It is rare that an actor gets to play multiple comic book roles because once one is established as a certain character, one gets pigeon-holed. Actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson is the exception to this rule. He has appeared in six different comic-book films and tackled four different roles. Before we discuss which one of these was the best, let’s take a quick look at Taylor-Johnson’s bio and non-comic book resume.
A brief bio
Aaron Taylor-John was born Aaron Johnson on June 13, 1990 in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. His father is a civil engineer and his mother is a homemaker. He studied at the Jackie Palmer Stage School from 1996 and 2008.
Taylor-Johnson was a child actor making his professional debut at the young age of six in William Shakespeare’s Macbeth. He has appeared on television shows such as Feather Boy, Talk to Me, and Nearly Famous. Film roles include John Lennon in the biopic Nowhere Boy, Count Vronsky in Anna Karenina, Ben Leonard in Savages. He won a Golden Globe for his supporting role in Nocturnal Animals.
Beyond awards and recognition, Nowhere Boy changed his life and moniker. In spite of their significant age difference, sparks would fly on the set between him and the director of the film, Sam Taylor Wood. The couple would marry in June of 2012 and changed their last name to Taylor-Johnson. They have four children, two biological and two from Sam’s previous marriage.
6. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
The lowest ranking film holds this title mainly because of Taylor-Johnson’s brief appearance. In the Marvel universe, he portrays the character Pietro Maximoff, who is the fraternal twin brother of Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen). Wanda and Pietro’s parents were killed by a bomb created by Stark Enterprises. This caused them to make some questionable life choices… but more on that later.
Taylor-Johnson is barely in this film, appearing only in the bonus post-credit scene and essentially teasing his character for future films. In the clip, we see Wolfgang Von Strucker, who’s in possession of Loki’s scepter — which contains the mind stone —explaining that “It is not a world of spies anymore or even a world of heroes. It is the age of miracles.”
5. Kick-Ass 2
This 2013 black comedy sequel really missed the mark. The first Kick-Ass movie had a wonderfully messy but fun tone and plot, but this did not continue in the second installment. A change in the film’s director is partly to blame as Jeff Wadlow took over for Matthew Vaughn. There is also an increase in gratuitous violence and poorly executed action sequences, where it is evident a green screen was utilized. Taylor-Johnson reprises his role as Dave Lizewski, an ordinary teen who dreams of being a hero and adopts the monike Kick-Ass, taking it upon himself to make New York City a better and safer place.
4. The King’s Man
Although slightly better than Kick Ass 2, The King’s Man is another example of a spin-off gone wrong, but this time, it’s a prequel in the Kingsmen franchise. The film does not have the humor of the other installments and lacks depth to make up for it, leaving it tonally muddy. The plot centers around World War I and one son’s naive desire to fight. Taylor-Johnson’s role, Lance Corporal Archie Reid, is small but pivotal to the plot as he is the one Conrad Oxford switches places with. This ultimately leads to Conrad’s death and sets up the whole reason the agency known as Kingsman was formed.
3. Avengers: Age of Ultron
In Avengers: Age of Ultron, audiences get to see much more of Pietro Maximoff, who is also known as Quicksilver because of his superhuman speed. Baron Wolfgang von Strucker experimented on humans using the mind stone, but Pietro and Wanda were the only ones who survived it. Because of their hatred of Tony Stark and his weapons, the twins begin the film on the wrong side. They realize the error of their ways and eventually fight alongside the Avengers. Taylor-Johnson has some of the best one-liners and action sequences in this film.
2. Kraven the Hunter
For a long time, it was uncertain if the character Kraven the Hunter would ever see the light of day, but on October 6, 2023 that will change. Kraven is one of Spider-Man’s foes, but because Sony controls the film rights to the character, it was uncertain if he would ever make an appearance in the Marvel Universe. With the creation of Sony’s Spider-Man Universe — all that changed. While one can only speculate about this upcoming film, one can infer it is going to be good, especially with director J. C. Chandor at the helm and Taylor-Johnson in the title role. Rounding out the cast is Ariana DeBose as Calypso, Fred Hechinger as Chameleon, and Russell Crowe in an unknown role.
1. Kick-Ass
The best Taylor-Johnson comic-book movie on this list is the original Kick-Ass, which was released in 2010. It turns the comic-book movie genre on its head because the central character, Dave Lizewski (played by Taylor-Johnson) does not have super powers but simply a desire to help others and delusional dreams of grandeur. He gets hurt and almost gives up, just like normal people. Audiences see a bit of themselves in Kick Ass as he is an accessible, relatable superhero. Humor is an excellent coping method for surviving everyday life.
Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian summed it up: “It presents a plausible scenario in which an amateur superhero might somehow actually succeed, and like Galaxy Quest with its collision of phoney and real space aliens, Kick-Ass fantasises about a meeting of wannabe and real superheroes.”
We couldn’t agree more.