For some reason, UK-affiliated actors are nailing all Hollywood’s superhero roles. But it’s not the kind of multinational representation I think we’re all waiting for. Christian Bale was fine, but…dude. I pondered the British invasion for Wired, and it tasted like Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds.
Holy multinational vertigo, Batman! With the announcement of Tudors thespian Henry Cavill as cinema’s newest Superman, the British invasion of American superhero turf has reached a Kryptonite pitch. What in the name of the Queen is going on around here?
We watched as Welsh-born actor Christian Bale became one of the best Batmans ever with the assistance of cerebral director Christopher Nolan.
We know Tobey Maguire has abdicated Spider-Man’s webbed throne to Andrew Garfield, who was born in Los Angeles but raised in England.
Cavill, the upcoming celluloid Superman, was born on the Channel Islands squeezed between England and France.
Which, by the way, is nowhere near Cleveland, where two Jews named Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster created the Man of Steel.
Nor Manhattan, where Stan Lee invented Spider-Man. The mean streets of Gotham are the birthplace of Bill Finger and Bob Kane’s Batman, which means that the recent British usurpation of singularly American superheroes feels somewhat like Hollywood deciding that Brad Pitt will be the new star of a blockbuster reboot of King Arthur’s tale.
It’s not impossible — it’s just weird.
This article appeared at WIRED
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