If there is anything more controversial in online nerd-chatter these days than the casting process for comic book films? Well, yeah, but this isn't to say that casting is insignificant. On the contrary, casting (and this goes for any book-to-screen adaptation really) makes or breaks a film, especially in building up a ground-swell of support from those most familiar with the source material.
We currently hold the privilege of being in the midst of a gargantuan comic-book bonanza, with almost every film released from '08 onwards guaranteed to find some form of critical or commercial reverence. Whilst we have a whole host of industry talents to thank for this, it would be fair to say an awful lot of this success has hinged on the performers who have so meticulously brought to life fan-favourite characters from the pages of Marvel, DC and beyond.
Sure, there is the odd forgettable role every now and then, but for the most part performances have been indistinguishable from their comic book counterparts. On that note, it only makes sense to celebrate the most faithful of these performances the roles that really leaped off the page in a way akin to no other.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
