Why Fans Need To Stop Speculating About Comic Book Movie Casting

Ike Barinholtz and Will Smith in a Suicide Squad scene (2016)Currently, anticipation for summer 2025 superhero movies Superman and The Fantastic Four: First Steps is reaching fever pitch. As part of that excitement, an inevitable part of the pre-release cycle of superhero movies is currently transpiring: online folks combing through the cast lists of upcoming blockbusters, finding cast members who don’t have an assigned role, and speculating what famous comic book characters they must be playing. First Steps cast members Sarah Niles and Natasha Lyonne, for instance – they must be portraying important figures of Marvel Comics lore? Right?This trend isn’t new, but it’s constantly being proven to be much ado about nothing.

Rarely are these theories right, and they often set up unnecessary expectations for both actors and entire movies that can never be matched by the actual experience. Though it’s hard to escape these sorts of deeply ingrained behaviors, fans simply must learn to stop endlessly speculating about comic book movie casting.A Tale of Ike Barinholtz (& Other Actors)One of the most famous examples of comic book movie pre-release casting speculation getting out of hand was Ike Barinholtz in Suicide Squad.



The Studio actor played prison guard Griggs in David Ayer’s version of the DC antihero team. However, sixteen months before Suicide Squad’s August 2016 debut, rumors spread like wildfire that he would be portraying Dr. Hugo Strange.

It was a rumor that plagued the movie for eons and culminated in Barinholtz simply playing a throwaway supporting character invented for the film.Another 2016 DC Extended Universe project suffered from a similar phenomenon. For Batman v.

Superman: Dawn of Justice, Scoot McNairy was cast in a mysterious, unnamed role that led to the internet going wild with speculation. It was soon widely reported that he’d play Jimmy Olsen in the project, while others claimed he was portraying one of the Robins. In the end, McNairy simply played Wallace Keefe, another original character with no connections to the comics.

Marvel film adaptations haven’t been immune to this phenomenon either. Peter Dinklage was one of the few Avengers: Infinity War cast members to play a brand-new character, which sent the internet into speculation overdrive. Predominantly, folks convinced themselves that he would be playing Pip the Troll, an MCU role Patton Oswalt would later take on in Eternals.

On and on the list goes, with folks conjuring up visions of comic book movies in their head before they ever hit the silver screen.[RELATED: 8 Times Superhero Movies Replaced an Actor (And Hoped You Didn’t Notice)]The Perils of Incessant Comic Book Movie Casting SpeculationThere’s nothing wrong with being stoked for upcoming comic book movies. Playful speculation among friends isn’t anything harmful, either.

However, the way ceaseless comic book movie pre-release casting speculation can overshadow the final product is a very strange and even dangerous phenomenon. Audiences should accept and asses a movie for what it is, rather than for whether or not it lives up to their ideas of who Scoot McNairy or Peter Dinklage “should” be playing.It’s tempting to assume and speculate over the idea that every single comic book movie is populated exclusively with characters from the comics.

After all, even the M.O.D.

O.K. TV show made a big bad out of the obscure Marvel Comics entity Hexus, the Living Corporation.

However, letting these movies breathe before their release and allowing for the potential that these actors are playing original creations is tantamount. Criticize or love the movie for what it is, but don’t get too wrapped up in the idea that, say, Scoot McNairy can only be playing Jimmy Olsen in Dawn of Justice.Unfair expectations also hinder talented actors like Barinholtz, Dinklage, and McNairy (among many others) from being lauded, criticized, or receiving any other response for the work they delivered in their respective superhero movies.

There are already so many expectations for artists navigating major studio superhero fare – why also place the burden of overbearing fan theories on top of their shoulders to boot? In the future, let’s all relax and let the chips fall where they may on topics like who Natasha Lyonne is playing in The Fantastic Four: First Steps. If she’s voicing H.E.

R.B.I.

E., awesome. If she’s playing someone new, that could be awesome too.

Non-stop speculation over every possible comic book movie cast member has been the norm for too long. That doesn’t mean it has to persist.Suicide Squad is now streaming on Netflix, and The Fantastic Four: First Steps hits theaters on July 25th.

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