Imagine if Hollywood had released tent-pole comic-book movies starring their iconic characters around the time of the source material’s release date. For the purposes of this experiment, we will say that a movie would be released 5 years after the introduction of the character, and only movies that have been made would be made.
How would Hollywood and fandom have looked if movies had been released on this schedule? Unlike Hollywood, we made an active effort to not re-use actors for different roles.
- 1943– Superman, starring Gary Cooper
- 1943- Batman, starring Robert Mitchum
- 1945- Ingrid Bergman as Catwoman
- 1946- Burt Lancaster as Captain America
- 1946- Cary Grant is Steve Trevor and Esther Williams is Wonder Woman
- 1950– The Power of SHAZAM starring John Wayne
- 1953- Robert Mitchum is Batman Forever up against Donald O’Conner, Dorothy Dandridge, Karl Malden,and Marilyn Monroe
- 1963– Lolita star Sue Lyon as Supergirl
- 1964- Green Lantern starring Warren Beatty, Elizabeth Taylor, Anthony Quinn and Jimmy Stewart
- 1964- James Garner in Superman Returns
- 1964- Mitchum is back, this time with Davy Jones in Batman and Robin with Tuesday Weld as Batgirl
- 1966- The Fantastic Four starring Paul Newman
- 1967- Jack Lemmon is The Incredible Hulk
- 1967- Kurt Russell stars as Spider-Man
- 1967- Thor starring Jerry Lewis and Introducing Rutger Hauer
- 1967- Dean Jones is Ant-Man
- 1968- Yul Brynner leads the X-Men
- 1968- Rock Hudson is Tony Stark, The Invincible Iron Man
- 1969- The Avengers Assemble
- 1969- Introducing Chuck Norris as Daredevil
- 1970– Alan Arkin is Dr. Strange
- 1970- Inhumans
- 1971- Introducing Morgan Freeman as The Black Panther!
- 1971- Alan Alda is Mr. Fantastic joined by Farrah Fawcett as Invisible Girl, Parker Stevenson as Johnny Storm, and Nick Nolte as Ben Grimm in Rise of the Silver Surfer
- 1973- Robert Redford, Burt Reynolds, and Steve McQueen starring in Avengers: Age of Ultron with Charlton Heston
- 1976- Swamp Thing with music by and starring Johnny Cash
- 1976- Batman Begins with Ryan O’Neal
- 1976- Man-Thing with Richard Dreyfus, Susan Sarandon, Kris Krsitofferson, and Jeff Bridges
- 1977- James Caan is Jonah Hex
- 1977- Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda on-screen again in Ghost Rider, starring Tom Laughlin
- 1978- Bloodsuckers beware, because Jim Kelly is Blade!
- 1979- Christopher Walken stars as Jigsaw in The Punisher
- 1980– Robert DeNiro is Wolverine in All New X-Men
- 1981- Yes, that is Eddie Murphy in Guardians of the Galaxy with Mr. T, Joe Pesci and Robert Duvall
- 1982- Gene Simmons is Dr. Bong, Phoebe Cates is Beverly, and John Belushi is Howard the Duck
- Jessica Lange suits up as Captain Marvel.
- 1985- Rob Lowe, Kiefer Sutherland, Ally Sheedy, Emilio Estevez, Brigitte Nielsen, and Blair Underwood are the Justice League
- 1985- Tom Cruise, Molly Ringwald, Judd Nelson, Ricky Schroeder, Diane Lane, and Mitch Gaylord are X-Men: First Class
- 1986- Elektra starring Demi Moore
- 1987= Robert Englund is The Black King in The New Mutants
- 1989- Sting is Constantine
- 1989- James Cameron presents The Amazing Spider-Man starring Robert Downey Jr., Nicole Kidman, and Jamie Lee Curtis.
- 1990– Of course William Shatner is starring in Guardians of the Galaxy 2, who else would play Eddie Murphy’s father?
- 1991- Bruce Willis is the Comedian, Val Kilmer is Nite Owl, and they are the Watchmen
- 1992- Robin Williams is the Joker in Suicide Squad, starring Oprah Winfrey, Winona Ryder, Kevin Bacon, Ice Cube, and Mel Gibson
- 1993- Brendan Fraser is the Man of Steel
- 1993- Alicia Silverstone, Robin Williams, Tom Hanks, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Johnny Depp and River Phoenix in The Killing Joke starring Nic Cage
- 1995- The Avengers try and save the universe in Infinity War
- 1996- Pauly Shore is Weasel in Deadpool. Jim Carey is Deadpool in Deadpool. And Brad Pitt has a part, so do Sylvester Stallone and Julia Roberts. And, there is Wolverine, buuuuuddddy!
- 1997- BvS with Monica Bellucci as Wonder Woman
- 1998- Will Smith is Steel
- 1998- The Dark Knight Rises against Edward Norton as Bane
- 2010– Armie Hammer faces off against Tom Hardy in Captain America: Winter Soldier
- 2011- Thor:Ragnorak with Christian Bale as Hulk, Michael Fassbender as Thor, and Alan Cumming as Loki
- 2016- Spider-Man: Homecoming brought Miles Morales to the screen
PLANET ZEIST 