Your Favorite Live Action Representation of a DC Character in Other Media

[Gaius]

Catwoman - Tossup between Julie Newmar or Eartha Kitt

The Riddler - Frank Gorshin

Penguin - Burgess Meredith

Joker - Heath Ledger

[j9ac9k]

Commissioner Gordon - Gary Oldman
Joker - Heath Ledger
Penguin - Robin Lord Taylor
Doom Patrol (all of them) - Doom Patrol DCU cast
Catwoman - Michelle Pfeiffer (despite the terrible new origin they gave her, she still exuded the spirit of Selina Kyle in certain scenes)

[OpaqueGiraffe17]

Batman is tricky for me. The Nolan/Bale Batman was by far the best version of the character on screen. He was much better written and had a better arc than the others. But while Bale is a magnificent actor, his Batman performance left a lot to be desired for me. Affleck had much worse writing behind him. But I liked his performance much better. Keaton too, though the writing was fine for him. So I guess the Dark Knight Trilogy Batman wins for being a better character. But that’s more for Nolan than Bale (again great actor but only an ok Batman).

[Comic-Reader Lad]

In general, I can find something to like about each of the actors to play a role -- even controversial ones like Jesse Eisenberg or Ezra Miller are not bad to me.

So, picking a favorite is kind of hard. It would be easier to pick the few that I think did NOT do anything for the role.

Bad or Ineffective Casting:

BATMAN - George Clooney. Yes, his script was dumb and it was heavily Robin/Batgirl centric, but he brought no charm or personality to the role.

RIDDLER - John Astin subbing for Frank Gorshin on Batman '66.

Good Casting:

But, to answer the thread title, I've thought all the Superman actors were good for their projects with Reeves, Reeve, and Cavill being my favorites.
Both Carter and Gadot were great as Wonder Woman
Both Slater and Benoist are good Supergirls
Gustin and Miller are both good Flashes

etc. etc.

[The True Detective]

Batman- Ben Affleck
Superman- Brandon Routh (Kingdom Come CW version)
The Flash- Grant Gustin
Wonder Woman- Gal Gadot
The Joker- Heath Ledger
Supergirl- Melissa Benoist
Green Arrow- Stephen Amell
Nightwing- Brenton Thwaite

[Buried Alien]

Live action SHAZAM! on TV in the 1970s. I know not many will agree with me. It was my first exposure to American superheroes, though.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[Jim Kelly]

Live action SHAZAM! on TV in the 1970s. I know not many will agree with me. It was my first exposure to American superheroes, though.

Ah, but the important question is which Captain Marvel--Jackson Bostwick or John Davey?

[Buried Alien]

Ah, but the important question is which Captain Marvel--Jackson Bostwick or John Davey?

I saw John Davey first (I happened to begin watching during the episodes when he was Captain Marvel), and I preferred his pose (hands on hips, just like Superman) to Jackson Bostwick's. When I rewatched the show many years later as an adult, however, I came to realize that Bostwick played the role better.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[Osiris-Rex]

George Reeves as Clark Kent
Christopher Reeve as Superman.
Melissa Benoist as Supergirl
Jon Cryer as Lex Luthor
Teri Hatcher as Lois Lane

Christian Bale as Batman
Julie Newmar as Catwoman.
Camren Bicondova as Selina Kyle
Robin Lord Taylor as Penguin
Joaquin Phoenix as Joker
Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn
Burt Ward as Robin

Grant Gustin as the Flash

Justin Hartley as Green Arrow

Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman

[Gaius]

George Reeves as Clark Kent
Christopher Reeve as Superman.

Forgot to include that in mine but I agree. I like a Clark persona where he isn't a complete clutz.

[Stick Figure]

I’ll never get the Reeve Superman love. It’s Cavill all day for me.
I liked Affleck as Batman.
Ledger as the Joker.

[Jackalope89]

Emmet Scanlon as Lobo from Krypton.

Granted, its the only live version of Lobo (to my knowledge), but it was pretty good. Over the top, fun, violent, etc. Could have been more buff (and honestly always read Lobo having a voice more like Sarge from Red vs Blue, but deeper), but nailed it characterwise.

Similarly, Curran Walters as Jason Todd. A bit different (to say the least) from comic Jason, and yet, made the role his. Not to mention a scene stealer whenever he's on.

[Robanker]

The usual suspects are going to populate this thread, so I'll get a few out of the way: Christopher Reeve as Superman, Zachary Levi as Shazam, Cress Williams as Black Lightning and Julie Newmar as Catwoman.

That last one may be a boyhood crush I've yet to shake.


That said, I have to say I think Patrick Wilson isn't getting enough credit for Orm.

Long-time Aquafan but I genuinely don't think Orm is an easy role. The costume is easy to make look dumb, he calls himself "Ocean Master" which sounds like a playground bully's idea of cool, and his entire gimmick is to be the bastard brother of Arthur who can't chill, but he really sold every little bit of it. Wilson brought more to that role than I thought anyone would.

Likewise, I think Chris Pine was the first guy to absolutely make me believe without any question that Diana would adore Steve Trevor. He nailed that role in a way comics have been struggling to sell for eighty years, particularly because he made it look effortless when usually you can feel someone trying to be the one to finally sever that Gordian knot.

I love Lane Smith as Perry White and I'm forever convinced that the Daily Planet's editor is has an Elvis-loving rockabilly streak in him because of how well he played Perry on Lois and Clark.

Last and never least, April Bowlby was a great Rita Farr even if that role wasn't the Rita I remember reading, she's now my favorite incarnation of Rita.

[MRP]

If the OP was looking for a single favorite representation of a DC character in film rather than a favorite fr each character, my answer would be Mark Valley as Christopher Chance (the Human Target) form the 2010 Human Target show. It was a blink and you miss it show, before comic book TV became all the rage, but it was a solid action adventure show and Valley had a lot of charisma in the role and made it a very believable version of the character giving the show a lot of verisimilitude for an somewhat over-the-top concept.

-M

[Masterff]

I’ll never get the Reeve Superman love. It’s Cavill all day for me.
I liked Affleck as Batman.
Ledger as the Joker.

Joshua Orpin-Conner Kent
Dean Cain-Superman/Clark Kent (I LOVE his Clark Kent…I really miss this in MoS etc. he was very likeable as Clark Kent)
Jack Nicholson-Joker (I prefer him to Ledger)
Ben Affleck/Val Kilmer-Batman
K. Callan and Eddie Jones as Jonathan and Martha Kent

Cavill is a good Superman, but I DON’T LIKE his Clark Kent, which is as important for me as Superman is.