There was a time when the name Schwarzenegger, Stallone or Willis meant legions of fans would pile into theaters to see them punch and shoot their way through any army of foes. But it's not been a good year for the muscle-bound actors, who once kicked the living daylights out of all box office competition.

Arnold Schwarzenegger officially returned to acting in mid-January with "The Last Stand," playing a small town sheriff who must stop a drug kingpin from escaping to Mexico. Schwarzenegger had made a brief appearance in the "Expendables" movies, but this was the first time he had to carry the load on his own. Audiences greeted his return to acting -- after a brief break for politics -- with apathy. The movie netted less than $12 million domestically. Even his "Raw Deal" made more than $16 million back in 1986.

Next up was Sylvester Stallone's "Bullet to the Head." The man who became a box office champ with the "Rocky" and "Rambo" franchises could only attract $9 million in domestic sales and an additional $4 million worldwide. It's the worst showing for him with a widely opened movie since his 2000 film "Get Carter" took in almost $15 million.

Bruce Willis did the best of the three with "A Good Day to Die Hard," which has taken in almost $60 million at the box office. The film is still in theaters; but it doesn't look to have the appeal to give it a box office total that's bigger than the previous film in the franchise, "Live Free or Die Hard," which earned more than $134 million in the United States.

The obvious reason for the lackluster showings would seem to be that all three have gotten too old to carry off their everyday hero roles. The average age of the three actors is 62.

It may not just be they are aging heroes. Two younger stars of action-hero films have also had recent box office troubles. Jason Statham's "Parker" barely topped the $17 million mark, while Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's "Snitch" earned just $25 million.

The key may be that these action heroes have been eclipsed by costumed heroes. Three of the top six films in 2012 were movies based on comic book characters -- "The Avengers," "The Dark Knight Rises" and "The Amazing Spider-Man" -- which combined to take in more than $1.3 billion. That's why this year's big summer releases include "Iron Man 3," "Man of Steel" and "The Wolverine."

It might be time for Schwarzenegger, Stallone and Willis to slip into a cape and cowl the next time they battle bad guys.

Who will replace Jay?

The buzz in Hollywood is that Jay Leno's time behind the desk for NBC's "The Tonight Show" could be coming to an end in 2014. That's when Leno's current contract ends.

Leno's losing young viewers to Jimmy Kimmel since Kimmel moved his ABC late-night program to 11:30 p.m.

Should it be an end for Leno, the natural replacement would be Jimmy Fallon, who hosts "Late Night" that airs immediately after "The Tonight Show."

Of course, the last time Leno left "The Tonight Show," Conan O'Brien was the obvious choice. Leno's failure in primetime coupled with a slow start for O'Brien sent Leno back to the late night shift; O'Brien ended up on TBS.

Let's assume that NBC does the logical thing and gives Fallon "The Tonight Show" job. That would leave an opening on "The Late Show." This is the start of my campaign to get "The Soup" host Joel McHale to be Fallon's replacement.

Here's why he would be perfect:

You might not know it by the way NBC has moved his comedy "Community" across the schedule and sometimes left it off for months, but McHale's already part of the NBC family.

He's tall enough. McHale stands 6-feet-4, the same size as O'Brien. Carson Daly and David Letterman are both 6-feet-2, and ABC talk show host Jimmy Kimmel is 6-feet-1.

It's easy to make fun of McHale's hair, which appears to have been cut by the Los Angeles Barber School for the Blind. O'Brien has been able to get countless jokes out of his mass of red hair.

McHale has the right amount of letters in his last name: 6. Other talk show hosts with six letters in their last name include Johnny Carson, Joan Rivers, Joey Bishop, Kimmel, Fallon and O'Brien.

This all makes McHale the perfect choice to replace Fallon. Some of you might be thinking O'Brien could be lured back to NBC. That isn't going to happen. The only way O'Brien would return to late night network TV is if he's named to replace Letterman when the CBS talk show host retires.