Ranking The Most Meaningful Comic Book Movies - You Decide

Ranking The Most Meaningful Comic Book Movies - You Decide

Comic books films inspire us by helping us make sense of our world. It's time to take a moment and reflect on what they truly mean to us. Cast your vote and join the conversation.

Editorial Opinion
By PeterPetrelliParker - Jul 08, 2017 01:07 PM EST
Filed Under: Marvel Comics



Greetings everyone! I'm getting ready to take a break from CBM for a bit to welcome the arrival of my daughter into the world, so unfortunately this will be my last one of these for a while. Normally we'd do a ranking of your best or favorite of something. But this time I thought I'd try something a little different. Basically, creating an article that showcases not the best, but rather the most meaningful comic book movies according to CBM users.

All of us are fans of comics because at one time or another, we recognized and embraced the true superpower of these heroes: their ability to connect with us. We value these stories and charcters (and the medium of comic books themselves) because they relate to who we are now while reminding us of what we might become in the future. They give us hope that maybe, just maybe, the world with all its flaws and failures, is still worth saving, and that God uses mere mortals like us to do it.

By 'most meaningful,' I am not necessarily referring to what you think is the best from a technical standpoint (though your best maybe also be your most meaningful). For example, myself and many others consider Citizen Kane one of if not the greatest film ever made, but from an emotional standpoint it didn't impact me in a meaningful way, though technically I think it's brilliant. 

With all that said, I invite you to list the top two (I'm sorry only 2) comic book movies that mean the most to you. It could be for any reasons you want. You can choose any theatrically-released comic book movie, live-action or animated (no direct-to-video). If you can, try and list one from Marvel and one from DC. If you have time, please write a brief reason why you are listing those two films. I will then take the most frequent votes and use YOUR comments to write the article. So together, we will have created the ultimate list of the most meaningful comic book movies according to our site users.

There will be an example below in the comments so you can see how to format it. I can't wait to see what we come up with, let the voting begin!

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PeterPetrelliParker
PeterPetrelliParker - 7/8/2017, 2:02 PM
Here's mine:

1. Logan - I've explained quite a bit in the past why this film meant to much to me. But basically it is a mature story that takes the source material and mythos seriously. It is grounded in such a way that it connects to our world. It hit me on many emotional levels from seeing the death of one of my favorite childhood superheroes, to being reminded of my grandma's Alzheimers through Professor X, to the heartfelt connection I felt between Logan and Laura as a soon-to-be-dad myself. Logan reminded me that hope is often not seen, that the good we do for others we might not see the fruit of in our lifetime. But nevertheless, Eden awaits.

2. Batman: Mask of the Phantasm - Whereas Logan speaks to me currently in life as an adult, MOTP spoke to me as a kid. Out of all the movies from my childhood, this one by far still holds up the best today. No other film gives Batman such a meaningful treatment. When watching this, I understood for the first time in life that doing the right thing can often come with a cost. We all have a dark side, but it's up to us whether we choose to embrace it or not. When tragedy strikes, we are challenged to put our vengeance aside and choose to forgive so that we do not go down a dark path like Andrea did. And no matter how much we love a person, we cannot always save them. Besides being a well-told story, MOTP is a truly special one that gets at the heart of what makes Batman so great and relatable.

I know my two choices seem rather grim, but honestly I revisit there 2 films more so than any of the peppier ones.
PeterPetrelliParker
PeterPetrelliParker - 7/8/2017, 2:03 PM
Feel free to vote

@BlackIceJoe @NoMeaning45 @Ruthless @MrMurdock @BatzFTWFan @PietroJaximoff @Menks123 @Miki @AzorAhai @Valdez @ThouBear8 @CaptDeadpool @MUTO123 @DaLaBrAcK @theandrewahern @dethpillow @aresww3 @frenzyrules @GodzillaKart
MUTO123
MUTO123 - 7/8/2017, 2:31 PM
1. Spider-Man 2002 - I remember being 5 years old when my mother came home one night and gave me a copy of Amazing Fantasy #15 and a VHS copy of this film. After reading that comic and watching that movie, Spider-Man was solidified as my favorite superhero. I read the comics, I had a bunch of toys, I played a lot of the video games, I dressed up as him for Halloween more than once. But perhaps most importantly, I watched that movie every day after school for the next year or so. I always figured "I'll just watch this one cool scene and then go do my homework or whatever" and once the movie started and that theme kicked in, I just couldn't stop watching. That movie's a piece of my soul, it was such an essential aspect of my childhood, and it was genuinely inspiring to me. While I would consider Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man: Homecoming to be better films overall, neither had quite the same impact on me as a person and who I wanted to be that Spider-Man 2002 did.

2. Captain America: The Winter Soldier - So Thor: The Dark World was a pretty big disappointment for me. I consider it to be Marvel's worst film still to this day, and while I was still looking forward to The Winter Soldier, my sky-high expectations had been brought down somewhat by the lackluster-ness of Thor 2. And even though I'd looked at RT (sorry) beforehand and seen how high it was scoring, I thought "That's cool, but I'm not sure it'll be quite as good as people seem to be saying". And sure enough... not only did I think it was as good as people were saying, I thought it was a lot better, and still to this day consider it to be Marvel's best film (quite the turnaround, eh?). I can go on and on about how incredible this movie is in terms of its action, in terms of how dark it gets (this is probably the closest Marvel's ever gotten to making an R-rated film), but what I love most about this movie is that it took a character that I'd previously thought was cool, but not necessarily one of my favorite heroes, and it made him possibly my favorite hero in the MCU. I love the journey he goes on in terms of him wanting to do the right thing and realizing that the place where he thought he could fulfill that goal turns out to be secretly evil and the crisis is puts him in, I love how rather than focus on him adjusting to modern times in terms of things like technology and pop culture they choose to focus more on his adjustment to modern-day politics and such, I love the advancement of his relationship with Black Widow and the start of his new friendship with Falcon, and I love the tragedy of his relationships with Bucky and Peggy (those scenes get me every time). Of all the Marvel movies, this is the one I've probably re-watched the most and the one I have the most respect for. And that's saying something considering Cap was never a favorite hero of mine and considering all the other great shit Marvel had done done before and has done since.
PeterPetrelliParker
PeterPetrelliParker - 7/8/2017, 2:55 PM
@MUTO123 - Thanks for voting! That first Spider-Man meant a lot to me too.
DetectiveCinema
DetectiveCinema - 7/8/2017, 3:11 PM
@MUTO123 - 100% agree with you about Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Marvel Studios' best film to date. I too never thought I'd really connect with a rate Cap movie so highly but man, this movie just so frickin' good! The fact the guys behind this are doing Infinity War has me hyped af.
DetectiveCinema
DetectiveCinema - 7/8/2017, 3:08 PM
1. Daredevil (2003)
While this film isn't very loved by the CBM community here, it's the movie that made Daredevil my favourite comic book character and got me really excited about comic book movies in general. I was only 7 or 8 when dad brought the movie home with the pizza he ordered for dinner (part of a promotions campaign at the the time, buy a pizza get a free DVD). Being a rather 'dark' superhero movie I remember my parents weren't to keen on letting me watch it, which really just added to the excitement.

I can see now the issues that people have with this movie, but when I was a little kid it was the coolest thing ever. Daredevil The Director's Cut however is ONE OF the best CBM's in my opinion. Seriously the Theatrical Cut and Director's Cut are different movies, there's a whole subplot that gets cut which is integral to the movie and just makes it so much better.


2. The Dark Knight (2008)
The Dark Knight probably has the greatest teaser trailer of all time, man was I hyped for this movie! Saw it in cinemas with my Dad and it become my favourite movie ever. Made me realise what a talent Christopher Nolan and he really blew up my passion about everything film related, comic book movies in particular. Nolan was the ultimate filmmaker in my eyes from that point on (The Prestige being my favourite work of his to date).
PeterPetrelliParker
PeterPetrelliParker - 7/8/2017, 3:23 PM
@MrMurdock - Thanks for voting, I love your stories! I had similar experiences with both films, and ya the Prestige is one of his best!
DetectiveCinema
DetectiveCinema - 7/8/2017, 3:30 PM
@PeterPetrelliParker - Thanks man! I've been holding out on putting my latest one up as the Fan-Fic section seems to be a bit of a clusterphuck at the moment.

Unless you meant the stories for why I love those films... The Prestige, followed by The Dark Knight/Inception and Batman Begins not too far behind.

So, so keen for Dunkirk, the trailers so far have been great in the sense that their all teasers and nothing's really been spoiled (yeah it's based on a true story, but it's one I know very little about).
PeterPetrelliParker
PeterPetrelliParker - 7/8/2017, 3:33 PM
@MrMurdock - Ya I was referring to the personal experiences you were sharing, but that's okay haha, now i look forward to reading your fanfic!

You ever see Memento? That's one of his best too
DetectiveCinema
DetectiveCinema - 7/8/2017, 3:39 PM
@PeterPetrelliParker - Hahaha my bad, was not trying to plug my own articles on here aha.

I have seen Memento! The only one of his I haven't seen is his debut, Following.

I really enjoyed Memento, it was a little hard to follow at times but by the end of it I had that 'Ahhh!' moment. Such a talented guy. So, so well done. Did you hear rumblings a few years back that they're were looking to remake it? So [frick]ing glad it never got off the ground.

Fun fact; Nolan considered Guy Pearce for Ra's in Batman Begins but came to the conclusion he was too young for the part.
PeterPetrelliParker
PeterPetrelliParker - 7/8/2017, 4:07 PM
@MrMurdock - Following is pretty good, it's neat. Ya I'm glad they never remade it it would've been so pointless.

No way, i didn't know that haha
DaLaBrAcK
DaLaBrAcK - 7/8/2017, 5:46 PM
1. Batman Returns was the first superhero movie I can remember seeing and the Burton-esque style and imagery have always stuck with me.

2. Batman Beyond return of the Joker is just one of the best superhero movies I've ever seen, really changed the game in what animated movies could be for me
PeterPetrelliParker
PeterPetrelliParker - 7/8/2017, 6:25 PM
@DaLaBrAcK - Thanks for sharing and voting! Batman ftw! The flashback in ROTJ is one of my favorite moments in anything Batman.
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