10 Marvel And DC Comics Stories Which Were So Bad They Should Never Become A Movie

There are plenty of controversial comic arcs which obviously shouldn't be adapted, but what about those which were just really f***ing awful? These are the Marvel and DC stories we never want to see.

By JoshWilding - Sep 16, 2016 08:09 AM EST

Filed Under: Marvel

Comic books are a great medium which are now being embraced more than ever thanks to the success of superhero movies. They're no longer a niche form of entertainment for "geeks", but if you are new to the worlds of Marvel and DC Comics, you'll definitely want to do your best to avoid these truly terrible stories.

For the most part, comic book movies don't directly adapt stories, though it has started happening more and more recently, even if a lot of changes are made during the transition from page to screen (Captain America: Civil War for example). There are those however which should never make it to the cinema...

Here, you will find just ten of the best worst examples of terrible comic book stories which we hope to never see adapted. Some are ridiculous, some are offensive, and a few were just downright disappointing, but they're all unworthy of ever getting the movie treatment.

10. Trouble

Remember those rumours of a movie focusing on Aunt May? Be grateful it never happened and that it wasn't based on this. Trouble was Marvel's ill-conceived attempt to bring back romance comics, but it's no surprise that the series didn't last more than five issues based on how much it upset fans.

Portraying Aunt May as a sexually charged youngster, it was revealed that she had an affair with Richard Parker and became pregnant. Ben stuck by her, but to avoid the wrath of her parents, she allowed Mary to raise the child. Have you figured it out yet? That's right, May ended up being revealed as the true mother of Peter Parker (a.k.a. The Amazing Spider-Man). This was poorly thought out, pretty tasteless, and ultimately not fit for the big screen...ever.

When it was revealed that J. Michael Straczynski would be writing Superman, comic book fans were unbelievably excited. He was after all the man who did wonders for Spider-Man, but as it turns out, twelve issues of the Man of Steel going for a walk just isn't that interesting.

He had some adventures along the way, but a miserable Superman walking through a number of American cities to remind himself why he's a hero ended up being a boring story which made "The New 52" reboot (which made Superman younger and a lot rougher around the edges) very welcome indeed. Man of Steel showed that Zack Snyder is a fan of a Superman who heads into action against his foes, so the chances of him adapting this are thankfully slim.

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8. Superman's Sex Tape

Superman's villains have transformed him into any number of strange things over the years, usually with some sort of mind trick. However, one of the strangest came when a villain named Sleez (which was appropriate as it turned out) managed to turn the Man of Steel into an adult film star.

After being kicked off Apokolips for his depraved nature, Sleez brainwashed both Superman and Big Barda to create a sex tape which would help him fund his planned war against Darkseid. Just as they started shooting, Barda's husband busted in and put a stop to things going any further than kissing. So, even those Clark Kent never became a porn star, it's a safe bet to think that Zack Snyder and Warner Bros. won't be tackling this any time soon.

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7. Fear Itself

Fear Itself was supposed to be an epic story featuring the heroes of the Marvel Universe taking on the Serpent, an ancient Asgardian fear deity who was seeking to reclaim the throne stolen by his brother Odin years earlier. What followed was an epically disappointing tale featuring The Avengers decked out in silly magical armour and recycled moments like the destruction of Captain America's shield and him being able to wield Mjolnir.

The series also brought Bucky's time as Captain America to an end by killing him off, though it was later (stupidly) revealed that he had for some reason faked his death so he could once again operate in the shadows. This was just generally terrible and there's nothing here to make a good movie from.

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6. Secret Invasion

Secret Invasion is another story with a massive amount of potential which ended up being wasted. When it was revealed that the shape shifting Skrulls had infiltrated the ranks of The Avengers, Earth's Mightiest Heroes were left wondering who they could trust, but writer Brian Michael Bendis ended up squandering what could have been a truly great event.

Too much time was wasted with the heroes fighting amongst themselves before the battle moved to New York and devolved into an all-out war. It was lazy and uninspired, valuing style over substance. Like Age of Ultron (another terrible Bendis event), there's every chance Marvel Studios could take this and make it great. It would have to be a very loose adaptation though...

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5. Emereld Twilight

In the mid 90s, DC Comics decided it was time for a change and started thinking up ways that they could retire Hal Jordan. Having him fall in battle was surely the most logical option, but they instead decided to take this fan-favourite Green Lantern and have him murder the entire Green Lantern Corps.

Driven insane by the destruction of his home city, Hal became a genocidal villain - Parallax - who decided that the only way to bring his city and its inhabitants back was to have the Main Power Battery on Oa all to himself. It wasn't until Geoff Johns came along and repaired the damage which had been done that the whole thing became bearable, and this should be a movie because no one wants to see their favourite hero become a villain. Right?

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4. Identity Crisis

Identity Crisis isn't a terrible event series for the most part, but the problem with this one - and the reason it should never be brought to the big screen - ultimately comes down to the fact that it used the rape and murder of a popular female character as little more than a plot device.

The victim was the wife of the Elongated Man, Sue Dibny. Her murder in the opening pages kicked off the story, but it was then later revealed that she had been raped in the Justice League's headquarters too. Identity Crisis just kept piling this sort of hard to stomach material on the reader, and none of it felt like it was really necessary. As dark and gritty as the upcoming DC Comics movies are rumoured to be, this is something they need to avoid.

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3. Shadowland

After Brian Michael Bendis and Ed Brubaker's stellar run on Daredevil, writer Andy Diggle came along and messed everything up. The setup was there for a great story (Matt Murdock was placed in charge of The Hand, a villainous clan of ninja assassins who had plagued him for years), but Daredevil was quickly possessed by an ancient beast, murdered his nemesis Bullseye, and set about taking over New York City.

This possession laughably resulted in Daredevil's costume turning black and the horns on it growing the longer the entity influenced him, and Shadowland was such a terrible storyline Marvel almost immediately swept it under the rug. The Netflix series could try and tackle this one, but it's honestly better left forgotten...

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2. One More Day

Spider-Man had just revealed his secret identity to the world in the pages of Civil War. That opened the door to years worth of new stories which could be told with Peter Parker, but Marvel decided to almost immediately put the genie back in the bottle in this ill conceived storyline.

Aunt May was shot by assassins hired by The Kingpin, leading Peter to try and make a deal with anyone he could to save her life. Mephisto - the Marvel Universe's version of the devil - ultimately offered his services, but in exchange he demanded the marriage of Peter and Mary Jane. This made absolutely no sense and was an overly convoluted way of giving Spider-Man a youthful make-over by making him single again. This should never, ever be adapted.

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1. All-Star Batman & Robin

The "I'm the Goddamn Batman!" line may have been a pretty cool moment which has become a popular meme, but the fact that it was prefaced with the Caped Crusader calling Robin a retard might tell you all you need to know about why this series is one Warner Bros. should avoid for Ben Affleck's Batman.

Written by Frank Miller in the not-quite-so-hot years of his career, the story provided a new spin on Batman which saw him portrayed as a violent and unhinged sociopath who kidnapped Robin following the death of his parents and forced him to become his sidekick, leaving him to hunt for vermin in the Batcave to feed himself. As interesting as this might have been, it's pretty much impossible to root for a superhero who is a complete jerk.

Do you agree that these comic book stories should never become movies or are there some here you'd actually like to see on the big screen? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

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176 Comments

1 2 3 4 5

McGee - 9/16/2016, 7:32 AM

I have faith that the Netflix Punisher series will negotiate a crossover with the CW's Archie.

Highflyer - 9/16/2016, 8:39 AM

Jeez. Some of these story lines caught me off guard.

MrPositive - 9/16/2016, 8:39 AM

New top 10 article.......FOR UR ASS

SimplyAz - 9/16/2016, 8:42 AM

Scraping the barrel of with another article?

How about an in depth look at themes of movies, focusing on what the characters mean?

There are users on this site who have written fantastic articles that haven't made it on main but we get dross like this?

AsgardianHobo - 9/16/2016, 8:44 AM

I liked Secret Invasion :(

Well, parts of it

AgeofApocalypse - 9/16/2016, 8:49 AM

@AsgardianHobo - Same here.

ICStoopedPeople - 9/16/2016, 8:50 AM

@AsgardianHobo - The execution was somewhat flawed, but it was better than Civil War for me -- execution wise.

1 2 3 4 5

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10 Marvel And DC Comics Stories Which Were So Bad They Should Never Become A Movie

There are plenty of controversial comic arcs which obviously shouldn't be adapted, but what about those which were just really f***ing awful? These are the Marvel and DC stories we never want to see.

10. Trouble

9. Grounded

8. Superman's Sex Tape

7. Fear Itself

6. Secret Invasion

5. Emereld Twilight

4. Identity Crisis

3. Shadowland

2. One More Day

1. All-Star Batman & Robin

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