After seeing Jonah Hex I realized that a great western epic needs to be made. The last great one I saw was Appaloosa, but something was still missing from it. It needed more action and less love. Another great one was 3:10 to Yuma, but that one was missing something as well, but I don’t know what it is. But there hasn’t been something as great as The Unforgiven or The Good the Bad and the Ugly. And with a great guide like Comic books, I believe this is possible. That’s why I’m proposing a movie that would bring all the best characters from the DC west to the screen, in a movie I call The Outlaws
Plot: The movie would revolve around and old group of outlaws that used to go from town to town looking for the next big bounty. They would operate like vigilantes vowing to not kill anyone that didn’t deserve it. But over time the group started to feel like they didn’t need to be together anymore and had their own families and other reasons for splitting up. So for their last job they are hired by a man to take down the group lead by Quentin Turnbull. They all agree that after this mission they will split up and go their separate ways. So in a great beginning fight lead by Jonah Hex they take out many of Turnball’s men and Turnball goes missing. After many months Turnball resurfaces and finds that his son was killed in the fight. Angered he leads a group to kill Jonah Hex, but instead they end up killing his family and leaving him beaten, shot, and stabbed within an inch of his life. As he rises from recovers he hears from someone in town that Turnball murdered his family and goes off to kill him. After a solo mission to kill Turnball that leads him to burn down an entire town he decides that it would be better to get the old team back together. After everyone hears of what happened to Hex’s family they all agree to rejoin the group. Once Turnball discovers that Hex is still alive and coming to kill him he puts pays a sheriff to declare Hex and his group as outlaws. So off begins the journey to kill Turnball and avenge Hex’s family. The movie would be along the lines of The Unforgiven and The Magnificent Seven
Director-Clint Eastwood
So this might be an obvious choice, but who else would be more perfect for the role? Is it actually possible? No, of course not, but a guy can dream. He would bring the grit and old west feel that the recent piece of shit failed to bring to the screen.
Thomas Jane as Jonah Hex
Thomas Jane wanted the role so bad that he paid to have himself made-up to look right for the role. But instead of picking a person dedicated and passionate about the character, Hayward picked a person who was more popular. Would it have been differently with a person who had a care for the original work? Who knows, but I think it would. Jonah would separate from the group due to impregnating a woman who he fell in love with. The idea to split up wasn’t his but he easily agrees to it.
Jason Mewes as Bat Lash
At some point in the early 19th century, Lemuel and Martha Lash gave birth to their son, Bartholomew, at their farmhouse in the state of Texas. Martha raised Bart to be a well-spoken and intelligent individual, but his hard-working father preferred to see his son grow up to appreciate the solid efforts of a good day's labor. Bart grew into the sort of unconventional individual neither parent could have predicted. Corrupt county officials would soon swindle the Lashes out of their farmland forcing them to vacate. While Lemuel, Martha and Bart’s siblings sought shelter elsewhere, Bart went to the authorities. His efforts to seek justice failed however, and he earned himself the enmity of a corrupt Sheriff's office. An argument ensued – one, which led to a duel between Bart and a local deputy. Unable to talk himself out of the affair, Bart was forced to gun the officer down turning himself into an outlaw.
I know most will dislike this choice, but I think Bat Lash would be good for comedic relief and Jason Mewes would be perfect for it,. He has stated that he would like to take more serious roles and I think this would be a great bridge for him. He would be the guy everyone makes fun of and no one has faith in until he surprises you. Lash was completely against splitting up the group and began stealing from different towns and abandoned the bounty hunter business. Hex and Vigilante are angered by his bad decisions.
Rachel Mcadams as Cinnamon/Kate Manser
Kate Manser was born some time during the late 19th century. She lived with her father, a sheriff in a territory in Wyoming. One evening, a group of bank robbers stumbled upon Sheriff Manser, shortly after evading capture during a heist. They ruthlessly gunned the sheriff down, and Kate was placed into an orphanage. When Kate turned eighteen, she left the orphanage and began a long quest to track down each man responsible for her father's death. It was at this point that she became known by the alias, Cinnamon. The reason why she inherited such a name is unknown, but it was never one that she looked upon favorably. In the future she would build a relationship with Nighthawk.
Mcadams is a great actress who has showed her abilities in many movies. In Sherlock Holmes she showed she could be a vindictive and strong woman and that’s perfect for this role. She would be the beautiful girl you don’t want to [frick] with. After the split Cinnamon becomes a bar owner.
Dean Cain as El Diablo/ Lazarus Lane
Dean Cain hasn’t been in anything truly spectacular lately and it would be good to bring him back with this. El Diablo needs to be dark and mysterious and Cain has the right look for the role. Diablo would be like Zorro but more deadly and intimidating. He reluctantly follow Hex’s orders and at times negates them and does what he thinks is right. After the split Diablo continued being a bounty hunter.
Nathan Fillion as Vigilante/Greg Saunders
The origin of the Vigilante was straightforward, as was typical of 1940's mystery men. Greg Saunders’ grandfather was an Indian fighter, and his father was a sheriff in Wyoming. As a young man, Saunders moved east to New York City and became a country singer, radio's "Prairie Troubadour". Greg returned to his home after his father was killed, bringing to justice the gang of bandits who killed the sheriff during a stagecoach hold-up. Afterwards Saunders devoted his life to battling criminals in the same manner, taking the Western-themed identity of the Vigilante. A slight revision to this came a few months later, when it was explained that the stagecoach was used to transport gold from a mine, and that the bandits were actually Easterners, since the idea of a stagecoach heist in modern times was improbable.
I know Saunders isn’t in the same time line as these other guys, but I think it would be a nice addition to the gang. Fillion voiced him in Justice League Unlimited and I thought his voice was perfect. He is exactly what is needed for Vigilante. He would be a good friend and partner to Jonah Hex and would crack a few jokes thorough the movie. After the split Vigilante continued being a vigilante drifting to different cities. Hex would coincidentally find him in Cinnamon’s bar.
Jeffery Dean Morgan as Nighthawk/Hannible Hakes
Hannibal Hawkes was a traveling repairman who wandered across the American West in the 19th Century, with his sidekick Jim Peyton. However, when mystery threatened, he would don the guise of Nighthawk, a masked gunfighter. He was friendly with other Western heroes of the time, such as Jonah Hex, Bat Lash, Scalphunter and Johnny Thunder. Nighthawk was killed during the Crisis on Infinite Earths by waves of antimatter, after fighting valiantly against the Shadow Demons with a crew of other heroes. Nighthawk reappeared in the new universe established by the great Crisis, with portions of his history changed. He met and fell in love with a gunfighter named Cinnamon, who he traveled with.
Hannibal would be a bad ass cowboy who would battle Jonah for leading the group. Morgan had a very brief cameo in Jonah Hex but you could barely recognize him and people wouldn’t really remember. He would be great as Nighthawk and would be awesome as a cowboy. It is Nighthawks idea to break-up the group due to his and Hex’s constant fighting. After the split Nighthawk kept being a bounty hunter. In the end of the movie him and Cinnamon would end up getting married.
Villains
Jeff Bridges as Quentin Turnbull
Quentin Turnbull is a Virginian plantation owner who swears vengeance upon Jonah Hex for causing the death of Turnbull's son during the Civil War. Turnbull enlists the aid of various criminals including El Papagayo and The Chameleon. His vendetta with Hex finally comes to an end when Hex kills him.
Bridges previously played a cowboy in
Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, a great western, where he played Lightfoot opposite Clint Eastwood as Thunderbolt. Bridges has the evilness and anger that would be perfect for Turnbull. I actually thought Malcovich was one of the only good things in Jonah Hex, but for a reboot they need to bring Bridges to show a proper Turnbull.
Josh Lucas as the Trigger Twins/Walt and Wayne Trigger
The series feature the adventures of a pair of twin brothers, Walt and Wayne Trigger. The series' running theme was Wayne covering for his brother Walt on various adventures as needed, through secretly wearing identical clothes and using a twin of Walt' horse, so that no one suspects that Wayne was covering for Walt.
The twins would be hired by Turnbull to take out the Outlaws and serve as his henchmen. Lucas has the right voice and acting attitude to play the twins. Since they often operate as one person there would be little use for CGI to make twins. They could even do it like the Prestige and have them being twins as a secret until the end.
So I hope you enjoy the idea. And if you were wondering, of course Jonah Hex will have the scar on his face complete with huge eye. This movie would have much more heart and be much longer and grittier than Jonah Hex. It would make up for the shit fest that was the last movie. So tell me what you think below.