion, he'd make a pretty good Luthor, especialy a DCAU-esque Luthor (the Lex Luthor I knew growing up).
Michael Sheen (the
Underworld films,
The Damn United) as The Joker: An intelligent psychopath with a sadistic sense of humor and Batmsn's archenemy. The Joker's real identity is unknown. The only hint of his origin is that his chalk white skin and green hair were a result of chemical bleaching. The Joker commits crimes that are both whimsical and brutal, all based on a logic and reason that makes sense to only him alone. The Joker uses a variety of gag based weapons, and leaves his victims with a rictus grin on their faces.
Reason for Casting: Sheen's a brilliant actor. His performance in
Unthinkable proved that he cold pull off the calculating and intelligent yet dangerous appearance. But the main inspiration for casting jim was his brief performance as Castor in
Tron: Legacy. He could pull off a Joker that's manic yet eccentric, similar to Mark Hamill's take on The Joker. He's got a sinister smile to boot.
Christana Ricci (
Black Snake Moan,
Pam Am) as Dr. Harleen Quinzel/Harley Quinn: A psychiatrist at Arkham Asylum who fell for the Joker. After helping him escape from Arkham, she became his accomplice and on and off again girlfriend, Harley Quinn. Quinn is a talented gymnast and posses above average fighting skills.
Reason for Casting: Yes, I chose little Wednesday Adams for Harley. She has experience with dark work before (such as
The Ice Storm and
Monster) and can nail the creepy and psychotic parts of the character.
On a side note, I'd like Harley's costume to be a mix of the New 52 costume and the
Arkham City costume. The Jester's outfit has never done anything for me.
Michael Fassbender (
Hunger,
Shame) as Brainiac: A hyper-intelligent alien being from the planet Colu whose obsession with knowledge has led him to shrink down many cities to bottle size for transportation on his Skull Ship, including Kandor of Krypton. Brainiac is a 12th-level intellect, allowing him calculation abilities, enhanced memory and advanced understanding of mechanical engineering, bio-engineering, physics, and other theoretical and applied sciences, as well as extensive knowledge of various alien technologies. Brainiac also possesses telekinesis and telepathy and can download his conscience into robotic proxies.
Reason for Casting: I know what you're thinking: you're thinking "MrBlueSky, why are you including Brainiac in a World's Finest cast when he doesn't appear in the original Wolrd's Finest episode?". My response to this question is that I put Brainiac in here:
Anyway, even though I prefer Peter Weller in the role, Michael Fassbender comes as a close second for Brianiac. The main inspiration comes from his role as David the Android in
Promethues. He could bring a lot of menace and intelligence to the role. I'd also prefer if Fassbender spoke in a very monotone, almost robotic voice.
As for Brainiac's look. I'd want him to look like a cross between the look seen in the image above, the
Crysis nano suit, and the Engineer from
Prometheus
Please leave your thoughts and comments below. I hope you have enjoyed this cast. Rude or hurtful comments will be deleted.