Hey movie studios, you guys are aware that there are other great comic book movie characters out there who haven’t had a chance to ever appear in a movie up to now, right?
There’s a rich history of comic book stories dating back almost a century – and yet the same characters from those stories keep appearing in movies.
Don’t get us wrong, there have been some great characters in comic book movies and it’s both welcome and inevitable that they will appear and have appeared several times. However, when it’s at the expense of other characters it can start to get a little tedious.
This article is going to look at some of the characters who – while they might be great characters who are loved by the fans – are starting to feel a little bit overused.
Here are ten comic book characters that movie studios seem determined to keep ramming down our throats.
Loki
Loki is probably the best character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, so it’s not necessarily a bad thing that he has appeared a few times in the franchise, however, when compared to other villains in the franchise (all of whom have only appeared once, bar Thanos, you can’t help but feel that Loki is being overused.
Tom Hiddleston has played the character to perfection, but you can’t help but feel that Marvel Studios are simply looking for any way to fit him into any movie they possibly can.
He was the villain in Thor, he was the villain in The Avengers, he somewhat redeemed himself in Thor: The Dark World, he was seen to be sitting on the throne of Asgard at the end of the same Thor sequel.
It’s only because the movie was too long that his needless scene was cut out of Avengers: Age of Ultron and you can’t help but feel that he is getting in the way of the introduction of a number of other potentially great characters.
The Joker
The Joker is Batman’s iconic arch-nemesis and arguably the most popular comic book character of all-time. However, given that he is played by different actors since 1989’s Tim Burton Batman movie, you can’t help but feel he’s being overused.
Every Batman franchise to date has seen The Joker introduced at the earliest available opportunity, with Jack Nicholson portraying the character in the aforementioned Batman movie, the late Heath Ledger portraying the character in 2008’s The Dark Knight and Jared Leto taking on the role in 2016’s Suicide Squad.
Batman has one of the most impressive rogue galleries in comic books and there are a load great villains from it that have yet to be used – the Mad Hatter, the Ventriloquist, Clayface, Anarky, Hugo Strange and Man-Bat to name but a few – and that’s frustrating.
It’s understandable that The Joker is used whenever Batman hits the big screen, but to introduce him immediately every time – at the expense of countless other great characters – is getting a bit much.
Professor Xavier
The X-Men movie series began in the year 2000 with the first offering in the franchise – X-Men – and a further movies have been made since. Professor Xavier has appeared, in some capacity, in all movies to date.
The character has been portrayed by multiple actors in that time, (some examples are: Patrick Stewart as the older adult version, James McAvoy as the younger adult version and Laurence Belcher as the child version) and is starting to feel somewhat overused.
As the mentor of the titular team, he was bound to appear prominently in the franchise, but squeezing him in wherever possible is appearance overkill.
Bearing in mind that some great mutant heroes like Cable, Rachel Summers, X-Man and Magik are yet to appear at all in the franchise, it’s hard not to feel Xavier is getting in the way.
Magneto
Like Professor Xavier, Magneto first appeared in the X-Men movie franchise in its inaugural offering – 2000’s X-Men – and he has appeared multiple times since.
In fact, of the subsequent movies, Magneto has only missed out on one – 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
The master of magnetism has been portrayed by multiple actors (some examples are: Ian McKellen as the older adult version, Michael Fassbender as the younger adult version, and both Brett Morris and Bill Milner as the child version) emphasizing just how much he has been used.
There are an abundance of great X-Men villains who are yet to get a look-in – the likes of Mister Sinister, Cassandra Nova, Proteus and Omega Red to name but a few – and, as long as Fox keep using Magneto, their chances of appearing remain slimmer.
Hulk
Hulk only appeared in a movie for the first time in 2003 and he’s already had different depictions portrayed by different actors.
In 2003, a solo Hulk movie – directed by Ang Lee – was produced with Eric Bana portraying Bruce Banner. It wasn’t received particularly well and no follow-up movies were made.
However, in spite of there being an abundance of brilliant Marvel heroes in the comic books, a rebooted Hulk appeared in another Hulk solo movie in what was the second movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise – 2008’s The Incredible Hulk – with Edward Norton as the titular character.
Norton has been replaced as the character by Mark Ruffalo and he has appeared in a few movies since (some examples are: The Avengers, Iron Man 3 (in a brief cameo) and Avengers: Age of Ultron). He will no doubt appear again and there might even be another solo movie in the pipeline eventually. For a character whose heroic form can barely string two words together and simply punches things really hard, that certainly seems strange when you bear in mind some of the interesting heroes who are missing out completely (the likes of Sentry, Quasar and Namor, for example).
Spider-Man
As Marvel’s flagship character, it’s no surprise that Spider-Man has been prominent in movies – but the fact is that he has had a massive number of solo movies since 2002, with different actors portraying the character to date in different franchises produced by Sony.
Tobey Maguire portrayed the Webbed Wonder in three Spider-Man movies between 2002 and 2007, then Andrew Garfield took over the mantle for two Amazing Spider-Man movies between 2012 and 2014 and then Tom Holland in Spider-Man: Homecoming.
Tom Holland portrayed a new version of the character – in Captain America: Civil War, prior to appearing in his own solo movies and the Avengers movies – and, as popular as he is, there are actually plenty of other great characters to choose from out there, Marvel!
Superman
It goes without saying that Superman is the iconic superhero. The DC legend has been appearing in big-budget Hollywood movies for longer than any other major comic book character – having first appeared in one way back in 1978 in Richard Donner’s Superman.
The late, great Christopher Reeve was the titular star in that particular movie and he went on to portray the character a further three times up until 1987’s Superman IV: The Quest for Peace.
The Kryptonian hero has since been played by Brandon Routh in 2006’s Superman Returns and by Henry Cavill in 2013’s Man of Steel, in 2016’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and beyond that in the DC Cinematic Universe, as he led the Justice League in the franchise.
As the most popular superhero of all time, Superman is never going to go away, but having him as the go-to guy for DC and Warner Brothers at every available opportunity is getting a little tiresome.
Iron Man
Tony Stark only first appeared in a movie in 2008’s Iron Man – and it was quite a surprise at the time, given that he was a B-list comic book character at best – but he has since gone on to become the go-to guy for Marvel Studios in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Robert Downey, Jr.’s casting was seen as a risk in the inaugural movie in the franchise, but he has proven to be incredibly popular and he is now being used at every available opportunity.
He has already been given multiple solo movies – more than anyone else in the franchise – and has also appeared in Avengers movies and in a cameo at the end of The Incredible Hulk, just to give some examples.
Bearing all of that in mind, perhaps it’s about time Marvel Studios gave some of Downey, Jr.’s limelight to someone new.
Batman
Batman is the superhero who has been played by the most actors over the years.
The Gotham-based hero’s first big-budget Hollywood appearance was in Tim Burton’s 1989 movie Batman, when he was played by Michael Keaton. Keaton reprised the role three years later before both Val Kilmer and George Clooney took on the role in the Joel Schumacher-directed 1995 and 1997 movies respectively. Christian Bale then had his turn in 2005’s Batman Begins and he reprised the role in 2008 and 2012 in the franchise known as Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy.
The aforementioned Affleck played the role in 2016’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice – as well as a smaller role in Suicide Squad – and joined the live action Justice League and will appear in yet more Batman solo movies beyond that.
Like Superman, Batman is immensely popular, but you have to feel like his relentless appearances are restricting the chances of other great DC characters of getting their own movies.
Wolverine
Wolverine is the epitome of a character who is being rammed down our throats. In X-Men movies to date – since the first one in the year 2000 – he has appeared in all of them and is the only character in the franchise to date to be given a solo movie.
Hugh Jackman has undoubtedly been great in the role, but there really was no need for him to cameo in X-Men: First Class and for him to have had multiple solo movies while several more interesting characters are yet to be given one is criminal.
As already specified in the Professor Xavier entry on this list, with so many interesting heroes in the world of X-Men, the franchise’s over-reliance on Wolverine is resulting in some brilliant ones missing out (Cable, X-Man et al) – and that’s a real shame.
What do you think? Have we seen too much of these characters? Which other characters have been overused? And which other characters should have been given a chance on screen instead? Have your say below.
