The 7 Least-Faithful Comic Book Movies

[Junkyard]

Never actually made it to the theater. Straight to video.


.... by which I mean, lingered like a rotten tomato, suffered several instances of rejection, and then went straight to video.

[Monkey_Boy]

"Man-Thing" or "Generation X"? I don't think they belong on the list mainly BECAUSE they were a direct-to-DVD flick and a made-for-t.v. movie. Don't get me wrong, they were terrible and do rank among those with the title of "STINKFEST", but did anyone actually expect them to be faithful to the comics... or even any good?

[Cthulhu Bob]

I notice no one has mentioned the Dolph Lundgren Punisher. Since when was The Punisher a bum in scuzzy clothes living in the sewers?

And I have to say I liked The Hulk, since he did get to fight the army like in the classic comics (mmm beating up tanks). Though I have to wonder why Nick Nolte was both Bruce Banner's dad and The Absorbing Man.

[mlcorcoran]

I hear ya on the Lundgren Punisher, Bob. The only indication that movie has of the Punisher is one combat knife with a skull on the hilt, otherwise it's just a generic action flick.

I would put the first Tim Burton Batman on the list. Just because a movie's unfaithful doesn't mean it's bad. The 1989 Batman movie is great, but is completely unfaithful to the source material, and here's the evidence:

Burton intentionally cast Michael Keaton because he didn't have that stereotypical hero physique. While I do respect his desire to emphasize on Batman's psyche more than his muscles, for someone to do what Batman does physically he'd have to be athletic.

In the movie, the Joker is the one who killed Bruce Wayne's parents. Burton wanted to give Batman a more personal reason for revenge. Except Batman isn't out for a personal grudge against one individual.

In the cathedral bell tower, right after punching Joker in the face, Batman grabs him and says "I'm going to kill you." The whole reason why Batman uses hi-tech fancy gadgets is because he REFUSES to kill, otherwise he'd just have a gun.

Some people say that the movie was inspired by the grim and gritty nature of Dark Knight Returns, but the fact is Tim Burton made a Tim Burton movie that just so happened to have a character named Batman in it. This movie has more in common with Edward Scissorhands than it does with other comic book movies. The same goes for Batman Returns to an even bigger extent with the sewer-mutant interpretation of the Penguin.

That having been said, the 1989 Batman still one of my favorite movies. For me it's one of those movies that I never get tired of watching. I'm just saying it's not faithful to the source material.

[Doctor Who?]

You hit the nail on the head.

I hate it how on the DvD they keep saying that it was so faithful to the comics,A movie doesn't have to be faithful to be good!

Still I love the movie,but Batman begins was the first batman movie to be faithful to the comics.

[mlcorcoran]

yeah I agree. I think what the people in the commentary are trying to say is that this movie changed the way people looked at Batman. When news first came out in the late 80s that a Batman movie was being made, everyone expected something similar to the 60s show with Adam West. What they got instead was a dark, dramatic, gothic, epic of a movie and people started taking Batman seriously again.

and I love what Chris Nolan did with Batman Begins and what he's doing now with Dark Knight. I'm very impressed at the work they're putting into researching and respecting the source material. Batman Begins took elements from 3 specific stories: Year One, the Man who Falls, and Long Halloween. When I heard Christian Bale cite those sources as his research I was blown away. There are scenes in Batman Begins that are taken verbatim from those comics and were done masterfully.

[Doctor Who?]

Hey am I the only one who doesn't understand what people didn't like about Katie Holmes in that movie.

I thought she was pretty good in most of it,and perfect in the scene where she drops Bruce off at the gangster's bar.

[Bob]

Holmes is basically along for the ride, pretty much anyone could have played here part.   The Nolan movies are being carried on the back of Bale..... and he is terrific.   I dont know if he ever has been bad in a movie.   Even the stupid part he had in the Shaft remake was not terrible.

[Doctor Who?]

But that still doesn't explain the out and out hatred a lot of batman fans seem to have for her.

I hear she even got death threats.

I wasn't great,but she wasn't bad either yet all the Batman fans keep acting like she wrecked the movie.

Is it just that fans always have to find something to hate about a movie no matter how good it is?

[Bob]

Fanboys.................... you gotta love the poor bastards.

I am sure the heated discussion over Katie Holmes was loud in the back of many comic book stores at the role playing games card tables.

[GregMcduck]

The Nolan movies are being carried on the back of Bale..... and he is terrific.

I still think Bale' s angry Batman voice is the silliest thing I've ever heard.

[Doctor Who?]

The Nolan movies are being carried on the back of Bale..... and he is terrific.

I still think Bale' s angry Batman voice is the silliest thing I've ever heard.

I think Kevin Conroy is the only person to ever do a angry Batman voice that didn't sound silly.

[mlcorcoran]

I'm totally with you on that, Kevin Conroy is THE voice of Batman in my opinion.

I don't think much of Katie Holmes, but I don't see why people get in such a rage about her role in Batman Begins. I thought the overall idea of giving Bruce a childhood friend to reconnect with upon his return, who would call him out on his apparent change in public personality, was a clever subplot.

I am curious to see if the Rachel character changes at all with Maggie Gyllenhall in the role instead.

Speaking of faithful vs unfaithful comic book movies, why hasn't anyone brought up the animated direct-to-video Superman: Doomsday?

it wasn't exactly "faithful" to the source material, but as with the 1989 Batman movie, it worked out to the movie's benefit. I'm glad they got rid of the 4 impostors subplot (Steel, Eradicator, Superboy, and Cyborg-Supes) and condensed it. James Marsters' Luthor was the darkest portrayal of that character I have ever seen and I loved it. Adam Baldwin was good as Superman but it just wasn't the same as the guy from the JLU cartoon. Anne Heche wasn't bad as Lois but there was just something missing. And I really like what they did with Jimmy Olsen, he's always been kind of obnoxious and it was fun to make him a love-to-hate character.

[Doctor Who?]

Oh for the good old days when the heroes in stuff aimed at 5-12 year olds could just kill bad guys at the drop of a hat.

Doomsday was one of my favorite movies last year.

I never read the comics(For some reason all the stores in my home town at that point only had MARVEL comics),but I loved it.

I rank it as one of my favorite comic book movies of all time.

[bratpop]

Katie Holmes sucked because she didn't have a skull on her shirt. Same reason Man-Thing sucked.