74. Superman - Red Son
In an ideal world, the upcoming Superman movie wouldn't be a pubescent reboot focusing on how Superman found himself: the cold, plain facts are that Superman is not as compelling a character as many of his darker stable-mates, and like Captain America, the pleasure in his stories is his untouchable status. I want to see him burn things with his eyes, smash through things and be generally invulnerable, I don't want to see him travelling across America, back-packing his way to self-discovery: you're a fucking demi-God for Christ's sake, and everyone knows your origin story! Why can't the film-makers trust audiences to know enough about Superman to make a film with a richer, more complex plot that doesn't involve any origin plot? Even more ideally, the comic book film universe would take a lead from the comic book world itself and not be scared to stray into the multiverse to find a good story. The reason for such a suggestion? Well the best alternate Superman story is Red Son - based on the ingenious premise that in an alternate reality, Superman was brought up in Soviet Russia, and became a tool of the Communist State, rather than an adopted All-American goody-two-shoes.
How Close Is It To Being Made? About as far away as is humanly imaginable. Given the more vanilla approach to superhero movie making, the idea of dropping an alternate dimension into play in which Superman isn't the all-American hero we usually see him as won't be top of the pile of possibilities any time soon. But what a thought.
Casting: You could go one of two ways with this one, either casting an unknown Russian to play Superman, which is probably the way Hollywood would go to distance this alternate-universe film from whatever "conventional" iteration of the character was currently live, or you could simply take it as an opportunity to purely fantasy cast. Since there's more chance of seeing Bizarro star in his own spin-off than this happening, I'm going for option two, so I'd have Jon Hamm as Superman, because there's no need for him to be a sprightly teen, and John Malkovich as Lex Luthor. Round that out with Ralph Fiennes as Brainiac and Cobie Smulders as Wonder Woman and you got a hell of a movie - provided noone cares Smulders would be doing the old comic book movie double dip.
Suggested by Simon Gallagher
73. Death of Captain Marvel
I envision a "Death of Captain Marvel" film as a way for Marvel to tie its plethora of movies together in a single, poignant story. In order to lend power to the story, "Death" would have to be released following a Kree-Skrull series as outlined in #2. Captain Marvel played a prominent role in the Kree-Skrull War, meaning his character would be greatly fleshed-out in that film series. His impending death, along with film versions of the classic visitation scenes from the Marvel Graphic Novel "The Death of Captain Marvel", would feature every super-hero character from each of Marvel's many films. Imagine the joy of Marvel movie-goers at seeing all of their favorite characters reminiscing about previous Marvel films (with accompanying flashbacks, of course) while saying goodbye to Captain Marvel!
How Close Is It To Being Made- Not very. For this film to be made, we would first have to see a Kree-Skrull series of movies. On the other hand, the existence of two Avengers movies means a Kree-Skrull series, and therefore a "Death" movie, are not that far-fetched.
Casting Choices - None. Every major character in this film would already have appeared in a previous Marvel film. The only issue would be in getting them to reprise their roles.
Suggested by Tim Rich
72. Grimm Fairy Tales Presents: Wonderland
The world of Wonderland faced a dramatic change on the written page with the on-going comic series presented by Zenescope Entertainment. Alice Liddel is no longer the innocent little girl who stumbled upon the rabbit hole and uncovered the magical world of Wonderland. As Alice grew into an adult, she became mentally disturbed and fell into a dream-like state. Once attempting suicide by slitting her wrists, her only grasp of reality is a disturbing white rabbit she clings to. Her daughter, Calie, attempts to escape her mother by living a life of substance-abuse and promiscuity. As Calie finds herself making the same descent down the rabbit hole her mother traveled, she uncovers a much darker, frightening, and grim Wonderland than her mother could ever imagine. The darker takes on the Wonderland tales have always intrigued me, and Zenescope's take on the ideas behind the madness certainly captivate me. Being able to see a darker version of Wonderland in motion at my local theater, is certainly an exciting prospect. With the write people behind the film it could turn out to be an amazing adventure indeed.
How Close Is It To Being Made?: Well, if we're talking about the big screen, I hate to be the one to break it to you that it's not quite going to happen now. Don't worry your mad little head about this though because Lionsgate has already signed an agreement with Zenescope Entertainment for the television rights to the Wonderland series. Yes, it will be live action. No, it hasn't been mentioned who could possibly be picking up the show.
Casting Choices: Assembling the perfect cast for the series is crucial, and Lionsgate has already suggested that they are hoping for a fresh face for the role of Calie. Luckily, I have two suggestions for casting two very critical roles in the series. Personally, I think a good candidate to step into the heels of Calie would be Camilla Luddington. Now, she may not be an entirely new actress to television, but she certainly is familiar with physical performances (Tomb Raider), and the impact of fantasy settings (True Blood). Who would play the Mad Hatter on this lovely television series? I'm thinking that Aaron Paul could potentially be a smart move for studios. Considering his incredible performance on the hit show Breaking Bad, many studios would more than likely be excited to have him on board. I can see him going mad as a hatter already.
Suggested by Michael Shelton
71. Archie
Who doesn't love Archie? A high school heart throb with a twist. From the beautiful town of Riverdale Archie and his on again off again girlfriends Veronica and Betty join their merry band of misfit friends as they face the usual trials and tribulations of American teens living against an idilic backdrop.
How Close Is It To Being Made?: There are loads of animated specials available on obscure DVD collections but there's never been a live action movie (excluding a NBC TV movie in 1990) and it's a damn shame! There are literally tons of stories and characters to plunder for a whole series of movies in fact. Archie could be the next franchise for younger audiences, with comedy, mystery and romance making up the majority of his adventures.
Casting choices: Archie isn't your typical heartthrob. He'd need to be someone that could pull of a mixture of cool and geeky at the same time. How about Colin Ford (with dyed hair)? Or maybe Angus T Jones from Two and a Half Men? He's probably a better fit given the comedic elements to the series. And as for the girls? Betty Cooper could be played by Gage Golightly from MTV's Teen Wolf series and Veronica Lodge could easily be brought to life by Victoria Justice (iCarly).
Suggested by Matt Aspin
70. The Pro
This one shot by Garth Ennis, with pencils Amanda Conner is about as adult and frankly dark as Superhero come. Its played for laughs for the most part but essentially The Pro tells the story of a fairly grimy prostitute who gains superpowers. She joins the League of Honour and soon offends pretty much everyone with her language, violence and sexual attitude. Because of all of this character is somewhat adorable when placed in the straight laced world of superheroics. I could see the movie playing with much the same sensibilities as Super and existing outside of the mainstream of comic book movies. With that said, they are often the better Superhero movies, so this one needs a big screen adaptation.
How Close Is It To Being Made?: Theres nothing really spoken about but Conner and colourist Palmotti proposed a live-action adaptation of the graphic novel. They have said that they would like to have either Sarah Silverman or Ellen Muth as the lead.
Casting Choices: Suggesting which actress should play a pretty past it dingy super powered prostitute in a movie about how offensive she can be to those around her seems very mean but Id go for Carla Guigino given the choice. Her work in Women in Trouble and Elektra Luxx and generally any role she plays where she can be a little more playful seems to showcase her as a great choice for this role in my book. Id love to see this flick get made. Suggested by Marcus Doidge
69. Darkhawk
Darkhawk is a Marvel character who appeared in his own comic in the 1990s. The comics told the story of Chris Powell, a teenager in Queens, NY who is the son of a crooked cop, with an appropriately stressful home life. Chris finds an amulet that lets him turn into Darkhawk, a super-powered android that can fly, shoot power beams, and has incredible strength and agility. This comic had everything: teenage angst, lots of cross-overshe fought alongside both Captain America and Spiderman--and great movie-ready villains, like the crimelord Philippe Bazin and Hobgoblin. How close it is to being made: I would guess not close at all. When I went into my comic book store recently and asked if they had any Darkhawk collections, the clerk said who? But Darkhawks relative unpopularity also means there will not be legions of Darkhawk fans angrily blogging about deviations from the Darkhawk Canon.
Casting Choices: Shia Labeouf. I guess hes not a teenager anymore, but he could pull off an everyday-kid-turned-superhero pretty well (basically just redo his role in Transformers). And he needs some redemption after Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.