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Hollywood.com Writer Thinks Marvel's Characters Are Lame…

I don't know Christian Cintron. His twitter page says he is an actor/comedian/writer though his IMDB page is barely bigger than my own. But in a story for Hollywood.com he asks: "Can Good Acting Save Lame Comic Book Characters?"

benaffleckHe starts by mentioning the internet's negative reaction to the casting of Ben Affleck as Batman and Halle Berry as Storm. He also thinks the recent casting of the Fantastic Four is getting positive reactions. Here are some exerts from the piece so you can get an idea of what he is writing about:

Although offbeat choices, the actors are actually making the generally lame Fantastic Four seem… interesting.

But the Fantastic Four are hardly as iconic as either of DC's top dogs, or any of Marvel's other heroes. The distinct casting choices might actually save the Fantastic Four reboot, after the critical failures of the first go 'round.

So at this point I kind of got where he was going, he was basically standing up for the casting… which is kind of weird since he seemed to think it was getting a positive response in the first place.

The Avengers is a prime case for lame characters saved by good acting.

Thor is an obnoxious thunder god who decides to spend his free time on Earth? Chris Hemsworth captures that cockiness but also brings the superpower of abs to the table.

Do you act with your abs?

Robert Downey Jr. patented blend of sarcasm and humor saves a character whose super power could have read like a glorified Inspector Gadget.

Okay, now while he's insulting all the source material here you can kind of see where he's coming from… and then this…

Conversely, Affleck went to a much darker place than the comics might have allowed for the role of Daredevil. Matt Murdock is a blind lawyer with vastly enhanced senses. Affleck did a great job and, shockingly, proved he could play Batman.

Yup, he just said that Daredevil proves Affleck can play Batman.

A blind superhero who uses sonar to "see" seems to undercut the character succeeding over adversity. Also, he, Bullseye, and Kingpin aren't interesting enough characters for their own movie.

So… in a very brief article this guy has gone and insulted the Fantastic Four, Daredevil, Iron Man and Thor. All of those books have been around since the 1960s continuously producing new stories every month and spawning cartoons, toys and legions of fans. But the guy who's majority of credits are in a show where he wrote, produced, directed and acted as "Fat Super Hero" (which is a term co-trademarked by Marvel and DC) thinks they're lame.

Near the end of his article he wrote this:

On paper, these characters are just archetypes but the right actor can make them full-fledged people.

No, Christian, they are not just archetypes. These are characters who have hundreds and thousands of stories each, years of character development and backstory that the right actor can tap into and make an amazing performance or the wrong actor can ruin. They don't call F. Scott Fitzgarld's characters lame just because the latest The Great Gatsby didn't do well at the box office.

Just a side note… I'm thinking that as an actor/comedian/writer one of the last things you'd want to do is call the characters that are bringing in the big box office numbers right now lame. I don't think he'll be getting a call from Marvel Studios any time soon.


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Dan WicklineAbout Dan Wickline

Has quietly been working at Bleeding Cool for over three years. He has written comics for Image, Top Cow, Shadowline, Avatar, IDW, Dynamite, Moonstone, Humanoids and Zenescope. He is the author of the Lucius Fogg series of novels and a published photographer.
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