Sunday, April 4, 2010

People I wouldn't expect to be superheroes

After seeing the trailer for Iron Man 2 today—which looks reasonably, if not excessively cool—and which featured, briefly, what appeared to be a Scarlett Johansson with kung fu abilities, I decided to put together a list of people (actors, mostly) that I find to be implausible in roles that involve superhero alter-egos.

So without further ado:

1. Scarlett Johansson (Iron Man 2, unless I misinterpreted the trailer). I mean, she’s seductive and all, but does she really seem like she could actually have the physical strength to beat someone up?
2. Cameron Diaz (Charlie’s Angels). Ditto the above, minus the seductive, plus a lot of ditzy. She doesn’t look like she could throw a punch without help. But on the other hand, I have an inexplicable fondness for the Charlie’s Angels movies (so sue me), so I’ll let it pass.
3. Uma Thurman (Kill Bill). Hear me out. She’s like 6 ft tall, blonde, stringy, and not without a certain deliberate awkwardness in her movements. But that’s part of what makes her so entrancing in Kill Bill, the unlikelihood of her success, and part of what renders the film so ridiculous and compelling at the same time.
4. Alicia Silverstone (Batman and Robin). Thanks to Marisa for this one. I admit I don’t really recall the details of this movie (probably for the best—didn’t this one involve the governor of California freezing people to death?), but I’m willing to include her on concept alone.
5. Ben Affleck (Daredevil). Aside from the fact that I never entirely understood the notion of a superhero whose superpower is that he’s BLIND, Ben Affleck: costumed vigilante? Yeah.
6. Jessica Alba (Fantastic Four). Actually, what I found unbelievable about her in these movies was not so much that she can turn invisible and shoot force fields, but that she was an astrophysicist.

Any others?

1 comment:

  1. How about the kid who played McLovin' in Superbad in the new movie Kick Ass? I suppose, though, that is the whole point of Kick Ass.

    I also notice your list is disproportionately made up of women ^_^

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