Jon Hamm as Superman...
Why He’s Perfect: The Hollywood rumour mill has gone into overdrive over reports that Warner Brothers are considering Hamm for the role, and rightly so, as on paper he looks a perfect fit.
Hamm has played down the story by suggesting he’d be too old for the role, but as far as we’re concerned, age should be no obstacle. There’s nothing to say that Superman has to be played by some fresh-faced youth, and indeed when Brandon Routh had a crack at it, a lot of fans were none too impressed.
Hamm certainly has the chiselled looks to pull it off, and as his cameo appearances in 30 Rock have shown, he can handle the more humorous Clark Kent side of things as well. Sign him up!
Essential Scene: After a minor tiff with Lois, Supes pours himself a Don Draper-esque measure of whiskey and hits the streets of Metropolis to do a spot of womanising.
But if Hamm can’t do it…
John Krasinski as Superman...
Why He’s Perfect: Somewhat unlucky to miss out on Captain America , Krasinski might be seen as a bit too geeky to convince as the Man of Steel. However, at least half the role demands exactly that brand of geekiness, and we can’t think of a better match for Clark Kent than Krasinski.
This isn’t Batman we’re talking about. We don’t need a brooding, snarling badass for the role. Superman is far less conflicted, and far more wholesome than the majority of his heroic brethren, so why not cast an everyman actor in the role?
Essential Scene: Having been forced to share a desk with an irritating co-worker, Clark finally snaps, vaporising the pesky office joker with a quick blast of the old eye-lasers.
But if Krasinski can’t do it…
Nathan Fillion as Superman...
Why He’s Perfect: Well, he’d represent a handy way of getting the fanboys onside for one! Revered for his sterling work in Joss Whedon’s Firefly and Serenity , Fillion may have missed out on a role in The Avengers , but we reckon he’d be a great option if Warner want a lesser-known name for their new Superman.
Like Krasinski, he’d be a dab hand at handling the less serious side of things, but he’s also got the physique to fill the suit. As with Hamm, age may count against him (he’s 39), but we’re hoping Warner will be thinking outside the box with their casting, as Fillion has got charisma to spare!
Essential Scene: The Daily Planet turns on Superman when they discover he is actually Canadian (or Kryptonian-Canadian to be precise), denouncing him as a "Johnny Foreigner". Ingrates!
But if Fillion can’t do it…
Jim Caviezel as Superman...
Why He’s Perfect: A selfless hero, willing to put his own happiness second to the wellbeing of humankind? Superman sounds a bit like one of Caviezel’s old characters doesn’t he? Granted, Jesus can’t fly, but you get our drift.
Caviezel expressed an interest in the role when Bryan Singer was casting for Superman Returns , so he’d presumably be keen if the chance were to arise again. Plus, for someone who starred as The Lord Our Saviour in one of the biggest-grossing films in history, he’s still not too well-known to make the role his own.
Essential Scene: Superman allows himself to be brutally killed by Lex Luthor, only to perform a quick resurrection three days later, and kick his bald backside all over Metropolis.
But if Caviezel can’t do it…
Tom Welling as Superman...
Why He’s Perfect: Welling’s been playing Clark Kent in Smallville for the best part of a decade, so if he can’t nail the Man of Steel, what chance has anyone else got? The star is understandably keen, although he has stressed that, “it’s not as simple as me wanting to do it, or not wanting to do it.”
He’s probably right, in the sense that any Superman movie starring Welling would automatically be thought of as Smallville: The Movie . However, we’ve always thought he makes a good Clark Kent, and for a generation of fans, he’s the definitive face of their hero. If they’re looking for a youngish incarnation, Warner could do a lot worse…
Essential Scene: A bruising early encounter with some gun-wielding thugs, replete with swearing and bloodshed. Just to make it perfectly clear we’re not in Smallville any more.
Rachel McAdams as Lois Lane...
Why She’s Perfect: For our money McAdams should be nailed on to play Lois for three reasons: she was ace as a probing journo in State Of Play , she’s witty enough for a bit of verbal sparring with Clark, and she’s bloody gorgeous to boot.
At 32 she’s the right sort of age, and she’s got a bit more about her than Kate Bosworth, who was suitably lovely in Superman Returns , but a bit, well, meh. Lois needs to be a feisty heroine, and McAdams can chuck a strop with the best of them.
Essential Scene: Lois puts Superman firmly in his place with a swift kick to the groin. We’ll have no Notebook-esque weepiness here, thank you very much!
But if McAdams can’t do it…
Rachel Weisz as Lois Lane...
Why She’s Perfect: If Hamm and Fillion are being considered regardless of their age, we don’t see why we can’t have a more experienced actress for Lois too. Like McAdams, Weisz is more than just a pretty face, having shown her acting chops to Oscar-winning effect in The Constant Gardner .
She was a driven, principled activist in that film, and that sort of dog-with-a-bone tenacity would serve her well as Metropolis’s most relentless reporter.
Essential Scene: An It's Complicated style bedroom scene in which she and fellow elder-stateman Jon Hamm crack wise about drooping skin and erectile dysfunction. Ho-ho-ho.
But if Weisz can’t do it…
Emily Blunt as Lois Lane...
Why She’s Perfect: Lois has got to be gorgeous, but also be the sort of woman who could cut the Man of Steel down to size with a waspish comment. Home-grown star Emily Blunt ticks both those boxes neatly. She’s absolutely stunning, and yet somehow, you can’t help feeling you wouldn’t want to be in her bad books.
Blunt has been linked to several superhero movies of late having missed out on Iron Man ’s Black Widow gig. Rumours persist that she’ll be appearing in the next Batman film, but we’d rather see her with her notepad in hand at the Planet, rather than capering round in big, bad Gotham. She might end up like poor old Maggie…
Essential Scene: A new girl starts at the Daily Planet, only to have her first day ruined when Lois points out her shoes don’t match her eyelashes. Ouch.
But if Blunt can’t do it…
Michelle Monaghan as Lois Lane...
Why She’s Perfect: We’ve had a soft spot for Michelle ever since her turn in Shane Black’s ace crime caper Kiss Kiss Bang Bang . That film showed her running rings round Robert Downey Jr., and we can just see her doing the same to whichever poor sap tries to put the moves on Lois Lane. She knows her way around a blockbuster too, having starred with Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible 3 .
Monaghan auditioned for the part back in 2006, only for Kate Bosworth to beat her to the punch. Time to give her a second look we think…
Essential Scene: Hmm, something that gets her back into one of those sexy santa outfits from Kiss Kiss Bang Bang . Daily Planet Christmas party anyone? Just keep Olsen away from the photocopier, the reprobate…
Michael C. Hall as Lex Luthor...
Why He’s Perfect: Early murmurs have suggested that Supes will be squaring off against not one but two villains, and we think it’s safe to guess that one of them will probably be his most famous adversary, Lex Luthor.
So assuming we’re looking for someone charming, powerful and more than a bit creepy, we can’t think of a better choice than Michael C. Hall. His name has been mention in conjunction with Batman 3 ’s big bad, but we like the Dexter star as Luthor better. With his big-screen roles thus far limited to dross like Paycheque and Gamer , it’s about time somebody gave him a break.
Essential Scene: Lex butchers a business rival with a carving knife as the audience grapples with whether they ought to love him or hate him.
But if Hall can’t do it…
Josh Brolin as Lex Luthor...
Why He’s Perfect: Depending on who bags the role of Superman, Warner might want a slightly older head to correspond as his arch-nemesis. Brolin would be great as a perma-sneering super-baddie, a rougher-round-the-edges alternative to Kevin Spacey’s take on the character as a deadpan smoothie.
We’ve seen from Jonah Hex that he can ham it up if needs be, but the main appeal is having a Luthor who actually looks as though he could give Superman a bit of a kicking. You know, if he had Kryptonite boots on or something…
Essential Scene: A bit of back-story which reveals Lex to have made all his money from the Texas oilfields. We like Brolin when he’s doing his cowboy routine…
But if Brolin can't do it...
Joaquin Phoenix as Lex Luthor...
Why He’s Perfect: Right, now we know all that nonsense with the beard and the rapping was an act, lets get back to seeing Joaquin do what he does best i.e. playing cackling baddies with the odd screw loose.
It would certainly be a leftfield choice, but no more so than casting Heath Ledger as the Joker. Too often, Luthor has been played as your common or garden villain. Give Phoenix the role and let him inject a touch of mania into proceedings!
Essential Scene: Lex addresses a packed Metropolis news conference, only to break into a shambling, half-baked hip-hop performance. One for the DVD maybe…
Hugo Weaving as Brainiac...
Why He’s Perfect: Whilst Brainiac hasn’t been confirmed either, we’d like to see the intergalactic android make an appearance as the main villain, with Luthor a secondary thorn in Superman’s side. As for who should play him, Hugo Weaving makes sense to us, having already nailed a similarly pitiless, human-bashing villain in The Matrix .
It’s about time we saw Superman taking on an extra-terrestrial, earth-threatening foe. Weaving is a fairly other-worldly presence at the best of times, and the two would make a pretty good fit. Provided he’s willing to go green…
Essential Scene: Keanu Reeves appears in a cameo as one of Brainiac’s early victims. We were always secretly rooting for Agent Smith to give the surfer-dude muppet a bit of a pasting…
But if Weaving can’t do it…
Viggo Mortensen as Brainiac...
Why He’s Perfect: We’ve seen Viggo kicking-ass for the good guys plenty of times, but we’d love to see him have a crack at the dark side. Plus, like Weaving, he’s got the sort of accent that would lend itself well to an alien computer. That’s a compliment Viggo, if you’re reading…
He’s intensely physical, a cracking actor, and a slightly unsettling choice on account of the roles he’s played before. What more can you ask for when casting a villain? He even owns a purple jumpsuit you say? Well then…
Essential Scene: A balls-out fistfight between Hamm’s Superman and Viggo’s Brainiac would almost be too cool to consider. Not quite though, because we just did…
Ron Perlman as Doomsday...
Why He’s Perfect: There’s been nothing to suggest that Doomsday will be appearing, so this is just a bit of wish fulfilment really, but we’d love to see grizzled old Ron Perlman lend his voice to our favourite killing machine.
We say “lend his voice” assuming Doomsday would be a CGI creation, although looking at the two pictures above, Perlman could probably do the job with a bit of light prosthetic work. Superman usually coasts through his movie outings with the odd bout of Kryptonite-sickness the worst he can expect to face. Perlman would definitely give him something to think about…
Essential Scene: An almighty introduction in which Perlman rips the Daily Planet globe loose and boots it through downtown Metropolis, taking out various buildings as it goes. Is Michael Bay available?
