Talking about the big 3: Superman, Spiderman and Batman

I’m a little late but here are my thoughts on three of the most highly-anticipated comic book adaptations as Henry Cavill joins Andrew Garfield and Christian Bale as Superman, Spider-Man and Batman respectively.

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The Dark Knight Rises

Dir: Christopher Nolan
Starring: Christian Bale, Anne Hathaway, Tom Hardy
ETA: 20th July 2012

Announced in early 2010 that a third Christopher Nolan directed Batman film would be produced, I was very relived to hear that Christian Bale would be reprising his role as the famous Bat: Bale was superb in the preceding films.

Batman Begins featured the usual suspects – Alfred Pennyworth, Lucius Fox, James Gordon and Rachel Dawes – plus the following antagonists: Henri Ducard/Ra’s al Ghul, Dr Jonathan Crane/The Scarecrow and Carmine Falcone.

The Dark Knight featured the usual suspects plus Harvey Dent/Two-Face, The Joker and Salvatore ‘The Boss’ Maroni.

The details for The Dark Knight Rises are still being released but confirmed so far are Tom Hardy as Bane and Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle. Alfred Pennyworth, Lucius Fox and James Gordon are expected to return but, sadly, Rachel Dawes will not due to her sad demise in The Dark Knight. This is Hollywood, however, so I wouldn’t rule out a cameo appearance somehow.

I am a huge fan of the series so far and I can’t wait to see what Nolan has in store. Will Catwoman make an appearance? How exactly will Bane be introduced – will we see him pre and post Venom?

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The Amazing Spider-Man

Dir: Marc Webb
Starring: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans
ETA: 4th July 2012

I can’t really put my finger on it, but I’m not really that excited about this at the moment.

The three Sam Raimi-directed Spider-Man films were great entertainment and Tobey Maguire did make a good Spidey. Kirsten Dunst and James Franco provided great support and together the films were action packed with some smart one-liners and memorable lines – cue “with great power comes great responsibility”.

Spider-Man 3 was released in May 2007 so – even though it will be four years later – maybe in my mind it is too soon for a reboot? I don’t know but as yet I’m just not that excited…

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Superman: Man of Steel

Dir: Zack Snyder
Starring: Henry Cavill
ETA: 1st December 2012

While we’ve known for some time that Zack Snyder was planning a remake, it was only announced two weeks ago that Henry Cavill would be the man to don the cape. No further details have been announced and rumous are rife about who could potentially be his Lois Lane. As Cavill is not that well-known, it has understandably been reported that Warner Bros didn’t want a big name cast opposite who would could potentially overshadow him.

Since his debut in 2001’s Laguna, Cavill’s career has steadily grown. On the big screen, I have seen him in Tristan + Isolde and Stardust while on the small screen I have caught a few episodes of him as Charles Brandon in Showtime’s The Tudors. It will be interesting to see his upcoming performance in Immortals, due November 2011, which is his first major blockbuster.

As long as his American accent is alright, my first instinct is that Cavill will make a good Superman and will bring the same new life to Superman that Bale did to Batman, especially with Snyder at the helm and Christopher Nolan producing.

On a basic level, Cavill has many qualities of my favourite Superman, Christopher Reeve: he is classically handsome with dark hair and blue eyes. However, I think that he has a rugged quality which could mean that his Superman won’t be your stereotypical Mr Perfect and will have a darker, more complicated personality.

So far, so good and I eagerly await more news.