DC Comics and Marvel Comics characters Zachary Quinto would be brilliant at.
Zachary Quinto has been a consistent on-screen presence since he played Sylar in Heroes in 2005. He portrayed Spock in the recent Star Trek movies and played a couple of different characters in American Horror Story. In between, he also had a fun cameo in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and even played a spoiled rich jerk in Hotel Artemis.
In each of the roles that were just mentioned Quinto has shown a range of different acting skills. He’s done comedy, action, drama and so much more. It goes without saying that someone with all of these skills would be perfect for a live-action comic book project.
Honestly, we don’t need to look past Sylar from Heroes to see how great he is. A debate can be made that Heroes wouldn’t have lasted more than a season without him because, honestly, no one else could have pulled off what he did. He made you hate, love, fear, and feel sorry for him – not something that’s easily accomplished from the same character.
A friend of this writer suggested that Quinto could play a great Adam Warlock and my mind was blown. It’s a great casting choice. However, with his skill, he’d maybe even be better served playing a villain. Here are some perfect examples.
Mr. Sinister
Nathaniel Essex is an essential part of the X-Men story. Unlike Magneto and maybe Apocalypse, he doesn’t have a righteous cause. He’s just an evil person who loves to experiment on people. Seriously, what would you expect from someone who calls himself Mr. Sinister? His depravity is part of what makes him a terrific yet deplorable villain.
Sinister has become sillier over the last few years, making jokes and comments that he normally wouldn’t. Nonetheless, his humor shouldn’t be taken as a weakness. He’s still as methodical and cunning as ever. Maybe even more so because behind the laughter and sometimes absurd comments hides the mind of a genius.
Looking back at his role in American Horror Story: Asylum when he played a therapist in an asylum, it’s clear that Zachary Quinto would nail this role. Whenever Quinto was talking to a patient, he was calm, seemingly caring and incredibly calculated.
Sinister is all that and more. Well, he’s not caring to the person he’s experimenting on. His only concern is his work. Though, sometimes he does act like he’s worried about the patient. During the Weapon X comic book series, Nathaniel Essex disguised himself as a caring doctor in order to continue his experiments. Quinto could capture all of that with ease.
The Riddler
We’ve only had two movie projects with The Riddler thus far. The first was Frank Gorshin in the movie adaptation of Adam West’s Batman TV series; the second was Jim Carrey in Batman Forever. The first may be the better of the two and certainly the most timeless of them. Jim Carrey’s version was fun, but not necessarily something people look back and say, “that was a great interpretation of the Riddler.”
Now, it looks like we have a new Riddler coming up. He’ll be played by Paul Dano in the upcoming Batman movie, The Batman, starring Robert Pattinson. Despite the character already being cast, that shouldn’t stop us for thinking about what could have been.
First, Zachary Quinto can easily pull off The Riddler’s look. He can pull off the dorky guy with glasses and quickly switch to psychopath whenever necessary – a quality that he’s shown in Heroes multiple times. He also has a perfect voice for it. It’s the right kind of deep where it can come off creepy over a P.A. system.
The biggest check mark is how he’d react to losing. Riddler hates how smart Batman is. Whenever Edward Nigma loses he throws a fit. During an interrogation scene in Heroes, Sylar loses it when talking to Noah Bennet. It’s that kind of anger that we’d need after he’s defeated.
The Wizard
Bentley Wittman has a case of being too smart for his own good. This caused him to have an unhealthy obsession with Reed Richards, always feeling the need to prove that he’s smarter than him – something he’ll never accomplish. We’ve seen Reed beat him time and time again. One time, he made the mistake of capturing Sue Richards and then trying to kill Reed, Ben, and Johnny. When she was freed, Sue put fear in him like he’s never known. And this is a guy who’s gone face to face with Wolverine.
The Wizard isn’t a well-known character. Some Marvel Comics fans may not even know him. He’s never done anything important other than being in groups with other supervillains. While he isn’t popular among comic book fans, he’d make a great villain for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. All he needs is something that Marvel Studios does well: A makeover. And Zachary Quinto should be the actor to help that.
Zachary Quinto’s character in American Horror Story: Murder House is the role we should look at. He was obsessive, violent, and sometimes irrational – everything that the Wizard is. The only problem is that he may be too good for this role. The Fantastic Four movie is going to be judged harshly. If the villain is too good, it might even take away from the heroes.
Still though, it’s a very interesting possibility.
Victor Zsasz
We got a taste of Zsasz in Birds of Prey (And The Fantabulous Emancipation of Harley Quinn). If you thought he was bad then, you haven’t seen anything. He’s much worse in the pages of DC Comics. He’s sick in a way that only The Joker can rival.
On his body are a number of scars – each of them representing a person he’s killed. What’s even more disgusting is that he can tell you each person that each scar represents. He used to be rich, but gambled it all away. Now he’s a lunatic content on killing people.
Zsasz would make for a perfect adversary for The Batman. Someone who preys on the weak is a villain that the audience will hate. Especially after seeing that Zsasz was rich and still turned to a life of slaughtering people. Zachary Quinto could pull this off in two different ways. He could play an eccentric role and make him like the comic iteration. Or, he could approach it in a similar method to the way he approached Spock. having him show no emotion whatsoever.
Either way, he’d be a welcome addition in the Robert Pattinson film since we already know this movie is going to be dark.
Dr. Doom
Remember two slides ago where this writer said that the villain can’t be better than the Fantastic Four in their own movie? Well, Dr. Doom is the only exception to that rule. Why? Because Dr. Doom isn’t just a Fantastic Four villain. He’s a threat to the universe. He rivals Reed Richards in intelligence and Dr. Strange in magic. He’s defeated Galactus, created an armor powered by Asgardian DNA to fight Thor, and has saved the multiverse by making himself a god. Victor von Doom is narcissistic, ruthless, patient, and has zero tolerance for anyone who doesn’t serve him. In short, he’s the perfect villain.
Zachary Quinto has shown that he can play arrogant in many of his roles. This is a quality that has been significantly lacking in every movie version of Dr. Doom. Picture Quinto talking in the third person or casting a spell against Dr. Strange. Or, and this is a personal favorite, him yelling, “RICHARDS!” as his plans are thwarted by the Fantastic Four.
He can do everything needed to bring the Lord of Latveria’s character to life and has all that is needed to be the Doom we’ve been looking for. Other than Tom Ellis, there’s no one this writer can think of who could do this better.
What do you think? Who would you have Zachary Quinto portray? Let us know in the comments below.