Yet here he is, launching what looks like his very own period action superhero franchise.
The Australian animation studio Animal Logic is set to make a live-action superhero film, based on the popular manga character Astro Boy.
What gangling, hormonally challenged 14- or 15-year-old boy hasn't imagined transcending the miseries of adolescence by becoming an action-adventure superhero?
And why should comic book fans complain when such a shift leaves so much room for live action superheroes to move into grownup terrain?
For the most part, live action superheroes looked like what they were: grown men playing dress-up in unflattering tights.
Thanks to incredible advances in special effects, especially seamless incorporation of CGI images, live action superheroes finally look believable.
Playing on the old myth that we use only 10% of our brains, Scarlett Johansson is the partying student and reluctant drug mule who becomes an action hero, then superhero, as the narcotics involuntarily stuffed in her stomach seep into her bloodstream, that 10% rising rapidly to 100%.
The show being developed by an American network would be the first live-action superhero series with an openly gay lead and is based on the DC Comics star Kate Kane - aka Batwoman.
Superb costuming, accomplished actors, and skilled directors such as Bryan Singer and Sam Raimi all played a part in finally elevating the genre of live-action superhero films from silly to exciting.
Even if the answer is "no" in the live-action superhero movies, which traditionally exist within their own world, a solid amount of evidence points to the answer being "yes" in the comic books. .
