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Dream Casting: Turn Loose Our Death Rays and Kill Them All!
Dream Casting is an imaginative look at the casting process of potential Hollywood projects based on comics and other media. This isn't just about what is being made; this is about what should be made, and who we think should be the stars.
Fletcher Hanks was perhaps the strangest creator of the Golden Age of Comics. During the 1940s, he created characters like Stardust the Super Wizard and Fantomah who are still beloved today because their stories are so off-the-wall bizarre and often weirdly violent, bearing no resemblance to what anyone else was doing in comics, or has since.
Although all of Hanks' comics were short stories in anthologies, today I'm envisioning a movie based on his work, which I've given the title of the book that collects his stories, Turn Loose Our Death Rays and Kill Them All! Incorporating plot points and characters from many of the original tales, the movie would be a team-up between a space wizard, a witch goddess, two interstellar agents, and a two-fisted lumberjack.
The odd collection of heroes will face off against an alliance of villains from both space and the criminal underworld. The tone of the movie should be as bonkers as possible with campy humor and over-the-top violence. In fact, it should use as much of Hanks' dialogue as possible, and definitely have someone say the title line in the third act.
John Cena as Stardust the Super-Wizard
John Cena (Bumblebee) is becoming increasingly comfortable in his new career as a movie star, and if there's one character he was born to play, it's the hyper-muscular Stardust.
Gwendoline Christie as Fantomah
Gwendoline Christie (Game of Thrones) has that intimidating hate that's important for Fantomah, but I also think she'll be able to do a great creepy voice when Fantomah goes into skull-face mode.
Donald Glover as Space Smith
Donald Glover (Solo: A Star Wars Story) will bring a comedic sensibility to this oddball cast, but also he was so great as Lando Calrissian that I'd just like to see him do more spaceship piloting.
Awkwafina as Dianna
Space's sidekick Dianna could use a bit more personality, and Awkwafina (Ocean's 8) brings plenty of that.
Stephen Farrelly as Big Red McLane
There's literally no better actor to play a muscular lumberjack named "Big Red" than Stephen Farrelly (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows), known to wrestling fans as Sheamus.
Ron Perlman as Mastermind Destructo
Ron Perlman (Hellboy) always plays a great villain, and he has the craggy face of a Fletcher Hanks character.
Mickey Rourke as the Super Fiend of the Lost Planet
This seems like the sort of movie that ought to include Mickey Rourke (Sin City, Iron Man 2), and he'll look amazing painted green with horns on his head.
Steve Buscemi as the Thinker
I can imagine how the prosthetics could work to make Steve Buscemi (Armageddon) into the Thinker, but also I think he'd give a hilarious performance as an alien mastermind.
