Robert Downey Jr. vs Ryan Reynolds: Character Interpretations?

Downey and Reynolds both brought an enormous amount of character to their respective interpretations of Iron Man and Green Lantern. Specifically, they both played their characters as much more sarcastic than any presentation of Tony Stark and Hal Jordan I've ever seen in any comic. I think the general concensus would be that Downey did a massively better job of bringing his character to life, even considering the liberties he took, then Reynolds, but that's not really the point of this blog.

My main question is whether or not screenwriters, directors, and actors must add so much to the characters in order to make them appealing to contemporary audiences. In my opinion, there are a lot of very generic archetype hero characters in both DC and Marvel that have still not been deeply developed over the decades. No offense to Stan Lee, but Reed Richards, Tony Stark, and Dr. Strange are almost indistinguishable. They're all formerly arrogant men obsessed with making up for their one huge mistake. On the DC side, I have never been able to detect a discernible difference between Hal Jordan and Barry Allen. They are both square-jawed upright heroes straight out of central casting. You could probably throw in Captain Atom and Captain Marvel into that group.

All these characters, personality-wise, are incredibly boring. It's their special powers and wild adventures and crazy villians they face that provide the interest in their stories. Can any of you imagine what kind of music these characters listen to? What kind or art and knick knacks do they have to decorate their homes? What are their views on controversial political topics? Where do they like to take a girl on a first date? It's hard to answer these questions based on the comics. Does it bug you as a comic fan when movies add personality on principle or are you open to the interpretations depending on how well it's done?

I rather like Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan. But as per the Barry Allen/ Hal Jordan thing, noooo way... With Barry Allen as my favorite Comic book character, i can say i agree :P all in all, good points are brought up. Interesting read.

It's a bit hard to bring a comic character on to the big screen. Robert Downey Jr's portrayal of Tony Stark was far better than the comic equivalent. Instead of a boring alcoholic playboy, he added humor and a generally good personality. Ryan Reynolds on the other hand, wasn't so great. He's a good actor, but he's not Hal Jordan. He played a good Deadpool though. To be honest, your thread made me realize he would be a better Flash. On another note; no one really cares about the other stuff. Our focus is on their superhero alter-ego, not their personal lives. Sure, we care about what they do, where they live, and who they talk to, but we're not even slightly interested in their choice of art, music, or political views. I do think actors should add their own little touch to the characters personality. You can read a comic about a dull character with an awful personality, like... Thor, but you wouldn't catch me watching an actor force a boring role upon himself.

@nickthedevil: @AweSam: I think Reynolds would play a good Wally West. Not sure about Barry, he's pretty stoic for the most part. LOL...Thor. Yeah, it wouldn't add much to his character to know whether he likes Modern Family better than The Middle. One of the problems with the GL movie, IMO, was they actually focused to much on trying to make Hal and his personal life interesting. Just send him on some awesome cosmic adventures, ya know?

Downey's Iron Man was based more on Ultimate Iron Man than the 616 version, but that's kind of what I'm getting at. I don't think comic creators in the 1940s-1960s were trying to make complex characters. Comics were for kids who wanted to see imaginative adventures, not explore the inner life of the protagonists. Some characters have been well developed over the years (e.g. Batman, Prof. X), but others are still kind of generic (e.g. Wonder Woman, Mr. Fantastic).

While I like Downey's Iron Man (as previously stated he's more like the Ultimate version) It just seems a shame that they didn't think they could sell an Iron Man movie while keeping Stark in character. Don't get me wrong I love Downey's interpretation of Tony. It just seems to me they're trying to make every Marvel hero a comedian when in the comics only a few do it on a daily basis: Spider-man, Deadpool etc...

Robert Downey Jr., no contest.