With Ryan Reynolds cast as the titular lead in Green Lantern the feature-film (and likely franchise) is officially in production. The following casting calls went out a few weeks ago:-

CAROL FERRIS26-32, a smart and attractive woman with an MBA. She started as a pilot and now runs Ferris Aircraft. She is a workaholic...FEMALE LEAD

DR. HECTOR HAMMOND
27-35, Character actor who is austere and impersonal, he is real "scummy." He is a pathologist and also the son of a Senator.

SINESTRO
Mid-30s to Mid-40s, he is smart, tough, intimidating and in great physical shape.

ABIN SUR

Mid-30s to mid-40s, he is a great warrior

The casting call leads me to assume that the story will be roughly based on comic-book virtuoso and veteran Green Lantern scribe Geoff Johns recent Secret Origins storyline which fleshed out Hal Jordan's beginnings with the Lantern Corps. With that story in mind I set about hypothesising who could fill the roles listed above and beyond.

Michelle Monaghan as Carol Ferris

Carol is a tough and savvy bus

iness woman who has known Hal Jordan since they we

re children. As Jordan's boss and love interest Ferris needs to be played by, not only a beautiful woman, but someone with a little edge. Based on her roles in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and Gone Baby Gone I can see Michelle Monaghan filling the shoes of the workaholic business owner.

Michael Fassbender as Dr. Hector Hammond

Fassbender was great as the suave British soldier in Inglorious Basterds and the middle-class protagonist in the frightening Ed

en Lake. I think he could do a great turn as the slimy doctor turned deformed super villain an

d I think has sufficient depth and range the play the character straight where there is a danger he might be viewed as comedic.

Guy Pearce as Sinestro

Once regarded as the greatest Green Lantern, Sinestro came at odds with the corps when it was discovered that his sector (a sector of space is assigned to each Lantern to protect) was ke

pt so peaceful using a controversial method: fascist dictatorship. Initially however Sinestro was Jordan's mentor in the corps, which is the role is assume he would be l

argely filling for a good portion of the film.

Pearce has the acting chops to flesh out the potentially panto-esque character as both a leader and mentor figure and calculating villain. Check out his roles in The Count of Monte Cristo, Traitor and The Proposition to see why I think he's the right man for the job.

Daniel Craig as Abin Sur

Abin Sur will be a small part in the film but, just as Dr Erskine is in Captain America, an i

mportant role. Abin gaves Hal Jordan the ring that makes him become a Green Lantern. A role like this should be a big name in my view, so why not turn to the man that Green Lantern director Martin Campbell catapulted into fame as the re-envisioned James Bond in Casino Royale. Craig is in the right age group and could certainly be cast as the great warrior the casting call asks for.

If all does to plan then many more GL characters will hopefully be turning up in GL, Here are the characters that I would like to see turn up.

Anthony Hopkins as Gathnet

The Guardians of the Universe are the Green Lantern's bosses, they are little blue men with balls huge enough to declare themselves as the universes protectors. The Guardian who is best known to fans is Gathnet. Gathnet is the most human of the Guardians and takes Jordan under his wing. Nobody plays a wise mentor figure like Anthony Hopkins, check out his roles in The Mask of Zorro, Meet Joe Black for his more kindly roles.

Ray Winston as Kilowog

While the huge and literal monster would have to be a creation of CGI, but Winston would be great voicing the gruff drill sergeant of the corps. He needs to be a fearsome yet lovable figure and Winston would fit the role perfectly.

In Batman Begins and The Dark Knight Christopher Nolan, his brother Jonathan, David Goyer and Christian Bale have created the greatest celluloid Batman thus far, and also, arguably, the best comic book movie ever made. There is so much rumour about a third instalment that the supposed villains featured would be anyone from The Riddler, played by Eddie Murphy, to Catwoman, played by Cher. So the question is who would you like to see in the movie? Which characters and played by whom? What would you like the film to be about?

The first film, Batman Begins, was about fear. The Dark Knight was about corruption and the nature of heroism. For the third, in what I believe should end as a trilogy, I believe that the film should continue to explore the nature of heroism and also duality. The perfect villains to explore this concept, I think, would be The Penguin and Catwoman.

The Penguin comes from a place of high society just like Bruce Wayne. I would see him portrayed in the film as not the claw handed, sharp toothed, ice water bathing cartoon that the comic books show him as, but rather as a Gangster fighting for the top spot in Gotham's underworld. His name could come from the fact that he waddles (he could have a foot deformity from polio as a child), dresses well, and has a prominent nose. Many gangsters have nicknames either amongst themselves or given to them by the media. I mentioned that, like Bruce Wayne, the penguins origins stem from high society, so why, you ask, has he become a gangster? This is where the penguin is tweaked to serve the films purposes. As far as I know there is no real established origin for The Penguin so, again for the purpose of showing his dual nature to Batman, why not have him be the victim of a terrible tragedy. For instance, why not have the young Oswald Cobblepot be orphaned as a child in the exact same way as what happened to the Waynes. Bruce Wayne saw tragedy and decided to become a force that opposed injustice. Cobblepot will take the decision that he will never be a victim again. Rather than want to protect others his self pity turns to rage and he decides that to survive in the harsh world of Gotham you have to be at the top of the food chain.

Catwoman will be born out of necessity. Forced by his true outlaw status, as transpired from The Dark Knight, Batman has been forced to make a triage style choice about where to concentrate his crime fighting efforts. Batman decides to concentrate on cutting the head of the snake and takes on the upper echelons of the mob but, as an effect of doing so, is now neglecting victims at the street level. Enter Catwoman. Keeping her Frank Miller written origin as a hooker who fights back in mind, Selina Kyle would be inspired by the idea of Batman but not has the resources to tackle crime from the moral high ground that Bruce Wayne can afford. In order to bankroll her fight on crime Catwoman would have to take on a Robin Hood esque approach, stealing the money from the criminals that she takes down. The question then becomes: should stop her? Is she any worse than he might have been had he not had billions of dollars to fund him? To use paraphrase a line from The Dark Knight, spoken by a Batman impersonator, what gives him the right?

I think both villains would present an interesting inner struggle for Batman, but lets not forget the outer struggles too. The movie would be action packed between the Penguin's gang war with the controlling mob with Batman in the middle, to Catwoman's battles on the streets and, of course, with Batman himself.

Now the fun part, by which, of course, I mean casting.

Toby Jones as The Penguin










As Truman Capote in Infamous (2006) the diminutive actor said "you have to be tough to be tiny". The phrase stuck is my head and after seeing the character actors work in that film, The Mist (2007) and Frost/Nixon (2008), I think he has the right qualities to make The Penguin into a real and empathetic character that fit comfortably into the world that the Nolan brothers have created.

Emily Blunt as Catwoman










Not only is Blunt stunning but she is emerging as the next big thing in Hollywood after stand-out roles in The Devil Wears Prada (2006) and The Young Victoria (2009), and has shown she has the versatility to play a complex character (as I would hope Selina Kyle would be presented as) in both those films. Look for her earlier roles in the British film My Summer of Love (2004) and the BBC's Gideon's Daughter (2005) to see more of this great actress and why I think she could go toe-to-toe with Christian Bale.

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Waylon 'Killer Croc' Jones










See Brian Azzarello's depiction of Killer Croc in his Joker graphic novel for an idea of how he would appear in the Nolan series. The character was once depicted as drug/arms dealer with an unfortunate skin condition, though here I would depict him more as muscle for The Penguin, I would, of course, follow the skin condition, rather than (ridiculous) monster, route. Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje was terrifying as sociopath convict Simon Adebesi in HBO's Oz and was brutal as the character, Majestic, in Get Rich or Die Tryin' (2005) and would bring the appropriate level of menace to the character.

I'm sure that whatever the Nolan's have planned for the third instalment they will not fail to impress, until that day however, I'll be playing this movie in my head.

By now most of us have read that Fox plan to do a Hulk style do-over to the Fantastic Four, and I for one am looking forward to it. The film is set to take a darker tone, though I feel it would be important that, while setting the film in a more real and therefore harsher world than the previous films, that the characters should not be turned into something they are not.

The Fantastic Four I want to see in a family of adventurers as was seen in Mark Wade's previous run and Mark Millar's current run on the comic book title. Having already seen the FF's origin in the previous film I do not feel it would be necessary to start from the ground up again, but rather give a quick recap of the origin as per The Incredible Hulk (2008).

I'd the film to be set well into the family's lives after the accident, presenting them as the world famous Fantastic Four that we all know and love. That being said I feel that although the family in itself should not be portrayed as dark I think that it is important that any threat they face be terrifying and credible.

So what threat should the FF face? Personally I would prefer to build up the threat of Doom in the first film in order to build up the anticipation of seeing him in a sequel just like the Nolan Batman film did with The Joker. I think Namor may be interesting to see if presented in a way akin to his first appearance in the Ultimate Fantastic Four series. Galactus has been done and so it unlikly that the filmmakers would want the revisit that event, at least at first. As I stated in my Avenger Movie post I would like to see the Skrull or their Ultimate counterparts The Chitari be seen as bing the threat in that movie, however if the Chitari could be presented differently from The Skrull then I thing this might be the way to go. Another idea would be to have the threat come from the Negative Zone. I think this will be the best option as it presents an established villain, Annihilus, and there are lots of faceless drones for cannon fodder.

Right, enough of the chit-chat, let's cast this bitch!

Eric Bana as Reed Richards / Mr. Fantastic










Yes Banna was once the Hulk but now that his version has been rebooted out it means he's free to give other Mavel characters a try. I think Bana would be a great choice for the constantly preoccupied but otherwise nice guy Reed Richards.

Naomi Watts as Susan Richards / The Invisible Woman










Naomi Watts is the only choice for me to fill this role; I just feel that not only does she have the right look but she is also believable as a strong character as can be seen in Funny Games (2007) and The Ring (2002).

Mike Vogel as Johnny Storm / The Human Torch










Vogel's character in Cloverfield (2008) was rash, hot headed, and ultimately heroic. It is that film that first made me thing that he would make a great Johnny Storm.

Liev Schrebier as Ben Grimm / The Thing










See Schrebier's performance as the surly tough Jewish militia man in Defiance (2008) and as soldier John Clark in the Sum of All Fears (2002) to see why I think he would be great in the role of the monstrous everyman Ben Grimm. For the thing, you need a great character actor to really bring out the charicters depth, and this is another reason that I think Schrebier is the right man for the job.

Ralph Fiennes as Victor Van Damm/ Dr. Doom










Fiennes is a fantastic actor and excels in playing the worst humanity has to offer such as in In Bruges (2008) and Schindler's List (1993). He also tops the current bad guy list as the inhuman Harry Potter villain Voldemort. Fiennes would bring the necessary coldness and class to the villain and has the acting chops to make him more than just the panto villain he is sometimes depicted as. And yes I would prefer the Van Damm surname; Von Doom is just too dumb.

John C Reilly as The Mole Man










This would be a personal favorite of mine as I love the actor and the villain. I do not think that Mole Man could carry a whole movie but I would like to see him as even a first act threat. Reilly is a highly versatile actor and could really bring the diminutive villain to life. Of course it would require some Benjamin Button style CGI to fit the 6'1" actor into the Mole Man's tiny frame.

Michael Emerson as Annihilus











Annihilus, I would imagine would either be a CGI generated character or and actor under some hefty Hellboy style make-up, either way, it will mainly be voice work that will be done on the character. I can think of no creepier voice than that of the bug-eyed manipulator Benjamin Linus from Lost.

So that's that, and most likely none of this wish list will come true. We can dream though.

Gearing up for The Avengers feature film set now to debut in 2012 I run down my choices for the cast and the characters I would like to appear.

Screen writer Zak Penn has stated that the script was loosely based of the events of The Ultimates which, in my opinion, can only be a good thing. As I stated in my Justice League Film post, I feel that the first Avengers movie should be about The Avengers, and, that being the case, i would hope to see a largely faceless villain like the Skrull/Chitauri seen in volume one of The Ultimates. In truth, I'd really like to see The Ultimates Vol 1 in its entirety on the screen from the battle with The Hulk to Giant Man vs Cap to The Ultimates vs The Chitauri.

I have seen that Don Cheadle appears in the cast list as War Machine and, while I look forward to seeing the character in action in any future Iron Man movies and enjoy Mr Cheadle as a actor, I do not think that War Machine belongs in an Avengers movie. This being the case, I would hope that he might only appear in cameo, perhaps as back-up in the climatic battle.

Given that I wish the movie to be based on The Ultimates in should come as no surprise that I would have Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch and the Black Widow appear as secondary characters as members of a Fury run Shadow Avengers. War Machine could even find a home amongst this group.

SHADOW AVENGERS

Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury












Scarlett Johansson as The Black Widow










The actors shown above have been confirmed as being cast in these parts.

Scott Foley as Hawkeye










Foley impresses each week on CBS series The Unit as family man and (super) soldier Bob Brown. If the film were to follow the plot of The Ultimates I cannot imagine another actor filling the shoes of enhanced (this Tim Roth in The Incredible Hulk) sharpshooter Clint Barton.

Zooey Deschanel as The Scarlet Witch










I always imagined Wanda being kind of spacey, as if she were always coming out of a day dream. Zooey Deschanel first struck me as being a good choice for Wanda while playing the unbalanced Kat on Showtime's Weeds.

Now I know what you're thinking: Where's Quicksilver? This would be a personal recommendation of mine in that I do believe he should appear in an Avengers movie. He is a great character but ultimately I believe that he fits in more with the X-Men universe than the Avengers universe. This of course would mean that Wanda would not be Magnetos daughter, or for that matter, a mutant at all. Scarlet Witch is a key character in the Avengers history and I do not believe should could be excluded, Quicksilver however, I do not think. would be missed.

Still reading? Good. Here are my choices for The Avengers and why:-

Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man












Edward Norton as The Hulk










The above actors have been cast in these roles.

Aaron Eckhart as Captain America










Pitt's too pretty, Damon's too fresh faced, at one time I would have liked to have seen Thomas Jane in this role, but after seeing Eckhart's performances in The Dark Knight (2008), The Black Dahlia (2006) and The Pledge (2001) I believe has the right mix of toughness and gravitas to be a believable leader for the Avengers.

Alexander Skarsgård as Thor










Unbeknownst to me when I started writing this post the young True Blood actor and son of veteran actor Stellan Skarsgård (Good Will Hunting) is already rumoured to be in the running for the part of the Norse God as per the Thor movies IMDB page. The casting call for Thor reads: Producers are looking for a "physically powerful, very handsome, occasionally egotistical, petulant, and wild" male lead in his mid-to-late twenties and standing six feet or taller in height. Not only is the naturally blonde actor 6'4" and well built (though he may need a little more bulking up) he is also a fine actor as can be seen in the aforementioned True Blood and excellent HBO mini-series Generation Kill. And I haven't even mentioned his Nordic blood yet. The phrase "born to play" springs to mind.

Patrick Wilson as Giant Man










My initial choice was Greg Kinner though I though he may be a better fit for an older Hank Pym rather than the disheveled cutting edge scientist that appeared in The Ultimates. Wilson was great in Watchman but it was his roles in Little Children (2006) and Lakeview Terrace (2008) that made me think he could play the part of the manic depressive and socially awkward scientist who becomes Giant Man.

Natalie Portman as The Wasp










Christina Ricci would also be good in this role though I do not feel she would fit well with Patrick Wilson and she may just be a little too quirky to play the level headed clothes horse Janet Van Dyne. Portman has proven time and time again that she has the acting chops and I believe she would give the character suitable depth, especially should the movie include scenes that would show the Hank Pym's abusive nature.

So there you have it: The Avengers as I would like to see it.

Sequels could introduce new characters such as She-Hulk and The Vision or feature more established villains such as Loki, Hydra, or possibly Ultron. Though I confess I may find the robots a little hard to accept I do think that She-Hulk might be a good idea if done correctly and can think of no tougher actress than Million Dollar Baby's Hilary Swank.

Hilary Swank as She-Hulk










Swank's Jennifer Walters, rather than be a cousin to Bruce Banner, could be a S.H.I.E.L.D agent who has been selected by Fury to receive the now perfected (apart from the mutation) Hulk/Super Solider formula.

Looking forward to see if any of these predictions come true but, in all honesty, I'm not holding my breath.