... FOR "THE DC/MARVEL CHARACTER CASTING SHUFFLE"

When we last saw him in 2009's X-Men Origins: Wolverine, depending on which screening you were (un)lucky enough to attend, Mr. Wade Winston Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) - aka Deadpool, aka Weapon X - was lying amongst the rubble of Three Mile Island, having literally lost his head in a battle with a certain adamantium-clawed superhero. Of course, not even a good decapitation can keep a good Deadpool down, which is why our final fleeting glimpse of the Merc With A Mouth came as a shock to absolutely no one: As his clearly not-dead hand crawled toward his clearly not-dead severed head, his eyes fluttered open, and his lips offered a pre-emptive "Shhhh...", in a bit of fourth-wall breaking that was perfectly in keeping with the comic books. X-Men Origins didn't get a lot of things right, but that was certainly one of them, and fans have spent the last six years anxiously awaiting the promise of that shot - a Deadpool solo spin-off movie, or at the very least, a follow-up film in which Deadpool played anything other a superfluous side character.

Which, come February 12, 2016, is exactly what we're gonna get. Directed by former VFX artist Tim Miller, and starring Reynolds, Ed Skrein, and Morena Baccarin, Deadpool: The Movie finally sprung to life following a two-minute sizzle reel that leaked to the Internet in July 2012. This bootleg test footage (also directed by Miller), in which a fully-costumed, heavily-CGI'd Deadpool slices, dices, and sarcasms his way through a car-load of hapless henchmen, really seemed to get the character's trademark snark down pat, and wowed 20th Century Fox executives enough to greenlight a feature film. Production then began on March 23, 2015, and ended on May 29; in between, Mr. Reynolds, always the cad, Tweeted a number of memorable reveals about the shoot (most of them NSFW), in an epic attempt to assure fans that the property was in good hands. And then, on July 11, all fears about the movie were finally laid to rest, when an exclusive trailer debuted to cheering crowds at the San Diego Comic-Con. It will be everything Deadpool devotees have come to expect from the character: quippy, profane, gratuitously violent, and a kick in the pants to all other comic book movies that came before it.

A high point of the trailer comes early on (like everyone else who skipped out on the 'Con, I was able to catch a bootlegged version on the 'net, before it vanished conveniently from circulation), when a pre-Deadpool Deadpool, strapped to a gurney as he's prepped for some mysterious operation, begs the doctors in charge, "And please don't make the super suit green. Or animated!" It's a delicious meta-jab, not just at Hollywood's affinity for CG- ing everything in sight, but also at the expense of Reynolds's previous attempt at superheroism, 2011's critically-panned Green Lantern. That character, of course, is the property of DC Comics, while Deadpool is owned by Marvel, which kicked up some controversy back in the day when the actor was cast as the Emerald Crusader. Was Reynolds being disloyal to the brand, crossing over to DC while his Merc With A Mouth movie waited in the wings? Or worse, would his commitment to future Lanterns actually prevent him from suiting up again for Marvel? Thankfully, Green Lantern was such a non- starter at the box office that the question was quickly rendered moot. A better question might be: Were there no hard feelings between studios, no fierce rivalries like the ones that existed for so many years in comic shops, that could possibly prevent any actor from jumping from one team to the other at will?

After all, we've come a long way from the 1930s and 40s, when stars like Cary Grant or Bette Davis were kept under contract by certain studios and loaned out to rivals for trade. Actors, these days, are free to pursue projects however they (or their agents) see fit - and comic book franchises are the bread and butter that can keep them fed for the rest of their natural lives. Is it any wonder we see so many of our modern movie stars hopping from franchise to franchise, regardless of publication or character? Keep in mind, this happens more than you probably think. And while most of these comic book casting crossovers fail to make a splash the way Reynolds has done (die-hard fans will actually recall Reynolds's first foray into superhero-dom as the wisecracking Hannibal King in 2004's Blade: Trinity, which no doubt got him the job in Wolverine), spotting the connections can always be fun.

And so. Below, I offer you a list of two dozen additional CBCCs (that's 25 total, for those who can count). Some are old, some are new, and, as always, by no means is this list all-inclusive. I think even Deadpool himself would appreciate the self-referential-ness of it all.

______

Actor: Ben Affleck

First Appeared In:        Crossed Over To:
Daredevil (2003)          Batman V Superman: Dawn
                             Of Justice (2016)

Role:                     Role:
Matt Murdock              Bruce Wayne

Publisher:                Publisher:
Marvel Comics             DC Comics

Actor: Jessica Alba

First Appeared In:        Crossed Over To:
Sin City (2005)           Fantastic Four (2005)

Role:                     Role:
Nancy Callahan            Sue Storm

Publisher:                Publisher:
Dark Horse Comics         Marvel Comics

Actor: Halle Berry

First Appeared In:        Crossed Over To:
X-Men (2000)              Catwoman (2004)

Role:                     Role:
Ororo Munroe              Patience Phillips

Publisher:                Publisher:
Marvel Comics             DC Comics

Actor: Nicolas Cage
 
First Appeared In:        Crossed Over To:
Ghost Rider (2007)        Kick-Ass (2010)

Role:                     Role:
Johnny Blaze              Damon Macready

Publisher:                Publisher:
Marvel Comics             Icon Comics

Actor: Jim Carrey

First Appeared In:        Crossed Over To: 
The Mask (1994)           Batman Forever (1995)

Role:                     Role: 
Stanley Ipkiss            Edward Nygma

Publisher:                Publisher: 
Dark Horse Comics         DC Comics

Actor: Chris Evans

First Appeared In:        Crossed Over To:
Fantastic Four (2005)     The Losers (2010)

Role:                     Role: 
Johnny Storm              Jensen

Publisher:                Publisher: 
Marvel Comics             Oni Press

Actor: Morgan Freeman

First Appeared In:        Crossed Over To:
Batman Begins (2005)      Wanted (2010)

Role:                     Role: 
Lucius Fox                Sloan

Publisher:                Publisher: 
DC Comics                 Top Cow Productions

Actor: Paul Giamatti

First Appeared In:        Crossed Over To:
American Splendor (2003)  The Amazing Spider-Man 2
                            (2014)

Role:                     Role: 
Harvey Pekar              Aleksei Sytsevich

Publisher:                Publisher:
Dark Horse Comics         Marvel Comics

Actor: Lena Headey

First Appeared In:        Crossed Over To:
300 (2006)                Dredd (2012)

Role:                     Role: 
Queen Gorgo               Ma-Ma

Publisher:                Publisher:
Dark Horse Comics         IDW Publishing

Actor: William Hurt

First Appeared In:        Crossed Over To:
A History Of Violence     The Incredible Hulk
  (2005)                    (2008)

Role:                     Role:
Richie Cusack             Gen. "Thunderbolt" Ross

Publisher:                Publisher:
Vertigo/DC Comics         Marvel Comics

Actor: Tommy Lee Jones

First Appeared In:        Crossed Over To:
Batman Forever (1995)     Men In Black (1997)

Role:                     Role: 
Harvey Dent               Kay

Publisher:                Publisher:
DC Comics                 Marvel Comics

Actor: Diane Lane

First Appeared In:        Crossed Over To:
Judge Dredd (1995)        Man Of Steel (2013)

Role:                     Role: 
Judge Hershey             Martha Kent

Publisher:                Publisher:
IDW Publishing            DC Comics

Actor: James Marsden

First Appeared In:        Crossed Over To:
X-Men (2000)              Superman Returns (2006)

Role:                     Role: 
Scott Summers             Richard White

Publisher:                Publisher:
Marvel Comics             DC Comics

Actor: James McAvoy

First Appeared In:        Crossed Over To:
Wanted (2008)             X-Men: First Class (2011)

Role:                     Role:
Wesley Gibson             Charles Xavier

Publisher:                Publisher:
Top Cow Productions       Marvel Comics

Actor: Ron Perlman

First Appeared In:        Crossed Over To:
Blade II (2002)           Hellboy (2004)

Role:                     Role: 
Reinhardt                 Hellboy

Publisher:                Publisher: 
Marvel Comics             Dark Horse Comics

Actor: Natalie Portman

First Appeared In:        Crossed Over To:
V For Vendetta (2005)     Thor (2011)

Role:                     Role:
Evey Hammond              Jane Foster

Publisher:                Publisher:
DC/Vertigo Comics         Marvel Comics

Actor: Mickey Rourke

First Appeared In:        Crossed Over To:
Sin City (2005)           Iron Man 2 (2010)

Role:                     Role:
Marv                      Ivan Vanko

Publisher:                Publisher:
Dark Horse Comics         Marvel Comics

Actor: Zoe Saldana

First Appeared In:        Crossed Over To:
The Losers (2010)         Guardians Of The Galaxy
                            (2014)

Role:                     Role:
Aisha                     Gamora

Publisher:                Publisher:
DC/Vertigo Comics         Marvel Comics

Actor: Will Smith

First Appeared In:        Crossed Over To:
Men In Black (1997)       Suicide Squad (2016)

Role:                     Role: 
Jay                       Floyd Lawton

Publisher:                Publisher:
Marvel Comics             DC Comics

Actor: Terence Stamp

First Appeared In:        Crossed Over To:
Superman II (1981)        Elektra (2005)

Role:                     Role:
General Zod               Stick

Publisher:                Publisher:
DC Comics                 Marvel Comics

Actor: Aaron Taylor-Johnson

First Appeared In:        Crossed Over To:
Kick-Ass (2010)           Avengers: Age Of Ultron
                            (2015)

Role:                     Role:
Dave Lizewski             Pietro Maximoff

Publisher:                Publisher:
Icon Comics               Marvel Comics

Actor: Hugo Weaving

First Appeared In:        Crossed Over To:
V For Vendetta (2005)     Captain America: The
                            First Avenger (2015)

Role:                     Role: 
V                         Johann Schmidt

Publisher:                Publisher:
DC/Vertigo Comics         Marvel Comics

Actor: Michael Jai White

First Appeared In:        Crossed Over To:
Spawn (1997)              The Dark Knight (2008)

Role:                     Role: 
Al Simmons                Gambol

Publisher:                Publisher: 
Image Comics              DC Comics

Actor: Ayelet Zurer

First Appeared In:        Crossed Over To:
Man Of Steel (2013)       Daredevil (2015)

Role:                     Role:
Lara Lor-Van              Vanessa Marianna

Publisher:                Publisher:
DC Comics                 Marvel Comics

__________


That's 25 down - yet we're barely scratching the surface here, people! Do you feel I left anyone important off the list? Do you have any issues (Get it? Issues? As in comic books?) with anyone I included? Feel free to add examples/complaints in the comments section below!