3. Michael Fassbender
For DC: Bowler hat loving sadist Burke in Jonah Hex
For Marvel: Young incarnation of holocaust surviving metal manipulator Erik Lensherr AKA Magneto in X-Men: First Class and X-Men: Days of Future Past
How did the change work out? Before he made his name in serious downbeat British dramas Hunger and Fish Tank, Michael Fassbender already had comic book pedigree, appearing as one of the leather pants wearing Spartans in the Dark Horse adaptation 300. He would go on to feature in the 2010 version of DCs supernatural Western bounty hunter Jonah Hex, playing the part of Burke, the main villains sadistic sidekick whose only notable feature appears to be a love of wearing bowler hats in a film full of stetsons. Like Wild Wild West before and The Lone Ranger since, Jonah Hex assumed a far greater audience appetite for the high concept Western action blockbuster than actually exists and the film flopped. Fortunately for Fassbender, his appearance as the young Magneto in X-Men: First Class followed swiftly after. The role presented the challenge of embodying a character previously strongly associated with the legendary Ian McKellan. Despite lapsing into his native Irish accent for much of the films final third, however, it was the scenes with Fassbenders Magneto where the film really came alive, turning this fun 60s prequel/reboot one of the high points in the whole X-franchise The result of this unusual level of success in swapping DC for Marvel is an ambitious uniting of Fassbenders version of Magneto with the classic McKellan part in the highly anticipated X-Men: First Class. If it works this could be the start of a successful run of movies focused around Fassbender as the master metal manipulator.