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It's something of a pet pastime for me to cast fantasy movies that could have been, but never were (particularly if Hollywood had made comic book movies the way they do now, but in the heyday of comic books' various ages).

So tonight, I'll begin with:
What if they'd produced The TEEN TITANS around 1968?





Robin (Richard “Dick” Grayson): Burt Ward (the original 1960's TV Robin! Despite his minimal acting experience, most felt his casting was perfect!)


Aqualad (Garth): Frankie Avalon (he spent a lot of time in & around the water in his beach movies, and his hair was a dead ringer for the original Aqualad's!)


Kid Flash (Wally West): Fabian (real name: Fabiano Anthony Forte - I can just see that hair billowing above Kid Flash's yellow face mask!)


Wonder Girl (Donna Troy): Annette Funnicello (black hair, great figure, what more needs to be said?)


Speedy (Roy Harper): Tommy Kirk (we know Tommy shot his dog in Ol' Yeller - so he was a pretty good aim with a gun, we'll have to see what he can do with a bow and arrows!)



Beast Boy (Gar Logan): Billy Mumy (had the hair style, look and spunk of a young Beast Boy - just a little green coloring and he's good to go!)





Hawk and Dove
(first appearing in 1968: the polar opposites of war and peace with powers granted by the Lords of Chaos and Order, would have been played by...)

Hawk (Hank Hall): Tim Matheson


Dove (Don Hall): Nicholas Hammond





Lilith (Lilith Clay): Carol Lynley (although Lilith and Mal didn't show up until 1970, I'm including them here for potential sequels, with Carol Lynley as the choice for the teen telepath flower child due to her performance in the Poseidon Adventure.)


Mal (Malcolm “Mal” Duncan): Clarence Williams III




Guest Villains:

Mr. Twister: Hans Conreid (perfect as the Teen Titans very first villain!)


Ding-Dong-Daddy: Victor Buono (pretty much a dead ringer for the hefty hot-rod bad guy!)


The Mad Mod: Peter Cook (since he was British as was the Mad Mod).



Working backwards: here are some past fantasy castings (previously posted elsewhere, now collected and posted here)...

The Justice League of America
Release date: 1966
Directed by John Sturges



Superman (Clark Kent): Rock Hudson (Hudson was the person that artist Curt Swan based his Superman drawings on.)



Batman (Bruce Wayne): Guy Williams (he played Zorro, which was one of the influences for Batman. He had a perfect look for Bruce Wayne, an athletic build and a certain intensity that would have fit the Dark Knight!)



Wonder Woman (Dianna Prince): Linda Harrison (she appeared briefly as Wonder Woman's more perfect reflection in a mirror in an unrealized TV pilot.)



Green Lantern (Hal Jordan): Paul Newman (he was the model on which Silver Age Green Lantern's look was based.)


Flash (Barry Allen): Steve McQueen


Martian Manhunter (J'onn J'onzz): Yul Brynner (exotic looking with bald head)


Aquaman (Arthur Curry): Robert Redford



Snapper Carr (Lucas Carr): Bobby Rydell



Green Arrow (Oliver Queen): Kirk Douglas



The Atom (Ray Palmer): David Hedison (he had a history playing scientists who ventured into the unknown!)



Hawkman (Katar Hol): Charleton Heston (he seemed to enjoy appearing with his shirt off in his films, so he'd be perfect for the shirtless Hawkman!)



Hawkwoman (Shayera Hol): Raquel Welch



Black Canary (Dinah Lance): Stella Stevens



Elongated Man (Ralph Dibny): Dick Van Dyke (Painter Alex Ross obviously used Van Dyke as the model for his rendition of Elongated Man.)



Red Tornado (John Smith): Michael Rennie



Zatanna (Zatanna Zatara): Dalia Lavi



These are a lot of fun. I can't imagine all of them appearing in one film together - too expensive - but it would be fun to see one superhero film with one of them. Who would you cast as Lois Lane with Rock 's Superman or as Sue Dibney with Dick Van Dyke?



These are a lot of fun. I can't imagine all of them appearing in one film together - too expensive - but it would be fun to see one superhero film with one of them. Who would you cast as Lois Lane with Rock 's Superman or as Sue Dibney with Dick Van Dyke?
Well, the obvious choices would be:

Susan Saint James as Lois:


and Mary Tyler Moore as Ralph's wife, Sue Dibney:

They were already hand-picked as partners and both were perfect look-a-likes for the characters!



An oldie, but a goodie...

My fantasy Justice Society of America movie: release date 1944
Directed by Frank Capra



Superman (Clark Kent): Cary Grant


Batman (Bruce Wayne): Gregory Peck


Wonder Woman (Dianna Prince): Gene Tierney


The Flash (Jay Garrick): James Stewart


The Atom (Al Pratt): James Cagney


Hawkman (Carter Hall): Victor Mature


Hawkgirl (Shiera Hall): Maureen O'Hara


Dr. Fate (Kent Nelson): Vincent Price


The Spetre (Jim Corrigan): Basil Rathbone


Green Lantern (Alan Scott): Alan Ladd


Wildcat (Ted Grant): Robert Mitchum


Mr. Terrific (Terry Sloane): Henry Fonda


Mr. America (Tex Thompson): Clark Gable



Johnny Thunder (John L. Thunder): Jackie Cooper


And as Johnny Thunder's Thunderbolt ("Yz"): Rex Harrison

Black Canary (Dinah Drake): Betty Grable


The Sandman (Wesley Dodds): William Powell




(And direct from More Fun Comics #73!)


Special appearance by Golden Age Aquaman (Arthur Curry): Buster Crabbe


And...
Golden Age Green Arrow (Oliver Queen): Burt Lancaster



Captain Marvel (Billy Batson): Fred MacMurray (Direct from Fawcett Comics. Artist C.C. Beck was said to have based the Captain on actor Fred MacMurray. The illustration below is by Alex Ross.)



Unfilled spots
:
Hourman (Rex Tyler)
Dr. Mid-Nite (Charles McNider)
Starman (Ted Knight)



You've made some great choices, especially Crabbe, an Olympic swimmer, as Aquaman and Lancaster as Green Arrow.
Stewart, known for his slower mannerisms, is an unusual choice for The Flash, but I could see it working because Jay was known for his sense of humor.
But I prefer Peck as Superman, especially after seeing the photo you posted, which reminds me of Joe Shuster's early Superman. And Price should be a villain. Perhaps Wotan. Any ideas about actors for other villains?



This might just do nobody any good.
I mean, if you want to stick closely to the original comic strips then you’d need to set the cast back some 20 years and cast Harold Lloyd as Supes.

Peck was the model used for Batman: Year One and Kingdom Come so there’s a precedent.



You've made some great choices, especially Crabbe, an Olympic swimmer, as Aquaman and Lancaster as Green Arrow.
Stewart, known for his slower mannerisms, is an unusual choice for The Flash, but I could see it working because Jay was known for his sense of humor.
But I prefer Peck as Superman, especially after seeing the photo you posted, which reminds me of Joe Shuster's early Superman. And Price should be a villain. Perhaps Wotan. Any ideas about actors for other villains?
I think the only reason Jimmy Stewart came to mind is he was tall, thin and had dark hair. Plus, as one of my favorite actors of the period, I felt I had to include him somewhere.

Speaking of him having slow mannerisms, it was actually the Silver Age Flash (Barry Allen) who had the somewhat counter-intuitive qualities of always being late (despite being the fasted man on Earth) which I guess was supposed to help support his secret identity (the last person you'd suspect of being the Flash would be the guy who's always late).

Lots of ideas about villains (they should be even easier)... just have to find the right actors to fit the right era. (Who'd make a better "Vandal Savage": Boris Karloff of Johnny Weissmuller?)



This might just do nobody any good.
This early pic of Peck got me thinking of a 1940’s Avengers cast with him as Cap:





I was thinking Gable as Iron Man, Rita Hayworth as Black Widow and Errol Flynn as Hawkeye but then it just felt like treading the same ground Steel did with his JSA line-up (Vincent Price as Dr. Strange.)

Maybe a 60’s Spider-Man then?



Saunch, I love your casting choices for the Avengers. Cap, I'd definitely choose Karloff as Vandal Savage. Weissmuller could be one of the other heroes you mentioned. After giving it some thought, I suggest William "The Thin Man" Powell as Sandman and perhaps the young Jackie Cooper as Johnny Thunder. Lon Chaney Jr. could be Solomon Grundy and Claude Rains the Gentleman Ghost.



Thread Bump: only because I inserted @average joe's suggestion of Jackie Cooper as Johnny Thunder... with a "bolt" of inspiration (excuse the pun) of Rex Harrison as Johnny's Thunderbolt... in my fantasy JSA movie!
https://www.movieforums.com/communit...56#post1921256



I've been updating this since so many of the original photos became unavailable & had to be replaced.
I also had to switch actors when I came to learn that "The Mad Mod" (from the Teen Titans) was British... Peter Cook fit the character and time period perfectly! He even looks something like the character with the same type of sarcastic attitude.



These are fun, nice work.
Years ago some friends and I were having a similar discussion which led me to imagine a 1960s Hulk movie by Ray Harryhausen and that idea has haunted me ever since. (He could've done a cool Fantastic Four too, come to think of it) So one of my "time machine" fantasies is to travel to 1962 and introduce Harryhausen to Lee & Kirby.
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