8 Great Comic Book Storylines Which Were Totally F***ed Up By Superhero Movies
While the majority of superhero movies do their own thing, many borrow storylines from the comics. Some do them well, others not so much, but these movies f***ed up some true classics on the big screen.
However, there are some which have quite clearly adapted certain storylines, whether it's just been in a portion of the movie or pretty much the whole thing. Sometimes they get it right even if they aren't ultimately all that faithful, but there are some which just go wrong and ruin some classic comic book arcs in the process. Who knows then when we'll ever get the chance to see them done well?
That's what makes this so frustrating. When a comic book storyline isn't handled the right way on the big screen, the chances of it getting another chance are slim, especially when there are so many others worth borrowing material from. What you'll find here then are eight amazing stories from the comic books which ended up being completely ruined by the films which attempted to adapt them.
8. The Death Of Superman
As many of you no doubt already know, I really liked Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. It had its fair share of issues, but the Death of Superman is something I feel it handled pretty well (it definitely came as a surprise, and the Man of Steel sacrificing himself was an undeniably emotional moment). However, could it have been done better? Absolutely.
Clearly scared of creating more online backlash by having the fight take place in the city, The Trinity squaring off with Doomsday - who looked terrible, another reason this moment is highlighted here - on an abandoned island felt underwhelming as there weren't as many stakes as there otherwise might have been. As a result, this just didn't feel as epic as it probably should have and arguably deserved a movie to itself rather than just being tacked onto Batman v Superman after we'd already seen the fight promised by the title.
7. Captain America Lives Again
Captain America: The First Avenger is an underrated gem in my honest opinion, but like The Avengers, I can't help but feel that it could have handled Steve Rogers' arrival in the present day a little better. A couple of random S.H.I.E.L.D. agents discovering his body in the Arctic paled in comparison to that amazing scene from the comic books where Earth's Mightiest Heroes all stand around the hero after recovering his body during a battle with Namor.
A blink and you'd miss it shot of him lying half frozen on a table sort of made up for that, but The Avengers still didn't really delve into Steve being a man out of time (which The Ultimates did really well) outside of him not understanding a few snarky references. Joss Whedon did his best with the limited amount of screentime he had to explore Cap's transition from World War II to the present, but it needed and deserved more than what it got.
6. Green Lantern: Secret Origin
Green Lantern was a movie with too many cooks in the kitchen, hence why it ended up being a complete and utter mess. However, it was clear that it took most of its influence from Geoff Johns' stellar comic book run, with Green Lantern: Secret Origin used as a basis for Hal Jordan's story here. Following the basic blueprint of that story, the movie for some reason pretty much scrapped all the best bits, keeping only the basics and not doing a very good job of adapting them to live-action.
Throwing Parallax into the mix - another character created by Johns, albeit in a different arc - felt totally random, and the decision to turn him into a giant brown cloud rather than the monstrous yellow entity dreamed up by Johns was baffling. This movie just failed to get anything right when all was said and done, but that hopefully hasn't deterred Warner Bros. from turning to Johns' work for inspiration down the line.
5. Demon In A Bottle
Even before Marvel was bought by Disney, them tackling Tony Stark's alcoholism always felt somewhat unlikely. However, they decided to pop it in as a subplot of sorts in the already extremely crowded Iron Man 2, but they really needn't have bothered. In an extremely loose adaptation of Demon in a Bottle, Tony got a little drunk and trashed his mansion like an idiot, and while it did appear as if the movie was going to touch on him having a drinking problem, it was forgotten about after a coffee with Nick Fury.
There were other elements borrowed from this storyline in the movie too though, including Justin Hammer. While Sam Rockwell was a lot of fun to watch, he was wasted here and a far cry from the man who pretty much broke Iron Man's spirits in the source material. Since this movie, Tony being an alcoholic has never been touched on, so don't expect to see it in Iron Man 4 (if it ever happens).
4. Superman: Birthright
Despite rumours early on that Man of Steel would adapt Mark Waid and Leinil Yu's superb Superman: Birthright, it ended up borrowing only a handful of elements, though those still had quite an impact on the movie (Superman's first flight for example was very close to that comic book). Zack Snyder and David Goyer's biggest mistake was not taking more from Birthright, especially as this movie could have done with the optimism it brought to the table.
Clark Kent travelling the world before donning the costume and even Jesse Eisenberg's Lex Luthor from Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice were clearly inspired by this tale, but the spirit of Superman was still missing from Man of Steel in many ways, hence why Waid was so upset by the movie at the time. As good as it was to see some elements lifted from Birthright, it ultimately needed a hell of a lot more of them.
3. The Fantastic
Fox messed up the Fantastic Four's origin story back in 2005 and later dropped the ball on The Coming of Galactus, and while it was clear from the start that Josh Trank's reboot wasn't going to be exactly comic book faithful, it did at least appear as if it would adapt the decent enough first arc of Ultimate Fantastic Four by Mark Millar and Brian Michael Bendis.
That comic wasn't too fantastical, but the movie was even less so, and while it got some elements right - The Baxter Building being a government think tank and the initial relationship between Reed and Victor before they became drinking buddies - it completely dropped the ball on the rest by being too grounded. We never even got to see their prototype costumes, and even the weird goat feet Doom from the comics was better than the mess we ended up with in Fantastic Four. What a waste of Toby Kebbell...
2. The Dark Phoenix Saga
The fact that the writer of X-Men: The Last Stand has acknowledged completely f***ing up The Dark Phoenix Saga says it all really. It was Bryan Singer who set the stage for this iconic storyline to be brought to the big screen in X2, but he abandoned the X-Men franchise to go and make Superman Returns, leaving it in the less than capable hands of Simon Kinberg and Brett Ratner.
While they got Jean coming back from the dead right, everything else was horribly wrong, and adding insult to injury was the fact that The Last Stand also did an appalling job of adapting The Cure from Joss Whedon's stellar run on Astonishing X-Men. This movie was all about showing a crazy and out of control Jean, and as a result, it missed the point of what made her transformation into the Phoenix so great in the comics (something emphasised by the focus on Wolverine instead of Cyclops).
1. Civil War
The movie was also unable to include everything from Spider-Man's decision to switch sides to The Punisher's surprise appearance and that finale Negative Zone battle which spilled into New York City. As a result, regardless of how great this film was, it's hard not to wish it could have stuck closer to the story its named after.
Which of these movies disappointed you the most? Have we missed any others which were a let down when it came to adapting famous comic book storylines? Share your thoughts below!