The one genre that is dominating cinema is the comic book hero film, in particular, those from Marvel and DC comics. In fact with shows like Arrow and Supergirl you could argue they are dominating our TV viewing too.
We have to admit though we are slightly losing interest with them a bit, we enjoy them and we have quite a few of them in our collection, but maybe we need a break from these films dominating the box office.
With companies like Disney behind them, the love for them on social media, these CGI/Special Effects blockbusters are certainly here to stay for a while, which could be a shame for more original blockbusters!
We certainly have enough films in the comic book back catalogue to keep us going, if they took a break!
Here are 12 of our favourites from our collection:
- Men In Black:
The Will Smith/Tommy Lee Jones film was based on a comic by Lowell Cunningham. This really was a great comedy/monster movie which brought back memories of classics such as Ghostbusters.
A poor sequel followed but the time travelling Men in Black 3 we found a lot better. A fourth film planned as a crossover with 21 Jump Street, MIB23, seems to have sadly stalled at present.
- Hellboy
Brought to the screen by the great Guillermo del Toro from the pages of Mike Mignola’s comics, if we were honest, we thought the first Hellboy film was okay but makes our list as we found Hellboy II: The Golden Army a rare sequel which is much better than the original. Ron Perlman is brilliant in the title role!
- Sin City
This film had an all-star cast including Bruce Willis; Jessica Alba and a great performance from Mickey Rourke. It was directed by Robert Rodriguez with Quentin Tarantino and the comic book creator himself Frank Miller
It’s Black and white style has been imitated many times, but this is still the best example of it, sadly Sin City: A Dame To Kill For was a weaker sequel, despite another great cast and both Rodriguez and Miller returning to direct.
- The Crow
A film probably more known for the tragic death of Brandon Lee, it is at least a fitting tribute to the actor, as it is by far his best role. Alex Proyas directed from James O’Barr’s comic.
A man is brutally murdered with his fiancee but is brought back to life a year later to carry out his revenge. A sign of how good this film is can be seen by the fact that the numerous sequels can not taint it.
A sign of how good this film is can be seen by the fact that the numerous sequels can not taint it. A remake has been rumoured for some time, the latest with Jason Momoa in the title role looks like it may actually happen.
- BatMan
The caped crusader of Gotham, created by Bob Kane, has probably been served best of most comics on the big screen, originally loved when played by Adam West for almost laughs, he rose again and kick-started comic books as films when Tim Burton brought him back to the screen.
He’s had some blips namely Batman and Robin, but this was our most difficult to choose a specific one, we love Burton’s versions, especially Batman Returns but our winner is another Bat Sequel, Christopher Nolan followed up his Batman Begins with the great The Dark Knight with an incredible performance by Heath Ledger as the Joker.
- X-Men
Bryan Singer brought us X-Men and X2 but then the poorest film so far (in our opinion) came along; Brett Ratner’s X-Men: the Last Stand which seemed to end the franchise based on the comics of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby but a prequel X-Men: First Class rebooted the franchise from director Matthew Vaughn.
Two sequels to the prequel have since followed with director Bryan Singer returning to form after his other comic book hero had a very poor box office return in Superman Returns film.
The X-Men reboot trilogy is probably our preference of the 2, this may be swayed because the new films cast BMAF favourite, Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique yet the original trilogy did give us Hugh Jackman as Wolverine.
- Deadpool
We toyed with putting this higher, it certainly is the newest to our list but we have not watched nearly as many times as the others so can not argue for it without repeated viewings.
Ryan Reynolds however, is simply superb as the Fabian Nicieza/Rob Liefield comic character in this box office smash from director Tim Miller.
It was considered a huge gamble on keeping to the foul-mouthed, violent origins of the comic book but it worked superbly.
It certainly is a vast improvement on Deadpool’s first screen outing in X-Men Origins: Wolverine!
- Blade
Gene Colan and Marv Wolfman’s character came to life in a superb performance from Wesley Snipes.
The first film directed by Stephen Norrington in 1998 was a crazy comic book film but its sequel directed by Del Toro like his Hellboy 2, was a sequel that incredibly was just as good as the first. Sadly the third film was released for a PG13 market and it suffered badly for it.
Sadly the third film was released for a PG13 market and it suffered badly for it. With talks of on set fall outs, Blade was never to be seen on screen again.
Blade would live on in a short-lived TV series, but to this day hopes are he will return to the Marvel universe, as a character in the Avengers or in a fourth film with Wesley even hoped to return to the role.
- Kick-Ass
This film had ordinary high school students becoming superheroes to fight crime, it was incredibly violent but it was also incredibly entertaining. Based on a comic book by Mark Millar and John Romita jr and directed by Matthew Vaughn
The bad guys are brutal but the students with no powers and basic fighting skills make a difference. A weaker sequel from director Jeff Wadlow followed, which was a real shame, it just didn’t seem to have the same magic as the original, even though it added the likes of Jim Carrey to the cast.
- Guardians of the Galaxy
We were curious about this film from director James Gunn, as loved his cult classic films like Slither and Super, but could he do big budget.
Simple answer, YES. Chris Pratt went from TV’s Parks and Recreation Andy and Lego Movie Emmett to movie megastar almost overnight as Star-Lord in this truly fun space movie, with characters as memorable as Star Wars including Vin Diesel as a tree and Bradley Cooper as a Racoon (Yes really) from the pages of Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning‘s comic book series.
Big action, good story and brilliant performances with comedy thrown in and a great retro soundtrack, this really is worth a watch as offers something different from other Marvel by the book heroes, such as Captain America and Thor. We can’t wait for the sequel which promises to be even bigger and better!
2. Dredd
Coming from the pages of 2000AD this really is one of our most favourite films of recent years, how this film flopped is just beyond us.
Part Robocop/Part Rambo; Dredd is the ultimate law enforcer in a futuristic crime-ridden tower block.
See it and then like us, cross your fingers for a sequel.
- The Mask
I was already a huge fan of Jim Carrey, because of his TV show In Living Color so had rushed out to see his first big hit, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective but the Mask, very loosely based on the Dark Horse Comics series, may just be the film I love him most for.
He may have had audiences thinking he could only gurn funny faces, but in The Mask, he portrayed the shy and unlucky in love Stanley Ipkiss and the overly confident crazy hero the Mask.
Audiences also fell in love with the debut of Cameron Diaz as the love interest/damsel in distress
This is a must see film, which almost works on every level, action film/comic book film/Romance/Comedy and Pepper loves it for Milo, Stanley’s dog too
Sadly not even another cute dog, Otis, could save the sequel Son of the Mask, though. Ben Stein as Dr. Neuman is the only returning character, we guess the others read the script!
Who is your favourite comic book character to leave the pages for the big screen? We would love to hear from you
Never miss a BMAF blog. Receive email notifications when new posts are published by entering your email address in the subscription box on the top right-hand side of this page.
You can also like us on Facebook for more film and cinema-related content
www.facebook.com/barkingmadaboutfilms/