Top Ten: Comic Book Movies!

Comic books. They have for the better part of the century been the fodder for films. But what are the best of these? With the release of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Wonder Woman making trucks full of money, we’ve decided to countdown our top ten comic book films! But what oh what were our rules? Well, first the movie had to be based on a comic book, graphic novel, or manga. Now, this does include things like A History of Violence and V For Vendetta. We didn’t just cater to the superheroes on this one! Secondly, we’re disqualifying 2017 releases. So even though Wonder Woman is a fantastic film worth your money it won’t be on here. And lastly, each list we received had ten films on it, each film was given a point total corresponding with their position (movie ten got one point, movie one receives 10 points etc.). So without further ado, it’s clobberin’ time!

10. The Crow (1994)

Guitarist Eric Draven and his fiancee Shelly are just living life in the not so futurist Detroit. Sadly, on the night before Halloween, dubbed “Devil’s Night,” they are brutally murdered by a gang lead by Top Dollar (this is a change made from the original material). However, Eric is not as dead as they think. A crow leads him out of the grave and into the underworld hell-bent on vengeance. This tale of revenge, love, and an undead avenger is based a series of graphic novels written by James O’Barr.

9. Batman (1989)

Tim Burton takes the helm of the first origin story of one of DC Comics' best heroes. Bruce Wayne is a playboy/philanthropist whose extra-curricular activities include smashing in faces and serving up hot, sweet justice. Here we have Jack Napier, a lackey of Gotham City's biggest crime boss, Boss Grissom. When he is in a horrible accident during an altercation at a chemical plant he not only loses his humanity, but his mind and turns into the sadistic Joker. Will the caped crusader be able to stop his reign of terror?

8. Ironman (2008)

This is the film that launched Marvel Studios. Creating his suits out a necessity following an accident wealthy arms dealer, and tech mastermind Tony Stark decides it’s time to shake things up. He becomes the uni-beam blasting Ironman. Equipped with his OS butler Jarvis and lovely assistant who slashes other things (wink wink), Pepper Potts. He looks to stop the sinister Obadiah Stane and his version of Tony’s scarlet and gold armor.

7. 300 (2007)

Based on Dark Horse Comics' graphic novel of the same name, 300 tells the tale of King Leonidas and his brave three hundred, who took on the largest army in the world at the time. They’re determined to show the Persian army and their leader Xerxes why “This is Sparta!” Frank Miller joins our list (certainly not the last time), as does director Zach Snyder whose visual style took this somewhat thin plot and made it a compelling 117 minutes.

6. Spiderman 2 (2004)

The sequel to Sam Raimi’s gamechanger sees Tobey Maguire back as our friendly neighborhood Spiderman. His foe this time is the dastardly Doc himself Otto Octavius, or as we know him Doc Oc. Spider also has to deal with the backlash from the first film as well as his relationship with Mary Jane Watson. It’s the balance in these stories that make this the deepest film in the trilogy and one of the top films on our list. We just wish the third film had been this damn good!

5. Sin City (2005)

Another Frank Miller graphic novel turned film. This time Robert Rodriguez directs with Frank Miller “co-directing”. It’s stylish neo-noir cinematography coupled with a brilliant murder-revenge plot makeup one of the 21st century most breathtaking stories. Working in black and white with a splash of red here and there this is a trip with so many twist and turns (to go with its memorable characters) you’ll wonder what could possibly happen next. That is of course unless you’ve already read the comic to which we say…good on you!

4. Man of Steel (2013)

You all know the tale. Jor-El sends the last son of Krypton down to Earth in an attempt to save him. Baby boy Krypton lands on the Kent farm and is taken in. What we never see is what got from this film…we get to see how Clark’s powers shaped him, that alone puts this pretty high up. A revamped origin story for DC’s golden boy sees Zach Snyder strike again with a fantastic film that maintains Snyders eye for unique framing while straying from the flashy cinematography.

3. Watchmen (2009)

Alan Moore’s graphic novel Watchmen has been called many things, “the greatest graphic novel of all times” and “unfilmable” are two of those things. One has been pretty much agreed upon while the other has proof against it. Zach Snyder makes the list a third time. Someone is killing off superheroes including a former Watchmen called The Comedian. You see superheroes took over in the 40’s and Richard Nixon never left office. As a vigilante named Rorschach looks to find whodunit, we get the whole story of this alternate history.

2. The Avengers (2012)

Earth’s mightiest heroes are assembling and they’re in for a fight. As Thor’s trickster brother Loki works to destroy as much as possible on Earth he calls upon the Chitauri to help him exterminate the issue. As the team joins forces they’ll also have to work on trusting each other, as well as making sure they don’t kill each other first. Joss Whedon pens the script for a film that ended up making 1.5 billion dollars making it the third highest-grossing film in history (behind the James Cameron duo of Titanic and Avatar). Probably the most fun of all the films on the list, I believe that’s how it got here.

1. The Dark Knight (2008)

Here it is the greatest comic book film of all-times. Let the arguments begin! What we can’t argue is that this film deserves to be on the list, where depends on who you ask. Christopher Nolan’s masterpiece got the most number one picks, and cleared the runner up by twenty points. We all know the story here. Batman must stop the diabolical Joker whose only purpose is anarchy. Throw in a district attorney whose Gotham’s “savior”, and you have a play even Shakespeare could appreciate. Full of pathos, and brimming with a grit not seen before. It’s a classic in it’s genre, and a film that redefined the comic book superhero adaptation forever. Guess Joel Schumacher got one thing right..Batman is forever!

What do you guys think? Did we make the right choice? Let us know in the comment section below! Or yell at us tell us via Twitter @FilmSnobReviews and tell me how you disagree we like a good argument!