15 Comic Book Movie Actors Who Were Replaced In The Sequels

15 Comic Book Movie Actors Who Were Replaced In The Sequels

Imagine being the guy who once played the most important villain in the Marvel Cinematic Universe before he was important. Or turning your back on being Batman's love interest just before you would have got a juicy chance to die. Or suffering the sting of being the only one unceremoniously booted out of a film and watching your former colleagues get back together for sequels without you.
That ignominy is a surprisingly regular thing for actors who have taken on a comic book movie role. In rare cases, they're sacked spectacularly for being rubbish, while in others they turn down the chance to return (because they're idiots who want to star in a Queen Latifah movie). And some simply stop getting calls from their former employers.
In every case we're supposed to go about our business without acknowledging the change, as if a character once played by a 6'4" African American man could suddenly turn into the very white, very not 6'4" Peter Dinklage. Those are the kind of bumps we have to endure when studios decide they just want someone different/better...

15. Billy Dee Williams (Harvey Dent)

The Replacement: Tommy Lee Jones You would be forgiven for thinking that Tim Burton's departure from the Batman series (albeit sideways into a producer role after his vision was deemed too dark) meant what followed was an entirely different continuity. But that's simply not the case: despite Warner Bros' desire to distance themselves from Burton's weirdness that wasn't selling toys, there was no hard or soft reset between Batman Returns and Batman Forever.
So the fact that Harvey Dent, who had been played by Billy Dee Williams in Batman, was replaced by someone decidedly more caucasian is cause for confusion.
Williams was actually screwed out of playing Two Face twice: originally he was supposed to turn into the monster at the end of Batman Returns, only to see his role written out in favour of Max Schreck, and then when Joel Schumacher decided to bring in the split personality element, he simply chose to forget about Williams:

"I always wanted Tommy Lee Jones. I didn't consider Billy Dee Williams for the role, because I think that he is a hero. I always see him like Clark Gable. I had just finished working with Tommy Lee Jones on The Client, and I thought he would be a great Harvey Dent\Two-Face."

The hero thing of course is actually the point, but whatever.