Crowning the New King of Comic Book Cinema!

For several years now there are two actors that have been dominating the superhero/comic book genre in cinema – Ryan Reynolds and Chris Evans. Both having a long list of comic related films, we are here to decide who is doing it the best and with the most variety and vigor. As many predecessors have worn the crown of king of comic cinema, one of the earliest being Christopher Reeve, one of the aforementioned films stars shall take their proper place on the throne of super powered flicks. With the custom made iFanboy point system, we will decide who is the worthy heir of the title!

The breakdown of their filmography will be PAST/PRESENT and FUTURE and will judged under the following rubric:

A) Source Material: 1pt for an adapted comic film, 2pt for an original superhero/comic related film

B) Execution of film: 0pt for a bad film, 1pt for a film that isn't great but still fun to watch, 2pt for a really awesome flick

C) Diversity in actor: 1pt for them playing themselves, 2pt for a change in look or character, 3pt for a complete or drastic change

D) Nerd Cred: Does this film make your geek-sense tingle with joy? Does it put a big smile on your face in the opening credits? 0-3pts awarded.

For future films only:

E) Potential awesome of unreleased projects based on trailers, clips, news, attached talent or leaked scripts: 1-3pts awarded.

**note: all points are listed, in order, after the initial film title. The points are totaled after each round.**

 

PAST & PRESENT:

To start, it might be important to recognize that Reynolds is five years older than Evans and began receiving credited acting work in 1990, while Evans' filmography only starts in 2000. Nonetheless, their participation in comic films starts in 2004 when Reynolds made his first appearance as an adapted comic character in David S. Goyer's, written and directed, Blade Trinity (1,1,1,0) as Hannibal King, a vampire slayer and member of the Nightstalkers. At this point in his career he was attempting more diverse roles,  taking on action and horror films that weren't solely based on his snarky comedic tongue. Sadly, he may have jumped on this franchise a little too late as the first installment of Blade did well in the box office, the two succeeding films,  Blade 2 and Trinity, received mixed reviews which would not allow for a fourth. A year later, in 2005, Marvel expanded their universe on the screen with Fantastic Four (1,0,1,0). Chris Evans donned the famous phrase, "Flame On" and made Johnny Storm out to be an extreme sports enthusiast and, as always, irresistible. With both having big comic hits under their belt, the two would continue to take on super-powered roles, but each in different directions. Little do most people know, that from 2004-2005 Ryan Reynolds was the voice actor on the Canadian animated series Zeroman (2,1,3,0) a comedy following a bumbling elderly superhero, voiced by Leslie Nielsen, whose secret identity was a 66 year old postman living with his mother. While the animation was short lived, Ryan's character Ty Cheese is a former secret agent, implicit homosexual (à la Shore Leave of Venture Bros.) and aids Zeroman with advice and technological devices. Continuing on the time line of comic cinema, Evans would return to his role as Johnny Storm in the 2007 sequel 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer (1,1,1,1) and in the same year voiced Casey in the flopped animated feature film TMNT (1,0,2,0).
 

 

   

    

As comic and superhero films continued to develop, so did the careers of Reynolds and Evans as they both found themselves received in a similar light as comedians, actions stars and sex icons – 2009 and 2010 would make them even more famous. In '09, Reynolds had X-Men Origins: Wolverine (1,1,1,1) as Wade Wilson and the independent coming-of-middle-age dark comedy Paper Man (2,2,2,1) which casted him as Captain Excellent, the imaginary friend to middle-aged and failing writer Richard Dunn, played by Jeff Daniels. With Evans, things got bigger and better fast, starting in 2009 with Push (1,1,1,0) as it starred a surprisingly older looking Dakota Fanning, and was followed by the 2010 release of the comic book adaptation of Losers (1,1,2,1) and ended the year, in one of my favorites, with his role as pro-skateboarder turned arrogant action star Lucas Lee in Edgar Wright's Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (1,2,2,2).

Round 1 total:

Reynolds: 20

Evans: 24

UNRELEASED/FUTURE PROJECTS:

As we charge into 2011, every cinephile, comic book enthusiast or blockbuster hound should know how important the next couple of years should be for comic/superhero films. This year alone it's become a back-to-back spring-to-fall release schedule of extremely anticipated films which includes both of our contenders debuting as two extremely iconic comic characters in what will become two very large franchises. First, Reynolds plays Hal Jordan in Green Lantern as it introduces the character and audience to his new powers and galactic role – which I award 2pts (out of 3). While none of us have seen the film, the trailer looked great, but admittedly some instances the suit seemed either rough or unfinished and have me slightly worried about the all-CGI suit. Also this year is Evans' Captain America: The First Avenger, also awarded 2pts, as we've only been given production photos and two-second clips, but has developed an amazing cast of well respected actors that include Tommy Lee Jones, Stanley Tucci and Hugo Weaving. Looking farther into the future, we get even more amazing sequels and films from both actors including Ryan Reynolds role in the comic book adaptation of Peter M. Lenkov's R.I.P.D. (2pt), which I just read, as it follows a recently slain cop enlisted to work for God's police force, in the Rest In Peace Department, as he investigates the identity of his killer. And rounding out the next couple of years he also has Deadpool (1pt) that already seems to have a strong script (that was leaked) but has already had several production changes, cuts and rumored scheduling issues… Not to mention the inevitable Green Lantern 2 (1pt – because it technically doesn't actually exist yet). While Evans has had an extremely busy past two years, in 2012 he has Joss Whedon's The Avengers (3pt) which is pre-production and has solidified an amazing cast and crew and will be the first major cross-over film of the new century.

GRAND  TOTAL:

Reynolds: 28

Evans: 29

 

There it is, folks! By a hair, Chris Evans is the new king of comic book (and/or superhero) cinema! While some might disagree, I do believe Evans has earned the title with his dedication to taking super powered roles time and time again. But for those of you that are in support of Reynolds, just remember that guy just won People's title as the 2010 Sexiest Man Alive – so I don't believe he will be too bummed about this loss.

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Austin went to the University of California – Santa Cruz for Film & Digital Media and has currently seen all of the above films that are currently released. This is mostly due to the fact that he once spent an entire quarter in school trying to write all of his papers about, or related to, comics & super heroes in film. He often tweets about film and comics here!