I had an interesting conversation with a friend yesterday. (He’s more of a Marvel guy). He said, “Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor is the most underrated performance in a comic book movie.” We both like Eisenberg’s take on the character. But we took to thinking about other underrated performances. He suggested Andrew Garfield’s Spider-man. I countered with Brandon Routh’s turn as Superman. I’m not saying Superman Returns is a great movie. (It’s not as bad as its reputation). But I am saying that Routh’s performance was great.
So, in your opinion, whose is the most underrated performance in a comic book movie?
I would agree. I think that Faye Dunaway in Supergirl, all four villains in Superman III, Schwarzenegger in Batman & Robin, and Sharon Stone in Catwoman have also gotten some undue flack, but those cases aren’t quite so extreme as Eisenberg.
I think Zachary Levi was perfect for playing Captain Marvel in Shazam. He does a great job playing a kid in an adult’s body.
On a side note, my problem with Eisenberg’s turn as Luthor is that it was so different from the Luthor I was used to seeing in Justice League and Justice League Unlimited. I wasn’t super into reading comics when I saw Batman v Superman and, to me, Clancy Brown’s take was pretty much the only right one.
Come on Fan Boys. Eisenberg as Lex was amazing! He may not have gotten the props as say the original OG, but he got credit. Now Ryan Reynold’s as GL, that was underrated and yes, as fan boys we all wanted to see Nathan Fillion play the role, and still do. But it was more about the movie than Reynold’s, he played Hal to the T. I mean come on, no one else could play Deadpool to rival Reynold’s build of the character. So, I would say, given what we know today, RR as GL is the most underrated, because as fan boys we were instant haters and did not look at the character, because all we saw was red,
Second place goes to Ed Norton as Hulk. He did a good job and no one really talks about him, Like Garfield who did a good job as Spider Man.
But I am sure that DC does not want us discussing Marvel on the forum unless it is DC v Marvel, which DC blows Marvel out of the water in terms of character development. Marvel just pushed so much content that people had to read. Spider Man and Hulk are my favorite Marvel Comics, The rest do not even compare to the rest of DC Universe. Batman is the greatest comic ever, Superman a close second. Then Green Arrow, GL, Flash and Wonder Woman. Then Spider Man and Hulk. LOL… Justice League would destroy The Avengers! How you ask? Batman! Period. Greatest leader in all of comics.
Wow. To even bring “Batman and Robin” and “Batman Forever” into the conversation is risky. The two worst movies in Franchise History with Green Lantern coming in a close 3rd. But I brought in Green Lantern, so I will take your point. We need to be careful around the really bad movies. I mean, Uma Thurman as Poison Ivy was pretty hot!
I don’t think Aaron Eckhardt gets enough love for his performance as Harvey Dent/Two-Face in The Dark Knight. I can only guess his performance was overshadowed by Heath Ledger as The Joker, although I think Eckhardt did just as good a job.
For me it’s very firmly Aaron Eckhart‘s Two-Face in The Dark Knight. A painful and tragic performance that’s (understandably) over-shadowed by Ledger’s Joker.
And while Affleck gets a lot of praise, I think a lot of us don’t fully appreciate how good a lot of his Bruce Wayne scenes were in BvS.
you know, many people forget that there was a movie in the Dark Knight Trilogy before the Dark Knight. Frankly, I always thought Liam Neeson was a really good Ra’s al Ghul in Batman Begins and you never hear about it.
