Some movie characters are just too iconic to be played by only one star. When a role is recast, each actor who steps in brings their own take on the part. But not all interpretations are created equal. With that in mind, we're taking a stand and choosing which actor we think played their character the best. And if you don't agree with our picks, well, that's why we have comments on each slide.

Photo by Columbia Pictures/MGM/Kobal Collection/Wireimage.com, Everett CollectionJAMES BOND

ACTORS: Daniel Craig - Quantum of Solace, Pierce Brosnan - Goldeneye, Timothy Dalton - The Living Daylights, Roger Moore - The Man With the Golden Gun, George Lazenby - On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Sean Connery - Goldfinger

BREAKDOWN: Connery was suave with a touch of menace. Craig was menacing with a touch of charm. Moore oozed charm but the only thing dangerous about him was his penchant for safari jackets. Dalton never looked like he was having fun. Brosnan always seemed to be coasting through his movies, and Lazenby was a pale substitute, despite the tan.

WINNER: Sean Connery, but if Daniel Craig continues to crank out 007 flicks as good as "Casino Royale," then who knows?

Photo by Warner Bros./Kobal Collection/Wireimage.com, Everett CollectionBATMAN

ACTORS: Adam West - Batman: The Movie, Michael Keaton - Batman, Val Kilmer - Batman Forever, George Clooney - Batman & Robin, Christian Bale - The Dark Knight

BREAKDOWN: There are two kinds of Batman out there. There's the wacky, campy version exemplified first by Adam West and later by Kilmer and Clooney (hello, bat-nipples). And then there is dark, brooding, mildly psychotic Batman as portrayed by Keaton and Bale.

WINNER: Christian Bale. He's angry, he's conflicted, and you can believe that he can clean a criminal's clock.

Photo by Warner Bros. Pictures, Everett CollectionSUPERMAN

ACTORS: Christopher Reeve - Superman, Brandon Routh - Superman Returns

BREAKDOWN: The Man of Steel is as American as apple pie and credit card debt. Reeve endowed the part with an "Aw shucks" humility made a character as hugely powerful as Superman -- he can turn back time, for Pete's sake -- almost human. Routh looked like the superhero but had little of Reeve's charisma.

WINNER: Reeve all the way.

Everett CollectionHANNIBAL LECTER

ACTORS: Brian Cox - Manhunter, Anthony Hopkins - The Silence of the Lambs, Gaspard Ulliel - Hannibal Rising

BREAKDOWN: Brian Cox is a great actor, but his turn as everyone's favorite cannibal shrink has been completely overshadowed by Hopkins' dead-eyed revelry about fava beans. Ulliel's Hannibal is best left forgotten, along with his film.

WINNER: Anthony Hopkins by a nose. And an ear, a tongue, and an eyeball.

Everett CollectionANDY WARHOL

ACTORS: Jared Harris - I Shot Andy Warhol, Guy Pearce - Factory Girl, David Bowie - Basquiat

BREAKDOWN: Andy Warhol was the epicenter of cool in New York for a couple decades. Since so many rock stars, artists, and drug-addled hangers on hung out at his studio, The Factory, it's not surprising that Warhol's 15 minutes aren't up yet.

WINNER: Harris and Pearce both look convincing in Warhol's trademark mop wig but Bowie nails his weird mannerisms. It probably helps that Bowie was actually one of those rock stars who hung out at Warhol's studio.

Photo by Dreamworks/Kobal Collection/Wireimage.com, Everett CollectionKING ARTHUR

ACTORS: Justin Timberlake (voice) - Shrek the Third, Clive Owen - King Arthur, Graham Chapman - Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Nigel Terry - Excalibur

BREAKDOWN: That legendary king of Camelot has been the subject of musicals, theme parks, and, of course, lots and lots of movies. Justin Timberlake might bring sexy back to the Round Table but that doesn't necessarily make him king. Clive Owen's Arthur is so different from the mythic version that he's barely recognizable. Nigel Terry was outshined by Merlin and Morgana. Graham Chapman's Arthur, however, might have been mercilessly taunted and might not be able to count, but at least he was funny.

WINNER: Chapman by length of an unladen swallow. An African swallow, not a European one.

Photo by Kobal Collection/Wireimage.com, Everett CollectionHAMLET

ACTORS: Laurence Olivier - Hamlet (1948), Mel Gibson - Hamlet (1990), Kenneth Branagh - Hamlet, Ethan Hawke - Hamlet (2000) (1996)

BREAKDOWN: Hamlet is the most famous equivocating prince with oedipal issues in the world. Playing this part is a feather in the cap for any thespian. Though Hawke, Branagh, and Gibson all have their merits, Laurence Olivier is arguably the best Shakespearean actor in history.

WINNER: Though Mel Gibson can give riveting soliloquies -- just ask the Malibu police department -- we're going with Olivier.

Photo by Walt Disney/New Line Cinema, Everett CollectionPOCAHONTAS

ACTORS: Irene Bedard (voice) - Pocahontas, Q'orianka Kilcher - The New World

BREAKDOWN: The Disney Pocahontas is basically "The Little Mermaid" in the Virginia forest, while "The New World" is a ponderously long art house flick. One Pocahontas is an animated ideal of Native American beauty, while the other is flesh and blood with a cool name that starts with a Q and an apostrophe.

WINNER: Kilcher's version was closer in age to the real one and she didn't seem to defy the law of gravity.

Photo by Warner Independent/Sony Pictures ClassicsTRUMAN CAPOTE

ACTORS: Toby Jones - Infamous, Philip Seymour Hoffman - Capote

BREAKDOWN: Truman Capote was a notorious drunk, a compulsive gossip, and a brilliantly talented writer. He's the sort of self-destructive genius that filmmakers love to make movies about. As Hollywood seems prone to doing, not one but two films came out in '05 about the writer.

WINNER: Toby Jones is the closer match, physically, but Hoffman won the Oscar.

Photo by Universal Pictures/, Everett CollectionRICHARD M. NIXON

ACTORS: Dan Hedaya - Dick, Anthony Hopkins - Nixon, Frank Langella - Frost/Nixon

BREAKDOWN: President Richard M. Nixon sweaty visage and moral flexibility has been the object of fascination for a generation of filmmakers. He got the Oliver Stone treatment in "Nixon", was the butt of jokes in "Dick", and verbally spared with a talk show host in "Frost/Nixon."

WINNER: Frank Langella. He nails Tricky Dick's resentment, paranoia, and low, plumy voice. Yeah, "Frost/Nixon" hasn't come out yet, but trust us on this one.

Photo by Universal PicturesBRUCE BANNER/THE HULK

ACTORS: Ed Norton - The Incredible Hulk, Eric Bana - Hulk

BREAKDOWN: It's hard to separate the movie from the man. Ang Lee's 2003 flick was a box-office bomb possibly because Bana's Banner spending more time dealing with his daddy issues than smashing stuff.

WINNER: Norton by default.

Everett CollectionQUEEN ELIZABETH I

ACTORS: Cate Blanchett - Elizabeth: The Golden Age, Judi Dench - Shakespeare in Love

BREAKDOWN: This one is hard. Both Blanchett and Dench have that regal aloofness down pat and both look surprisingly good in neck frills. While Blanchett arguably shows more range in her two films, Dench did win an Academy Award for her turn as the Virgin Queen.

WINNER: Dench. Because in Hollywood, Oscar is King.

Everett CollectionFRANKSTEIN'S MONSTER

ACTORS: Boris Karloff - Frankenstein, Peter Boyle - Young Frankenstein, Robert De Niro - Mary Shelly's Frankenstein

BREAKDOWN: De Niro has played many monsters memorably, but this one doesn't make the cut. Peter Boyle is hilarious as "Fronk-en-steen's" tap-dancing behemoth, but Mel Brooks' parody wouldn't exist without Boris Karloff's square-headed, neck-bolted creature.

WINNER: When you hear "Frankenstein," you think Karloff.

Photo by Kobal Collection/Wireimage.com, Everett CollectionINSPECTOR CLOUSEAU

ACTORS: Peter Sellers - The Pink Panther (1964), Alan Arkin - Inspector Clouseau, Steve Martin - The Pink Panther (2006)

BREAKDOWN: The usually brilliant Arkin was saddled with a lame script, and Steve Martin's physical and verbal gags were cartoonish. Peter Sellers IS Inspector Clouseau.

WINNER: Sellers without question.

Photo by Warner Bros. Pictures, Everett CollectionGRISWOLD KIDS

ACTORS: Anthony Michael Hall and Dana Barron - National Lampoon's Vacation, Jason Lively and Dana Hill - National Lampoon's European Vacation, Johnny Galecki and Juliette Lewis - National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, Ethan Embry and Marisol Nichols - Vegas Vacation.

BREAKDOWN: The Griswold clan's misadventures have ranged from comic classics ("Vacation") to barely watchable ("Vegas Vacation"). In each flick, the long suffering Griswold kids, Rusty and Audrey, have been played by a rotating group of child actors that has varied greatly in age and acting ability.

WINNER: Anthony Michael Hall and Dana Barron. They're the right age for the part. They can act. And the movie is undeniably better than any of the sequels.