Photo: NBC (Getty Images)
Sorry, Fresh Prince fans, but Idris Elba replacing Will Smith as Deadshot in Suicide Squad 2 is an upgrade. The Warner Bros. move was in response to Smith leaving the James Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy) project which the studio has high hopes for after the dumpster fire that was the original.
Elba seems like more of a natural fit to play the one-eyed, assassin anti-hero than Smith, who is circling a biopic of Richard Williams, the domineering father of tennis stars Serena and Venus. This seems like a win-win for all parties and wouldn’t be the first time that a high-profile movie role was replaced by another actor.
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Same Names Different Faces
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Rachel Dawes
Batman's love interest switched actresses from Katie Holmes to Maggie Gyllenhaal in The Dark Knight. Sorry, Bruce Wayne, but that's not an upgrade.
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Jim Rhodes (aka War Machine)
The calm Don Cheadle replaced the crazy-eyed and sweating Terence Howard in the Iron Man series and subsequent MCU films. That's like switching from Red Bull to decaf.
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Bruce Banner - The Hulk
Marvel finally found their (green) man with Mark Ruffalo, who looked better in ripped purple shorts than Eric Bana and Edward Norton.
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Lisbeth Salander
Claire Foy wore the infamous back tat, taking over the Lisbeth Salander role from Rooney Mara in the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo sequel.
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Red Skull
Genius impressionist/actor Ross Marquand (of The Walking Dead) put on the prosthetics to revive Captain America's nemesis in Infinity War. The face-melted Nazi was originally played by Hugo Weaving.
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Victoria
Bryce Dallas Howard swooped into the villainous Twilight role in place of Rachelle Lefevre for the third film. Talk about ginger-on-ginger crime.
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Albus Dumbledore
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V
It's rare to get the heave-ho during the shooting of a film, but that's exactly what happened to James Purefoy for V for Vendetta. His replacement? None other than Hugo Weaving.