8. Samuel L. Jackson The Spirit
Now this is difficult, because Samuel L. Jackson is pretty much the patron saint of awesome in geek-dom, and he hasn't actually had his own Nick Fury film yet (I could be mistaken, but I think it's planned for Marvel's Phase Two). But still, I'm conducting a thought experiment here, so lets get thought-experimenting. Some of you might remember The Spirit it was the Frank Miller-helmed-and penned effort that tried so hard to ape Sin City's comic book style but forgot about all things involving plot and pacing. If you haven't seen this film, go watch it. I'm serious. It's a damn perfect example of how not to do a film, and chief among the problems is Samuel L. Jackson. Really, there comes a point when you realise that you've slipped from scenery-chewing into just plain nuts, and that moment is usually when you dress up in Nazi regalia and/or hit the main character with a toilet. The guy was just all over the place here as seemingly the only person told that the whole thing was a gigantic joke. And to be fair, it was pretty funny the only problem was that we weren't laughing with him, we were laughing at him. Honestly, that broke my heart one should never be in a position where you get to laugh at this guy, because he's all sorts of awesome. Yet did that stop him putting on a show in The Avengers? Hell no it didn't! Much like all good actors (and especially those as prolifically busy as Jackson) he was able to bounce back and do something new. And that was ok, because as it turns out, pirate Shaft was awesome.