Mr. T talks smack to Superman

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A few weeks back we brought you an exclusive interview with Ice Cube talking about his admiration for Mr. T and his hope to bring back his character ‘B.A.’ Baracus in a proposed ‘A-Team’ remake. And this week we told you about the uncertainty surrounding the 21st century viability of Superman. That got me to thinking about this You Tube golden-oldie (well, 2006 seems like a long time ago) that mashes up dialogue from ‘Rocky III’ with ‘The Super Friends’ and Mr. T’s painfully bad Saturday-morning cartoon. You can see it by clicking below, it’s about Superman retiring ...

I especially like Wonder Woman as the shocked girlfriend of the champ. Nice. And, hey, great choice for the character to handle the lines of Burgess Meredith -- it’s the Penguin as Hawkman!

When I was listening to Sylvester Stallone’s voice coming out of a superhero, it reminded me that the last time I talked to Frank Miller he said that he would love to cast the Italian Stallion as the battered and aging Batman in a film adaptation of ‘The Dark Knight Returns.’ ‘Just that mouth of his, the scowl and the way it would look in a mask,’ Miller said. ‘I loved ‘Rocky Balboa.’ This wounded warrior, that’s what Batman is in ‘Dark Knight Returns.’ ‘

Hmmm. Well, Stallone certainly showed some range in ‘Cop Land’ and raw boldness in ‘Rocky Balboa,’ but it might be hard for me to see him in Gotham City without giggling. I was talking about it to righteous comic-book geek Steve Martin (not the comic actor; this Martin is the owner of Nasty Little Man and publicist for Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails and Beck) and he hated the idea. ‘Put Stallone in a mask and you get ‘Judge Dredd’ again, and nobody wants that.’ Yikes. Good point.

What do you think for casting of a movie version of ‘The Dark Knight Returns’? I would put forth the name of Bruce Willis, who has the jawline and the world-weary gaze. If he can pull off ‘Pulp Fiction’ and ‘The Sixth Sense,’ why not Miller’s classic graphic novel?

-- Geoff Boucher

RELATED: More random silliness at Hero Complex