A dramatic shift in pop culture icons is imminent

Author’s Note: This is an introduction to a 5-part series examining the changing icons presented below. Each subsequent part will focus on one of the characters or franchises highlighted in this piece.

We are approaching a historic point in pop culture and cinema fandom, one that we haven’t seen the likes of in around 20 years, but this time the famous and iconic characters in play are even higher in number.

With the announcement that Henry Cavill would not, in fact, be returning to play Superman once again, several iconic characters who have helped shape the landscape of modern moviemaking are now up for grabs among the elite – and unknowns – in Hollywood. Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, and James Bond are only a few of the characters who could potentially have brand-new actors playing them within the next handful of years.

This week provided some new insight into some of these characters, with the unveiling of the DCU plans laid out by James Gunn and Peter Safran, which provides some new information for the next couple of years of DC projects and gives some clarity into what they might look for in their Superman and Batman actors.

In addition, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is in new territory; from its inception in 2008 with Iron Man, Robert Downey Jr. was the big name, the number one actor playing the number one character in the grand story. Following closely behind was Chris Evans’s Captain America, but after 2019’s Avengers: Endgame the road ended for both of these actors and characters within the MCU. Since 2020, audiences have been bombarded with dozens of movies and Disney+ series which have continued some characters’ storylines and introduced plenty of others. What remains to be seen is who is now the on-screen leader of the MCU after Tony Stark and Steve Rogers’ respective departures?

What makes the next few years so fascinating is who will fill the shoes of the franchise-leading characters named above, among others, and who will helm the projects from a written and directorial standpoint? Hollywood is famous – or infamous – for trying to force history to repeat itself, and it will be interesting to see what the studio heads do to try and recapture some of the glory of their past with the characters in question.

As I mentioned, this isn’t the first time that the casting of these characters has converged on a common timeline; the mid-2000s saw an upheaval in terms of new directions for all of these major characters. The MCU was just beginning, so director Jon Favreau was looking for his Tony Stark to lead the franchise. James Bond was reeling after some disappointing critical results (to no fault of then-leading man Pierce Brosnan), and Batman was also in disarray after the disaster that was George Clooney’s lone outing as the Dark Knight.

Meanwhile, Superman was recasting as they looked to release Superman Returns in 2006, which ended in great disappointment and a quick about-face to reboot and recast once again only a few short years later. Spider-Man was, for the time being, comfortably Tobey Maguire’s role, but after 2007’s catastrophe that was Spider-Man 3, the role would soon be rebooted and recast by 2012.

The trend that pops out from all the roles listed above, MCU notwithstanding, is that the studios in charge of each of the characters was looking to rediscover past success after what had been deemed great failures by predecessors in the role, whether it be from a casting and performance standpoint, or an overall writing and film perspective. Bond was supposed to be the iconic spy character, Batman and Superman were the patron saints of movie superheroes, but had fallen into bad ways in their most recent movies, and the widespread general opinion is still that Spider-Man 3 is all-around bad.

Fast forward to January 2023, the time of this writing. Daniel Craig’s James Bond is widely being heralded as perhaps the best version of the character, with two of his 007 movies constantly atop “Best Bond Films Ever” lists. Christopher Nolan’s take on Batman with his Dark Knight trilogy, brought to life by leading man Christian Bale, changed superhero movies forever, allowing both subsequent Batman actors (Ben Affleck and Robert Pattinson) to fully lean into the dark and troubled side of Bruce Wayne. Fan favourite Tom Holland continues to find success as Spider-Man, bringing all three actors together in Spider-Man: No Way Home.

Meanwhile, fans everywhere are still voicing their dismay and disappointment over November’s DC announcement that Cavill will not be returning as Superman, with his solo outing Man of Steel as the initial movie of the SnyderVerse now a relic of the past.

It should be noted that Spider-Man and Batman both have unclear and potentially confusing futures; Spider-Man for the main reason of the complicated Sony/Disney relationship, and Batman because Robert Pattinson currently has the role, and anticipated to return to it in the next Matt Reeves chapter of that branch of the franchise. With James Gunn stating that universe will exist separately from Reeve’s already existing universe, but with it still inevitable that Batman will feature in the future DCEU, it’s bound to create an interesting dynamic in the casting process.

The question becomes this: is there more pressure on an actor to return a franchise to its previous glory, or continue the success of their predecessor? This will be a big question asked in each of the major character pieces moving forward, and I will discuss whether the answer is different for each of the actors taking on the respective roles.

Other key talking points will include ideas for the recasting, directions that the respective franchises could be going in, and exploring the comparison to today’s recastings versus those of the 2000s. I’ll also be discussing potential complications that recasting could create, along with any multiversal waves that could be made and when decisions could be expected for these castings and projects.

Stay tuned to Talking Films for the 5-part series discussing the huge climate shift in the iconic roles of pop culture:

Part 1: James Bond
Part 2: Batman
Part 3: Superman
Part 4: Spider-Man
Part 5: The Greater MCU