I was thinking about it, and I can actually envision it. But I bet some people would HATE it. The character suits his style though. He has clauses in his contracts where he can never lose a fight, he can never look bad, ect ect ect. And that’s Superman in a nutshell. There’s no stakes, because he never loses. It’s right up his ally.
Nah, he just doesn’t have the right mindset.
There’s a bit of necessity that a superman actor have a degree of the boy Scout in them already. I’m not saying they have to fit some arbitrary moral standard, just that there’s a way of looking at the world that comes through any performance, and supes needs someone that can look at the world and not be self serving or cynical.
None of the past or current actors were perfect people, but the ones that we remember best and like the best (we being the geeks that care enough to debate the merits of the actors) are the ones that have that sense of seeing the world as it is, while still believing it can be better.
It isn’t obvious, you have to watch enough interviews about other roles as well as the role, but it shows up.
It’s one of the reasons I like Cavill in the role, despite the movies he’s been in being poorly written in terms of superman being at his best. His built in, for lack of a better phrase, trust in the world shows through in his performance. He doesn’t have to act that part of supes, so it works.
It’s also why both Reeves made it work so well, though Christopher is the gold standard. I mean, dude was paralyzed, and never gave up hope entirely. That’s the kind of thing that I’m talking about.
Welling had a similar way of taking on the world, if you watch his interviews.
Cain didn’t.
Routh did, but he got slammed by the horrible script. He was still amazing in the role, but you can only do so much. He’s played another super hero, and brought that same optimistic side of it to that role.
But it isn’t necessarily optimism that’s needed, that’s just one expression of it.
And the rock, sadly, doesn’t have it. He’s too wrapped up in being “the rock” to let that go and be himself. Most of his roles have been the rock playing the role rather than Johnson playing the role. It’s why Black Adam fell a little flat. It wasn’t a total failure, but there were too many scenes where it was about looking good or looking tough rather than playing the role.
And that’s a sure fire recipe for a sucky supes