Mera and Wonder Woman

                                                                               

In honor of the recent reveal of Mera's look in the DCEU, I thought that, even though I'm impressed, I would post my criticisms on the casting of not only Aquaman's main squeeze, but Wonder Woman as well, as they happen to be related.
                                                                                   

                      Not the characters, of course, but my opinions on who should portray them.
                                                                             

                                                                Alright, so Gal Gadot,...
                                                                               

...and Amber Heard. Both are VERY beautiful actresses, but both have been accused of just being pretty faces. I can at least say that I've seen some acting talent in Heard before, but as for Gadot, I've really only seen her in Batman v. Superman, and unfortunately, I wasn't much more impressed with her performance than I was with the rest of the movie.
                                                                                

To me, Gadot was a bit too dull and frankly... not really built like the Amazon princess. I know... impossible standards, but I think there are other actresses out there that are more talented, look the part, and fill out Wonder Woman's iconic outfit-... I mean, fill her boots, so to speak...
                                                                           

...Namely, Alexandra Daddario. Okay, I do have a massive crush on her, but objectively speaking...
                                                                             

   ...she looks just friggin' like her! I mean, this is fan art, but it should've been a reality!
                                                                              

She can be dramatic, lighthearted, strong, sexy, and she doesn't have an Israeli accent that she refuses to change to portray the most iconic female symbol of America in comics *cough*(Gadot!) *cough*. This is a no-brainer!
                                                                      

Plus, the woman doesn't age! I think she really might be an Amazonian! Either way, I think she's underrated and she deserves a role like this.
                                                                              

Oh, and one more thing. In this perfect fantasy DCEU of mine in which Matt Bomer plays Superman, we at least know that he and Alexandra have already worked together well on White Collar... Just sayin'...
                                                                           

As for Gadot? Well, I don't think that she has NO place in the DCEU. Ironically, I would've thought she would've been better as Mera than as Wonder Woman.
                                                                              

She's exotic, as I think Mera should be, she's beautiful, and if she was decent enough as Wonder Woman, then she could handle playing Mera who is usually depicted as a very brutal heroin.
                                                                                 

Well then, where does that leave Amber Heard? Well, to tie up all loose ends, I think there's another DC heroin that she would be perfect for...
                                                                               

...None other than Black Canary. That's right. Green Arrow's main squeeze instead of Aquaman's. Tell me you don't see a resemblance...

Superman

                                                                           

Out of all the actors in the DCEU, oddly enough, pretty much the only one that I feel wasn't miscast is Henry Cavill as Clark Kent/Superman.
                                                                             

Not that his portrayal of the uplifting hero is perfect, but I chalk that up to direction, not acting. He looks the part and he seems dedicated and talented, but if Warner Bros. actually did go through with a much needed reboot, then it would probably be strange to keep Cavill in the role.
                                                                              

I kinda struggled for a little while trying to think of an actor that could be as good as, if not better, than Cavill at filling Superman's iconic boots.
                                                                              

I finally thought of Matt Bomer. He's not quite as big as Cavill physically, but I think he fits the bill well enough.
                                                                           

He's a talented actor as demonstrated in great shows such as White Collar and American Horror Story and movies like The Normal Heart.
                                                                          

He's quite likeable with comedic sensibilities and could pull off both Superman and Clark Kent.
                                                                             

Not to mention, he's portrayed Superman before, lending his voice to the character in Superman: Unbound.
                                                                       

Plus, it would be interesting to have a gay actor portray the American icon himself on the big screen. I'm sure there would be noooooo unnecessary backlash whatsoever...

Supergirl and Power Girl

Let me just start by saying this:
                                                                           

                                      ...I loooooooooooooooove me some Melissa Benoist.
                                                                          

                                                                      I really...
                                                                         

                                                 ...really love me some Melissa Benoist,...
                                                                           

...but, even though she is perfect as Supergirl, the Supergirl TV show is FAR from perfect. I've tried, but I can't... I just can't.
                                                                            

However, if they continue to drag along the show and continue to separate the actors on the CW shows from their characters' portrayals on the big screen, then Warner Bros. will need a different actress to play Supergirl should they ever decide to introduce Superman's young (technically older) cousin Kara into the DCEU...
                                                                             

They would need an actress who is talented, looks the part, and preferably has movie experience. Who would I pick?...
                                                                            

...Well, I loooooooooove me some Britt Robertson. She's the bubbly blonde beauty for the job!

                                                                                

   As for Power Girl, the curvaceous, fan favorite, alternate universe version of Supergirl?...
                                                                       

                                      ...I LOOOOOOOVE me some Charlotte McKinney!
                                                                              

What?... I'm not saying it has to be a huge speaking role, but a little fan service can go a long way. ; )

Lois Lane

                                                                              

Amy Adams is a talented actress, but she just doesn't do it for me as Lois Lane. She doesn't convey that confidence Lois is supposed to always have even in the face of death. Also, her "tough" outspoken moments fell a little forced.
                                                                          

Oh, and she doesn't even look like Lois Lane! Seriously, they couldn't even darken her hair to play one of the biggest female characters in comics?

I personally would have chosen none other than...
                                                                                  

...Allison Scagliotti to play the role. I know she's pretty young, but if they were to start fresh with a new reboot, then her age would be ideal when it comes to moving forward in the franchise, just like Tom Holland as Spider-man. I know that she's pretty much a TV actress (Drake & Josh, Warehouse 13, Stitchers, Vampire Diaries, etc.), but she has talent, experience, and potential.
                                                                             

Not only does she look the part, but she can most definitely pull of Lois' attitude, slyness, sarcasm, and confidence.

Man of Steel (How I would've done it)

First of all, let me preface this by stating that I would have released this movie instead of the Green Lantern movie in 2011, and started the DC cinematic universe with it that year.

My pitch:
Superman opens the movie with a bit of narration by basically saying "I guess you could say I was always meant to be a symbol of hope." Then, you get through the part of Superman's origin that everyone knows in a quick, yet touching way which by seeing baby Kal-El's pod land in Kansas, and with no audible dialogue (just piano music), cut back and forth between his birth parents saying goodbye to him on Krypton and his adoptive parents meeting him for the first time, ending the opening sequence with a shot of the pod flying away from an exploding Krypton followed by the Kents and their new baby driving away from the crash site with the pod in their truck. Then, (ala "American Alien") we spend time with Clark growing up, discovering his powers, trying to hide them from everyone but his parents who don't quite know how to handle it, but they make him feel safe and grounded. One day, while 8-year-old Clark is running faster than the eye can see from city to city, having fun exploring with his top speed, his enhanced hearing picks up the sound of a kid being beaten up. He races over to the slums of Metropolis and pushes the teenager's drunken father down, accidentally knocking him out and injuring him. Clark jokingly introduces himself as "Superboy" and the teenager introduces himself as Alex Luthor. Clark then runs off at a normal human speed leaving behind a baffled young Luthor who would later tell his father that he had been hit by a car rather than a small child. However, with both boys possessing photographic memories, neither of them would ever forget what had happened. As Clark grows up, he tries to be normal, but he can't help trying to help people when he can. After his high school sweetheart, Lana Lang (who Clark revealed his powers to when they were kids), breaks up with him to go to college, and encourages Clark to get out of Kansas as well (ala "Superman For All Seasons", I believe), Clark dives into secretly stopping crimes in Metropolis to help himself forget about Lana. While preparing to stop a car crash, he suddenly hears his mother scream back at home. He rushes home to find his father dying of a heart attack. Clark wants to run his father to the hospital, but he doesn't know if that would hurt him or not, and the farm is too far away to drive there in time, so Jonathan accepts his fate and imparts his final wisdom to his powerful son and basically tells him to fight for truth, justice, and the American way before passing away in Clark's arms. Devastated, Clark flies to the barren arctic and vents his rage by pounding miles of ice and land. He then flies into space where he can scream as loud as he can without causing any damage or raising suspicion. He goes back home to check on his mother who reminds him that he can be a symbol of hope. He eventually dons his Superman suit which is the actually that of a kryptonian ambassador that was placed in his ship for when he became an adult, and becomes the first superhero. As Clark Kent, he takes up various jobs in Metropolis to support his mother who he still lives with on the farm, and to save up for college. As Superman, he saves the day and protects the innocent. One of his jobs is in the mail room at the Daily Planet, and as he goes to school and gets a journalism degree, he begins rising in the ranks. Just as he's acquired a good life of balancing being a hero, and an up-and-coming reporter, another alien suddenly arrives on Earth... an alien named Abin Sur. Clark confronts Abin Sur as Superman. The green clad alien seems dismayed, but not surprised. He tells Superman that he needs to leave the Earth. After Superman retorts by telling Abin Sur to leave instead, they battle throughout the skies and outside of Earth's atmosphere. After Superman sends Abin Sur flying into space with a powerful blow, the alien soon returns with a meteor shower of kryptonite rocks. After trying to stop the mysterious meteor shower, Superman is severely weakened and damaged. Abin Sur is convinced of Superman's heroism and takes him away from the kryptonite. At the behest of Superman, Abin Sur brings him home to his mother. As Clark slowly recuperates back home, the two aliens bond as they share information with each other. Abin Sur tells Clark about the Green Lantern Corps and the galaxies. He also explains why he confronted Clark in the first place: Superman was not the only survivor of Krypton. General Zod and his group of militants had escaped the dying world and began searching for worlds that orbited yellow suns to conquer. The Green Lantern had been waging war with them throughout the galaxies for years trying to keep them away from yellow suns. Abin Sur eventually learned that irradiated pieces of Krypton were highly poisonous to Kryptonians, so he began stockpiling it. When he came to Earth looking for some he noticed Superman and feared that the Kryptonian invasion of Earth had already begun. After learning what gives him his power, Clark shows Abin Sur the pod he had arrived in as a baby. The two of them find a crystal inside it. After telling Clark what he thinks it is they go to the most secluded, spacious area Clark can think of: the arctic. Clark activates the crystal, creating the Fortress of Solitude. Inside, the Fortress informs Superman and Abin Sur that the last remaining Kryptonian ships in the universe are approaching a yellow sun in a far off galaxy. The two heroes rush there to stop the rogue Kryptonians and barely manage to hold their own against their Kryptonian weapons when suddenly a massive creature the likes of which Clark has never seen appears: the sun-eater. As the sun-eater devours the yellow sun, gravity sucks in everything around it, including Zod, the kryptonian militants, and their ships. Superman and Abin Sur barely escape in time. As Superman returns to Earth and speaks with the program of his birth father, Jor-El, he learns more about Zod. Meanwhile, while still alive inside of the digesting stomach of the sun-eater in a distant galaxy, Zod, Ursa, and Non, the only surviving militants, can actually hear Clark and Jor-El as they had unknowingly absorbed enough of yellow sun radiation within the sun-eater itself. Thirsting for revenge, they burst out of the sun-eater and fly straight for Earth. When they arrive, an epic battle ensues resulting in Zod fatally injuring Abin Sur. Having learned of the Phantom Zone from Jor-El, Superman realizes that he has to use the Fortress to send the three Kryptonians there. After a three-on-one struggle in the Fortress, Zod overpowers Superman and throws the crystal to activate the Phantom Zone out into the distance. Superman thinks all hope is lost when Abin Sur suddenly arrives with the Phantom Zone crystal. Superman uses the crystal to lock the Kryptonian villains away, and says goodbye to his friend as he succumbs to his injuries. Before dying, Abin Sur tells Clark to protect ALL people. As the movie ends with Clark Kent and Superman settling into the roles we know them for, Superman gives a final narration saying "My father, mother, and mentor taught me to be a symbol of hope." And just as he says that, we see Abin Sur's Green Lantern ring that Superman had put on a pedestal in the Fortress as it suddenly begins to float away...
In the mid-credits scene we see that billionaire Lex Luthor has gotten a hold of kryptonite.

In the post-credit scene we see that billionaire Bruce Wayne has gotten a hold of kryptonite.

SHAZAM!

Alright, so I started watching the amazing new Netflix show "Stranger Things", and I'm also always looking for the perfect actors to portray iconic DC characters on the big screen, and MAN, when I saw the main kid in the show work his magic, I said "Oh, that's totally Billy Batson!". Then, I looked him up and discovered that he happened to have the most AWESOME name ever!
                                                                            

That's right, I'd definitely cast Finn Wolfhard as Billy Batson, and I'd do it immediately, puberty being what it is and all.
                                                                          

As for Billy's godly powered heroic alter ego of magic and awesomeness, Shazam, I would cast a guy that's both fairly well known in the geek community, and I think also happens to look the part...
                                                                               

                                                               ...the Starkiller...
                                                                             

                                                        ...Smallville's Doomsday...
                                                                          

                                                      ...none other than Sam Witwer.

Now I know that a lighthearted, magic based movie is that the LAST thing that looks possible in the gritty, lethal "Snyder-verse" that we have now, but I think that the Shazam movie could be a successful, unique reverse of the Deadpool movie. I think it could be a unique, self aware spin on superheroes movies, but geared more towards the whole family, rather than just adults and teens.
                                                                             

Now will we ever see Witwer and Wolfhard go up against The Rock's Black Adam? Who knows? ...But I can dare to hope.

Toyman

                                                                             

Okay... I, like MANY others, believe that Jesse Eisenberg was HORRIBLY miscast as Lex Luthor. I heard that he was cast as Lex Luthor as soon as it happened, and I as well as many other fans, was quite skeptical at first.
                                                           

Little did we know, it would turn out to be a bigger disaster than we could've imagined. However, that doesn't mean that I think that Eisenberg wouldn't be suited to portray ANY DC villain. In fact, I simply think he was cast as the wrong Superman villain.
                                                                          

I think he would've made a much better Winslow Schott aka Toyman. To me, that's basically who he was playing in Batman v. Superman. He should've been an evil genius inventor that worked for Lex Luthor rather than attempt to portray Lex Luthor himself.

Hawkman and Hawkgirl

                                                                             

If DC/Warner Bros. were looking to add the illustrious winged duo of Carter and Shayera Hall aka Hawkman and Hawkgirl to their Justice League roster, here's who I would cast:                                                                    

I would cast Ben Barnes of "Prince Caspian" and "Dorian Gray" fame as Carter Hall/Prince Khufu/Katar Hall/Hawkman/Whatever... yeah, the character has always had a surprisingly inconsistent backstory, but he is a staple of the DC universe. Barnes is a talented actor who can play serious, as well as warm, and he can pull off the "Hollywood Egyptian" look that the character would require.
                                                                    

I would also pick "Tyrant" star, Moran Atias as Chay-Ara/Hawkgirl/Shiera Hall/Shayera Hol/Kendra Saun- GAH, COMIC BOOKS! Oh well, you get the point. She is a beautiful, talented actress that would be an excellent counterpart to Barnes' Hawkman.

Save the DCEU!

Okay, so I have been a DC Comics fanboy for pretty much my entire life. Batman has always, and will always be my favorite superhero, and the universe that he lives in has always been my favorite non-anime universe, despite the fact that I also love Marvel. The thing is, while Man of Steel and Batman v. Superman have been monetary successes, the MCU is rightfully kicking DC's ass in terms of box office, critical success, and most importantly (to me at least), fan satisfaction. I've become so frustrated with the overly gritty, unnecessarily realistic, joyless direction the "DC Extended Universe" decided to take, that I decided that I needed more than just a Twitter account to bitch about this stuff in obscurity... I decided to start a blog where I can bitch about this stuff in obscurity (seriously, if anyone is actually reading this, I deeply appreciate it).
Anyway, despite the fact that I know that DC/Warner Bros. is desperately scrambling to toss in any kind of humor and lightheartedness into these movies in the wake of Batman v. Superman, I personally believe that there is only so much you can do with the actors they've chosen to portray these iconic roles. I'm not saying that the actors that have been cast aren't talented, but I just think the casting could have been better if they wanted to depict the characters more faithfully. That's right, this blog is pretty much just gonna be my voicing my opinions on how DC can "fix" their cinematic universe, mostly focusing on me recasting characters. It will also feature my ideas for movies that they should do, as well as my improvements on the movies that they've already released and me fan casting characters myself. Please feel free to share your opinions in the comments, and DC/Warner Brothers... I hope you're paying attention.