10 Most Intense Comic Book Movie Performances Ever

3. Viggo Mortensen As Tom Stall / Joey Cusack

Not all comic book adaptations involve capes and tights and shared cinematic universes. In fact there are certain comic book adaptations you probably didn't even realise were based on comic books, like David Cronenberg's 2005 return to form A History Of Violence, adapted from the graphic novel of the same name by John Wagner and Vince Locke. It boasts an irresistible set up for a thriller: Viggo Mortensen is the mild-mannered small town restaurant owner Tom Stall, whose quiet life is tipped upside down by the arrival of Ed Harris's scarred mobster Carl Fogarty, who reveals that before Tom was a friendly family man he was Joey Cusack, a brutally violent gang enforcer who terrorised the criminal underworld of Philadelphia some years before. Rarely do you get performances that aren't intense in Cronenberg films. He's not a director who often deals in subtlety, being the father of body horror and all. A History Of Violence is a slow burn, though, and is entirely built upon Viggo Mortensen's performance. He later developed his scary intense skills with Eastern Promises, but Tom Stall / Joey Cusack was the start.