Mr. T talks smack to Superman
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
