Comic Book Casting: The TOM STRONG Live-Action Movie

Sometimes superheroes need to be real heroes.

And Tom Strong was one of them.

Created by Alan Moore and Chris Sprouse back in the final days of the 20th century, Strong and his self-titled series was a throwback to superhero comics’ pulp roots. For today’s readers I might compare it to the subject matter of Hellboy but told in the tone of Mark Waid’s run on Daredevil, as written by Moore. In this story, Strong was bred to be a hero from birth, living his first dozen or so years in a high-gravity pressure chamber that gave him all he would need while also living in an environment which forced his body to push itself to peak form in terms of strength, agility, aging and endurance. Mixing Captain America with Doc Savage, Tom Strong saw Strong become a man — a near mythical man — mixing science with super-heroics as he became a respected scientist and hero in Millennial City with his growing  family.

In comics he’s fought everything from Nazis to killer robots and even some high-tech Aztecs, told in modern day stories as well as flashbacks and flashforwards — bouncing around without getting to down or dark. DC’s currently prepping for a new Tom Strong series by Sprouse and writer Paul Hogan, and it might be time DC took notice of this would-be franchise and consider the possibility of bringing it to the big screen.

The Concept:

Remember how the Indiana Jones movies mixed action with the trappings of WW2-era pulp reels without feeling cheesy? That’s the same kind of touch Tom Strong needs. Pulpy, tongue-in-cheek and serious without taking itself too seriously.

For a movie, I’d take on the elements of story from Tom Strong #6 and #7, in which his arch-nemesis Paul Saveen takes him captive. Bouncing back and forth between the 1920s and the modern day with both characters, it’d be a great piece of storytelling that could mix daring feats, high-tense action and leave open the possibilities for surprises along the way. There’s alot of room left in this arc to elaborate on for a 90 minute feature; a large task and large stage to excess for the right writer/director.

The Director:

Picking the right director of this was the hardest part of this week’s Comic Book Casting, when when I found it… I found it. For this, I’d enlist writer/director Lawrence Kasdan along with his son and fellow director Jake Kasdan. The elder is best known for writing the initial Indiana Jones movies and then later directing things like Mumford and Dreamcatcher, while Jake has been going down the comedy route with Freaks & Geeks, Walk Hard and Bad Teacher. I’d love to see them work together on something like this and find that balance between throwback and lively action movies that some like Sky Captain & The World of Tomorrow fail to hit.

The Cast:

Tom Strong – Joe Manganiello: When I read Tom Strong, it’s Bruce Campbell I see and hear in the role. But Campbell isn’t as young as he used to be (doh!), and I think we’re about 15 years too late to make that happen. Instead, I cast far and wide for someone with the physique and the funny bone to make this happen and I thought of True Blood‘s Joe Manganiello. Manganiello seems like an A-list movie star waiting to happen, and to see him play Tom Strong as an assured, measured “smartest man in the room” with the assets to back it up seems like a great pairing.

Dhalua Strong – Kerry Washington: Kerry Washington has quickly become a star to watch after her roles in Django Unchained and TV’s Scandal after years of working in the background doing everything from the movie Ray to playing Alicia Masters in the two Fantastic Four movies. But with all the talent she has, it’s easy to give Washington a second chance to make a first impression in comic movies. Picturing Washington as Dhalua from Attabar Teru and standing side-by-side with Manganiello-as-Strong would be amazing.

Tesla Strong – Chyna Layne: Layne hasn’t done much in Hollywood yet, but what she has done in Precious made me remember her. So when it came time to cast the 60 year old teenager Tesla Strong, she immediately came to mind. Tesla’s a great character, and one that stole the spotlight on more than one occasion. Seeing Chyna do that seems right up her alley.

Pneuman – Bill Nighy: If I could put Bill Nighy in every movie I would. But for Tom Strong, I think I have a good arguement that he’d be ideal to play Pneuman. Invented by Strong’s father, Pneuman is an Alfred to Strong’s Batman in more ways than one, raising him from birth inside the pressure chamber in which Strong grew up. Nighy could attach grace and some guffaws and really lighten up the movie.

King Solomon – Mark Sheppard: After seeing him on Battlestar Galactica I had Sheppard pegged as a breakout star. But while that has yet to happen, it doesn’t stop him from being a great actor — a great one especially for a voice-over role like the role of King Solomon would play in Tom Strong.

Paul Saveen – Jason Flemyng: Jason Flemyng has quietly become a jack-of-all-trades when it comes to comic book movies, working on League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, X-Men: First Class, From Hell and Stardust. But in each of those he’s played a relatively ancillary role, while playing mad scientist Paul Saveen here would be some great casting and give the role some much-needed liveliness to stand up to Strong.