most of them don't seem to be enjoying themselves tbh: Comic Book Movie Gravitas Bringers, the poll

Less sexism, less Rutger Hauer

Still forgot Ant-Man oh well not like Douglas was really in the running - was he?

Write-in for Snowpiercer (John Hurt, Ed Harris).

That was a comic book?

Ah, disqualified because the comic book was in French originally.

(I cribbed from this - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_based_on_English-language_comics - hence the omission)

Yeah, I was just trying to get a righteous goddammit out of Tombot since he restarted the poll.

But they totally fit the poll remit.

Well, I thought of this as really more of a superhero movie vice the broader "comic book" movie idea I guess

http://lancemannion.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/02/04/pirates_davy_jones.jpg

"Your poll is bad and you should feel bad!"

oops that was meant for the old poll. this poll is fine.

you hate sally field though. you really hate her.

JESUS CHRIST

you know what, fuck the Spiderman reboot anyway

yeah the main ones not enjoying themselves there were in the audience

Actually changed my vote based on Fred B's correction. 100% of the story of Thor 2, like why anything in the movie even matters, to the extent that it does, is because of Rene Russo. And then Benicio in the credits splash for GOTG made me very happy but not bcz "gravitas"

w'happened to Living Marlon Brando from '78? Kinda set up the template.

What was the first blockbuster comic-book movie aside from the Reeve Supermans and the Burton Batmans? Cuz I like at least 3 of those and don't want to blame the plague on them.

Yeah, I stuck with the post 9/11 era of superhero films, more or less on purpose.

Laurence Fishburne shows up in a lot of comic book movies as a gravitas bringer as well - not so much superhero flicks though

The first of this era is Singer's X-Men. After that casting coup followed by bajillions of dollars the doors came off. Iron Man was just the beginning of the Marvel Studios machine - it really seems funny to think that back when that came out it was seen as a gamble

most of these ppl were notorious hams willing to appear in any piece of garbage as long as the check cleared long before batman began. i mean - michael caine? anthony hopkins?

And how much Mark Millar stuff do we want to bring in?

hey Michael Caine did the occasional Quiet American tho

And how much Mark Millar stuff do we want to bring in?

I brought in exactly the amount I was comfortable with when I made the poll. Wasted precious cycles on considering, then discarding his shit instead of remembering Sally Field

Kevin Costner's appearance in Man of Steel made me wonder if anybody phoned his agent and said "He does know he's not in a comedy, right?"

I luckily don't remember much from that movie. Only reason I had to watch any of it is because the wife ws Henry Cavill.

are we voting for the performance of the gravitas bringer(s) or the film itself? because ian mckellan over ben kingsley for the former but guardians of the galaxy for the latter

honorable mention to andre braugher in fantastic four two, because it really did get the ball rolling on his inheriting leslie nielsen, leading to his truly amazing work on brooklyn 99

thing about ben kingsley (***(***SPOILERS FOR IRON MAN 3***)***) is that his gravitas-bringing is part of the joke/twist, like he's exactly who they would cast if they were trying to step up their villains to this OMG THIS IS SERIOUS AS SHIT "dark knight" level, and then kingsley and the character both turn out to be the exact opposite of that. which was great. but it sorta disqualifies him from the gravitas-bringing contest in a way.

mckellen/stewart combo is pretty hard to top imo. though i'm surprised to realize i haven't seen most of these movies! they've really cranked 'em out while i wasn't paying attention.

Connery's appearance in LXG literally drove him out of the movie business. Don't get much more "Have my agent killed and send the widow a ham" than that.

To be fair, he was getting on in years, and there was already a three-year gap between Finding Forrester and LXG. The amazing thing is how many successful films he'd had in his sixties.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Actually Michael Douglas gravitas-bringing is pretty central to Ant-Man, I mean he even gets shot and you think he might actually be dead for a couple minutes - basically the only dramatic weight of the movie right up until the ludicrous "villain gratuitously decides to imperil hero's child" ending

But I guess we'll never know if he could have won this poll

or Sally Field but seriously those movies are terrible

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

I thought the hydra reveal was dumber than the imperiling of child -- that was mostly a set piece setup for the whole "fighting among toys" bit

wow low turnout!

http://nerdist.com/bryan-cranston-zordon-power-rangers-nerdist-news/

(not really "comic book," i know. and that's a five-minute video to get you a single blurry still of someone's phone camera photo of a VR headset promotional thing. but i thought the URL was pretty on-point for the thread.)

also, skimming through Least promising Sequel/Remake/Franchise Flick of 2017 it looks like this trend may have slackened just a bit, unless post-Birdman Keaton as The Vulture, Cate Blanchett as Hela, Willem Dafoe as Aquaman's Pal Nuidis Vulko, or Kurt Russell as Ego the Living Planet (bafflingly not a planet in the movie) count. From last year I can only recall Jeremy Irons as Alfred and Tilda Swinton as the Ancient One.

Kurt Russell should never count as a gravitas bringer, and he always seems to be enjoying himself.

Russell as Ego the Living Planet (bafflingly not a planet in the movie)

lol wtf is this nonsense I WILL STAB WHOEVER IS RESPONSIBLE

But yeah this particular Save The Cat ingredient does seem to have fallen off, even in the origin story / franchise kickoff ones where it's seemingly inescapable

I forget where I read about it, but I guess Cranston was involved with the original iteration of Power Rangers in some non-performing capacity so this isn't quite as much a stretch as some of these other examples.

okay good point about Russell. he's old now but definitely brings fun and joy moreso than gravitas. not sure i've ever disliked him, even in some real shitty movies.

next year, the famously selective Josh Brolin will be playing Thanos in the third Avengers movie. Brolin was looking to explore the humanity of the character, saying there are "parts of him that are unfounded to me, which will be found." i guess he was in the last one for a second but i don't remember that at all.

Thanos has made I think two appearances thus far that amount to a cumulative 3.5 seconds of screen time.

no one tell Brolin that Thanos isn't human

really wish H'wood would move past this phase already

I'm sticking with my conspiracy theory that they're lying about GOTG 2 and Stallone is actually playing the living planet

pretty sure james gunn has promised that ego the living planet will appear in his full planetary glory for at least part of gotg2

and i for one will rip up seats in the cinema if it doesn't happen because i have PRINCIPLES dammit

fans to marvel: "let show my ego!"

Patrick Stewart in Logan: definitely enjoying himself with the lack of eyebrow-work, also not really bringing the gravitas.

Isn't Hugh Jackman the gravitas bringer in Logan?