7 Talented Actors Who Regret Taking Up Superhero Roles
Getting a role in a superhero film represents the pinnacle of the career of many actors. Chris Evans, Hugh Jackman and even Robert Downey Jr may not have been the household names they are today if it weren’t for their superhero roles.
However, there have been a few actors for whom the role has proven to be a nightmare. It may because of a bad script or horrible directors, but this is just the tip of the iceberg. Today we will
explore actors who regretted their superhero roles.
7. Ryan Reynolds (Green Lantern)
Things didn’t go as planned for Ryan Reynolds in 2011’s Green Lantern. The actor even included a gag related to it in this year’s Deadpool 2. Though the film is something the actor laughs upon now, it’s clear that he did regret taking up the project.
When we shot Green Lantern, nobody auditioning for the role of Green Lantern was given the opportunity to read the script because the script didn’t exist,” Reynolds told The Hollywood Reporter.
6. Ed Norton (Hulk)
Ed Norton had a clash with producers while filming The Incredible Hulk (2008). The actor agreed on the role, only if he had a say in the direction and script of the film. He was eventually replaced by Mark Ruffalo, but Norton couldn’t help having a dig at the film while appearing on Comedy Central’s Roast of Bruce Willis.
“I tried to be like you,” he told Willis [via Indiewire]. “I did a big action movie called The Incredible Hulk. You know what went wrong? I wanted a better script…I thought we should make one Marvel movie as good as the worst Christopher Nolan movie, but what the hell was I thinking.”
5. Mickey Rourke (Iron Man 2)
Mickey Rourke criticised Marvel Studios for what they did to his character in the film. Rourke reprised Ivan Vanko in Iron Man 2 and the actor told Syfy that he had worked hard with the writer of the film, Justin Theroux to flesh out the villain onscreen. However, someone behind the scenes had a different plan for the character.
“I wanted to bring some other layers and colors, not just make this Russian a complete murderous revenging bad guy,” he said. “Unfortunately, the [people] at Marvel just wanted a one-dimensional bad guy, so most of the performance ended up the floor.”
4. Nicholas Cage (Ghost Rider)
Cage has spoken upfront of his disappointment with the both the Ghost Rider films, which he felt ended up playing too safe. The actor revealed that he, along with director David S. Goyer had always planned for the film to be a gritty, R-Rated film.
“Ghost Rider was a movie that always should’ve been an R-rated movie,” Cage said. “David Goyer had a brilliant script which I wanted to do with David, and for whatever reason, they just didn’t let us make the movie.”
3. Halle Berry (Catwoman)
Halle Berry’s regret for signing Catwoman was clear when the actress made an appearance at the annual Razzie awards in 2005. Razzie Awards are a celebration for the year’s worst films and performances. Berry received the “worst” actress award for her efforts in Catwoman. However, the actress delivered a memorable speech.
“I want to thank Warner Bros. for casting me in this piece-of-sh**, god-awful movie,” she said [via MTV], going on to mock the rest of her cast. “I’d like to thank the rest of the cast. To give a really bad performance like mine, you need to have really bad actors.”
2. Jennifer Garner (Elektra)
While Ben Affleck managed to bounce back after Daredevil, Jennifer Garner never really got a comeback after Elektra. While she never spoke about the film, her ex-boyfriend Michael Vartan revealed to US Weekly that actress was extremely unhappy with the film.
“I heard [Elektra] was awful. [Jennifer] called me and told me it was awful,” Vartan said. “She had to do it because of Daredevil. It was in her contract.” Garner has never denied Vartan’s claims.
1. Jared Leto (The Joker)
Jared Leto has always been vocal about expressing his unhappiness with the version of Suicide Squad that made to the theatres. Here’s what the actor told IGN when asked about the deleted scenes of the film.
“There were so many scenes that got cut from the movie, I couldn’t even start. I think that the Joker… we did a lot of experimentation on the set, we explored a lot. There’s so much that we shot that’s not in the film,” he said. “If I die anytime soon, it’s probably likely that it’ll surface somewhere. That’s the good news about the death of an actor is all that stuff seems to come out.”
BONUS: Ben Affleck (Daredevil)
Affleck simply regrets working in 2003’s Daredevil; in simpler words, he hates it. “Part of it was I wanted for once to get one of these movies and do it right – to do a good version. I hate Daredevil so much,” Affleck told TimeTalks when asked why he wanted to play Batman.
“The Netflix show does really cool stuff,” he added. “I feel like that was there for us to do with that character, and we never kind of got it right. I wanted to do one of those movies and sort of get it right,” Affleck stated.