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"OK, everyone knew Iron Man would hit box-office paydirt. But $100 million in one weekend ($104 million if you count the preview shows on Thursday night) and $201 million if you count the worldwide grosses.  That&amp;apos;s gold, baby, gold! What we have here is the second best debut ever for a non-sequel after 2002&amp;apos;s Spider-Man, which took in $114 million, and the 10th biggest opening of all time.  It&amp;apos;s a great kickoff for Hollywood&amp;apos;s summer 2008 and even better for audiences and critic types like me since Iron Man is actually one terrific movie. Not too many superhero epics  can boast an award-caliber performance like the one Robert Downey, Jr. delivers as Tony Stark, aka Iron Man. Which brings me to today&amp;apos;s topic: What actor gave the best performance ever as a superhero?  If you go by box-office, the hugest openings after Spider-Man with Tobey Magure and Iron Man with Downey are: The Hulk with Eric Bana, Fantastic Four with (I&amp;apos;m too bored to care), X-Men with Hugh Jackman as a lively Wolverine, Ghost Rider with a deadly Nic Cage, and Batman with a grave, much underrated Michael Keaton as the Caped Crusader. You could throw in Hellboy with a scrappy, red-faced Ron Perlman, Batman Begins with a hyper-focused Christian Bale and even Batman Returns with Michelle Pfeiffer as the definitive, purr-worthy Catwoman. But as a rival to Downey, I&amp;apos;d have to go with the late Christopher Reeve who, thirty years ago, brought humor and heart to the Man of Steel in Superman. Go ahead, let me hear your nominees. I&amp;apos;d also like  your picks for the worst acting as a comic-book hero. George Clooney would nominate himself for Batman &amp;amp; Robin. But did you ever see Billy Zane in The Phantom? Now that&amp;apos;s superlousy.   "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/videos/robert-downey-jr-makes-iron-fly-at-the-box-office-but-what-actor-made-the-best-comic-book-hero-ever-20080505>