Firstly before I start, I want to say that I wanted this one to utilize the "next" button, just to expresss just how much I hate every last one of you motherf*ckers. Unfortunately I couldn't figure it out, so whatever. You punks win this round.
Faithfullness has become something of a hot button for comic book fans, some of us care more about it than others. It is worth noting that the most successful comic adaptations tend to be more faithful (see the quality gap between deadpool and Wolverine Origins.) That being said there are exceptions to this, where some adaptations end up being great despite barely resembling it's source material. Some of them even manage to surpass what it initially took inspiration from (BLASPHAMY!). For the sake of this editorial I'm going to focus on the top 10 characters that managed to be good despite severe deviations from their comic book counterparts. If you guys like this, I might consider making a top 10 worst list.
10. John Constantine played by Keanu Reeves
In the comics John is a british exorsist known for his charm, smoking habits and cynism. Reeves' version is american and while he keep's his counterpart's cynism and smoking habits, he's more stoic and loses the sense of humor. He's also portrayed to be more violent while in the comics John generally relies on outsmarting his enemies.
This one is pretty low on the list because A: making John american actually really does piss me off and B: I don't care for Reeves as an actor. That being said, his version of Constantine does work for what he is and the movie itself is actually a decent adaptation of "Dangerous Habits."
9. Blade played by Wesley Snipes
Another British character who went american for the movie. Blade was one of the first successful movies based off of a marvel character. In the comics Blade was a normal human who was imune to being a vampire. In the movies Blade was a half vampire who had all of the strenghths and none of the weaknesses of the normal vampires.
8. Hank Pym played by Michael Douglas
MCU Hank Pym had a lot going against him, they mostly skipped his tenure as the original Ant-man besides some flashbacks, he wasn't one of the founders of the avengers, he had no role in creating ultron and he's like 30 years older than he's traditionally portrayed as in the comics. He also has an annoying daughter that wasn't in the comics. Despite losing so much of what made his comic counterpart special, Douglas managed to own it as Pym. He plays Pym as a warm, caring if initially creepy mentor figure. Rudd may have been the star, but Douglas was easilly the heart of the movie.
7. The Joker played by Jack Nicholson
I considered putting Ledger's version of the clown prince of crime here instead, as he is easilly the better version. That being said I actually consider Nolan's Joker to be pretty faithful to comic Joker besides some superficial stuff. The same cannot be said for Jack's Joker who is not only given an origin story, but he's also revealed to be the man who killed the Waynes. They also gave him a name "Jack," which is fitting as Nicholson is pretty much just playing himself. That being said he is remembered fondly in the role and he totally stole every scene he's in. He's also very quotable "never rub another man's rhuharb!"
6. Willaim Stryker played by Brian Cox
In the comics Stryker was an unhinged preacher who believed mutants were an unholy abomination from the devil. He believes murdering mutants is a part of god's will. In X2's interpretation he is still a bigot but he is portrayed as a miliary colonel. While a faithful adaptation of "God Loves, Man kills" would be interesting to see, was really satisfied by this version of Stryker and consider him to be one of the more underrated comic book movie villains.
5. The Flash played by Grant Gustin
When this Glee guy was cast in the iconic role, I was very skeptical. He looks nothing like the comic book version of Barry Allen. This version is younger, he has a support team that didn't exist in the comics, he's the foster brother of Iris West, who traditionally is his primary love interest (ew). Despite this the CW managed to make him a fan favorite because they really captured the funess of the character. I also warmed up to Gustin who actually does a really good job balancing the happy go lucky heroic side of Allen and the more tragic and vengeful side of the character who he confronts Tom Cavanagh's Eobard Thawne. I do still have a few problems with this version as he is too dependent on his team and they really overdo it with the pep talks. That being said I love the show and they really set the bar high for the DCEU version who as it would happen, also looks nothing like comic book Barry (d'oh!)
4. Batman played by Christian Bale
To be fair Bale's batman isn't TOO far off from his comic counterpart, but just enough to make it on the list. The biggest difference from the comic is that he isn't much of a scientist or a detective. He's much more realistic and grounded so he's not insanely good at fighting as more traditional takes. He also isn't batman very long as his career only lasts about a year before retiring, so there are no sidekicks besides alfred. That being said despite being the weakest Batman I'd argue he's the most effective. Has any other Batman been as successful at cleaning up gotham city? In the comics there is barely any progress but here you can see Gotham get better safer and less corrupt with each movie.
3. Purple Man played by David Tennant
The second MCU character on this list, everybody's favorite rapist went through quite the makeover in Netflix's critically acclaimed Jessica Jones. In the comics he is Zebediah Killgrave, foreign spy who while on a mission, was in a chemical accident that turned his skin purple and gave him mind control powers. On the show he is Kevin Thompson, a sick child who gained mind control powers when his parents did experiments on him in order to cure his illness. Kevin is also a lot more sympathetic compared to Zebediah. I think these changes resulted in a more modern, 3 dimensional character. That being said I do wish they made Kevin purple.
2. Stanley Ipkiss played by Jim Carrey
The mask movie is to the comic what the 1960s Batman show is to "The Dark Knight Returns." In the comics when Ipkiss finds the mask he goes on a sadistic killing spree and then gets murdered by his girl friend at the end of the first issue. In the movie they decided to make things a lot more campy compared to the disturbing gorefest that was the comic. Ipkiss was reimagined as the hero of the story played by Jim Carrey at his very best. This Ipkiss was much more well intentioned under the mask and even ended up saving the day, and getting the girl. They managed to turn a forgetable character from the comics into one of the most memorable characters of it's movie's era. I'm not gonna lie this movie was one of my childhood favorites so imagine my surprise when I found out how differently things played out in the comics.
1. Carol Peletier played by Melissa Mcbride
Could #1 have been anyone else? tv Carol is better than her comic counterpart in everyway. What's interesting about the show's interpretation is that both Carols began their journeys in more or less the same spot, as the weakest members of Rick's group. Only comic Carol let the horrors of the zombie apocolaspe drive her to insanity and suicide, tv Carol let her tragedies make her stronger untill she became a bigger badass than Rick Grimes and Daryl Dixson combined. This not only allowed Carol to live much longer than she did in the source material, but also become one of the most fasinating and morally ambigous characters on the show.
So do you agree with my list? What is your favorite unfaithfully adapted character.