Great Actors/Actresses & their Impact on Genre

That'd be Jim Carrey actually (six nominations). Gere is the runner-up though, but he ties with Hugh Grant who also has four GG noms with no Oscar nom.

Alfred was exactly the same as Gordon: Until Nolan's saga, he was there only to serve Batman or maybe sometimes consult him. Michael Gough was solid in that role but it was Michael Caine who "gave substance" to Alfred. He was the only actor up to then who played not only a simple butler to Bruce but filled the void of his parents, a father figure to him. Moreover, Irons in the JL movies took the role of Batman's sidekick.
Maybe a little off topic here, but I really like that many of the secondary characters (Gordon, Alfred, Fox, or even the Kents, to stick only to the DC movies...) are assigned to wonderful actors and given background stories.

I even liked this couple of scenes with Kevin Costner in Man if Steel....

You're right about Gough's Alfred in the Tim Burton's films. Schumacher's movies were a joke, so was his Alfred.

All this is on point. Honestly, I think what made all the difference is that Oldman really did his research on the strongest portrayals of Gordon in the comics.

From his look to his personality, Oldman's Gordon felt like he stepped right out of the page from Frank Miller and David Mazzuchelli's Batman:Year One. That was a  Batman origin story where you could argue that Gordon was actually the lead character. His story carried at least equal weight to Bruce's.

Hugh Jackman

Genre: Superhero/Comic Book movie

Even though Jackman has only played one superhero (the mutton chopped, razor clawed Wolverine), he did it across multiple films for 17 years. He did it across 9 movies, from X-men team movies to Wolverine solo films. It was a starmmaking role for Jackman, who was fortunate to get cast after Scottish actor Dougray Scott, who was originally cast in the role had to drop out due to Mission Impossible 2  overruning on shooting.

Jackman embodied the role of the incredibly popular Canadian Mutant superhero. It shouldn't have worked. Comic book fans can be pretty anal about accurate casting, and on paper Jackman was all wrong. Well over 6 feet tall, Jackman was considered too tall to be the famously short hero. Also, classically handsome, wheras the comic book character was considered to be very rugged and not conventionally good looking.

So how did a too tall pretty boy win over the fans? By being a bloody good actor, that's how! Jackman,  a trained and acclaimed musical theatre star, brought serious acting chops to bear. He immediately conveyed the cynical, world weary aspect of the character. Initially, he wasn't allowed to go whole hog on the raging, berzerker killer aspect of the character (those X-Men films had to keep their PG-13 rating after all) and Jackman honed in on the sensitive wounded animal side of the character, we did eventually start to see a bit more of the brutal killer in later stories with the character, particularly in Logan, Jackman's elegiac swansing to the role.

Jackman's biggest influence on the genre may have been his physique. Actors in the genre used to get away with muscle suits and fake six-packs ( Michael Keaton would have a real tough time getting cast as Batman today, let's put it that way). But Jackman spent a lot of time as Wolverine in tank tops or shirtless. So for 17 years, he maintained an incredible physique, and audiences began to expect that in most of their superheroes. Jackman was ripped as hell with about 1% body fat. That's a lot of chicken breasts and hours in the gym. But he set the standard, and now everyone from Chris Hemsworth to Chris Evans is expected to get ripped and stay ripped for as long as they play these roles. Below, Jackman as Wolverine going hard in Logan:

Yeah...I like Keanu, but he's all wrong for a role like Wolverine that requires a fair bit of emoting.

I thought both Jackman and Sir Patrick Stewart deserved some awards love for Logan.

I think unlike many actors who have been typecast in their big superhero roles,Jackman  has managed to emerge as a genuine star outside of his defining character. In addition to the films you mentioned, projects like The Prestige and Prisoners helped show he could do strong work outside of his franchise work. Being a Tony winning musical stage actor probably gives him an advantage over many of his genre peers in being allowed to branch out and be accepted in other things. A really strong and charismatic actor. I think he could have been a movie star in many eras.

Patrick Stewart definitely deserved some love, which he did receive a bit at the beginning of the awards season. God, was that a great crazy performance of a man losing his mind.

Oh yes, he definitely has that dashing appealing like personality, that is reminiscent of someone like Cary Grant. I think he's a leading man in the classical sense. I could have seen him being a major star in the 1940s in the mold of a matinee idol like Errol Flynn.

What I think I love most about Jackman's work outside of Wolverine, is how he's willing to push himself. He'll do a movie like The Wolverine, and then follow-it-up in more challenging darker work in Prisoners. He's not afraid to take risks, and that's something that I can appreciate. Wolverine led to The him being cast in Prestige, and so-on, and that turned out to be a really good thing. 

I think Jon Bernthal might be perfect. He's already played The Punisher on Netflix, but as Kevin Feige pretty much pretends those shows don't exist  ....It won't matter (Mahershala Ali getting the Blade gig after playing Cottonmouth in Luke Cage proves that)

Bernthal isn't really short, but at around 5'10, he's  a lot less imposing height-wise than 6'2 Jackman. I think fans could live with that.

And he feels more like Wolverine in his portrayal of The Punisher than The Punisher. The rage, the feral animalistic outbursts. He's like a walking open wound. And looks wise...he's perfect. Rugged, not conventionally handsome, but someone I guess a lot of women would still find very attractive.

Ron Perlman

Genre: Fantasy

Ron Perlman is a very talented workhorse of a character actor whose distinctive looks have probably prevented him from achieving any sort of consistent leading man status. But he works a hell of a lot, in every genre you can think of, doing everything from voice-over work in cartoons, to straight to DVD action films to small character roles in major Hollywood productions to lots of TV (including a long running role in great biker show Sons Of Anarchy). He's no Eric Roberts, but you don't rack up 254 credits on your IMDB by being workshy.

Perlman's most impactful roles have come in the fantasy genre in both film and television. They were the 80's  television romance/fantasy Beauty And The Beast and Hellboy. In both roles, Perlman was covered with layers and layers of prosthetics to essentially play humanoid creatures. Perlman's acting ability managed to shine through the prosthetics, in a similar way to how Andy Serkis has been able to demonstrate his talent while encumbered by Motion Capture Graphics.  

As the Lion- like Vincent in Beauty And The Beast, Perlman brought a wounded nobility to the role and a touching and unlikely romantic chemistry with Linda Hamilton's Catherine. It's a show that developed a cult following and built Perlman's reputation. As the demonic Hellboy, Perlman was able to take the character created by Mike Mignola and infuse him with an entertaining wit and charisma, as well as going all out in action set pieces. He's had supporting roles in other major films with fantasy elements like Blade 2 and Pacific Rim, but those were the two big ones where he was front and centre. Below, Perlman as Hellboy:

Yeah, he's obviously done a lot more fantasy work than I covered, but if I tried to watch Perlman's entire filmography, I'd end up with a grey beard that went down to my knees .

I'd agree his unique facial features make him ideal for fantasy castings or settings.

He's been in a bunch of fantasy films I've never watched, like Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them, Season Of The Witch and Conan The Barbarian (the poorly reviewed Jason Momoa starrer, not the Arnie classic). 

Seen Cronos. Haven't seen City Of Lost Children. Thanks for the recommend...I'll try to catch up on it, and Perlman's work in it  

But Beauty And The Beast and Hellboy did the most for his career and reputation by far. It's interesting to note that the only major award he's won was a Golden Globe for Beauty And The Beast in 1989 (he also got two Primetime Emmy nominations for that show, so it really made his career). I don't think it was like a huge ratings hit or anything, but people seriously liked and respected that show. But other than that, he's never been in a position again for major awards recognition (unless you count his MTV Movie Awards nomination for Hellboy 2).

Michael Caine

Genre: Crime

In the UK, Michael Caine crime movies tend to have an insane and nationslistic following that doesn't neccesarily translate outside of Great Britain. I mean people outside the UK like British Michael Caine crime flicks and find them entertaining. But in the UK they are elevated to something else. Certain Caine crime films like Get Carter or The Italian Job might as well be The Godfather to some Brits.

So Caine certainly has an elevated place in British Crime Movies. Off the top of my head, I can only think of someone like Ray Winstone among living UK actors who might hold a comparable status to Caine in the genre in Britain ( so iconic a crime actor that Winstone was in the UK, that Martin Scorsese himself imported him for a major role in The Departed). Tom Hardy might be coming close for his work in Bronson, Legend and Peaky Blinders, but for now, Caine and Winstone are the overlords of Brit crime flicks). Maybe when they were alive James Mason and Richard Attenborough might have been comparable to Caine in British crime film.

Such is Caine's following in the genre in the UK, that even on old age, he's still a viable lead in British Crime Movies like Harry Brown and King Of Thieves, which was only released last year.

Caine has been in a tonne of crime films (including playing Alfred in The Dark Knight trilogy) but his most acclaimed crime movie where he was front and centre outside UK circles was probably the crime comedy Sleuth, a delicious two-hander with Laurence Olivier. Below, Caine doing some bitch slapping in Get Carter (his original version, not the lousy Sylvester Stallone remake he also appeared in):

Caine is a legend. He's more known as a dramatic actor, but his comedy chops are simply incredible. Not sure he gets enough credit for that. But what he did in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels against Steve Martin , one of the greatest comic actors of all-time at the peak of his abilities, was incredible. Caine wasn't some straight man (like say Nick Nolte was to Eddie Murphy in 48 Hours. ) . Caine was matching Martin comedy beat for comedy beat in that movie, and at some points outdoing Martin in the comedy stakes. The part where Caine puts on an Austrian accent and pretends to be Dr Emile Schueffhaussen to heal Martin's Freddy Benson is hilarious. Ultimately Caine and Martin matched each other step for step and were an amazing comedy pairing. Shame they never re-teamed.