8 Great Comic Book Storylines Which Were Totally F***ed Up By Superhero Movies

While the majority of superhero movies do their own thing, many borrow storylines from the comics. Some do them well, others not so much, but these movies f***ed up some true classics on the big screen.

By JoshWilding - Jul 19, 2016 09:07 AM EST

Filed Under: Batman vs. Superman

When you look back over the dozens of superhero movies which have been released over the past few decades, only a very small handful have adapted storylines from the comics books. They've all obviously been influenced by the source material in some ways, but for the most part, they've decided to take things in their own direction telling original stories with some very familiar characters.

However, there are some which have quite clearly adapted certain storylines, whether it's just been in a portion of the movie or pretty much the whole thing. Sometimes they get it right even if they aren't ultimately all that faithful, but there are some which just go wrong and ruin some classic comic book arcs in the process. Who knows then when we'll ever get the chance to see them done well?

That's what makes this so frustrating. When a comic book storyline isn't handled the right way on the big screen, the chances of it getting another chance are slim, especially when there are so many others worth borrowing material from. What you'll find here then are eight amazing stories from the comic books which ended up being completely ruined by the films which attempted to adapt them.

8. The Death Of Superman

As many of you no doubt already know, I really liked Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. It had its fair share of issues, but the Death of Superman is something I feel it handled pretty well (it definitely came as a surprise, and the Man of Steel sacrificing himself was an undeniably emotional moment). However, could it have been done better? Absolutely.

Clearly scared of creating more online backlash by having the fight take place in the city, The Trinity squaring off with Doomsday - who looked terrible, another reason this moment is highlighted here - on an abandoned island felt underwhelming as there weren't as many stakes as there otherwise might have been. As a result, this just didn't feel as epic as it probably should have and arguably deserved a movie to itself rather than just being tacked onto Batman v Superman after we'd already seen the fight promised by the title.

Captain America: The First Avenger is an underrated gem in my honest opinion, but like The Avengers, I can't help but feel that it could have handled Steve Rogers' arrival in the present day a little better. A couple of random S.H.I.E.L.D. agents discovering his body in the Arctic paled in comparison to that amazing scene from the comic books where Earth's Mightiest Heroes all stand around the hero after recovering his body during a battle with Namor.

A blink and you'd miss it shot of him lying half frozen on a table sort of made up for that, but The Avengers still didn't really delve into Steve being a man out of time (which The Ultimates did really well) outside of him not understanding a few snarky references. Joss Whedon did his best with the limited amount of screentime he had to explore Cap's transition from World War II to the present, but it needed and deserved more than what it got.

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6. Green Lantern: Secret Origin

Green Lantern was a movie with too many cooks in the kitchen, hence why it ended up being a complete and utter mess. However, it was clear that it took most of its influence from Geoff Johns' stellar comic book run, with Green Lantern: Secret Origin used as a basis for Hal Jordan's story here. Following the basic blueprint of that story, the movie for some reason pretty much scrapped all the best bits, keeping only the basics and not doing a very good job of adapting them to live-action.

Throwing Parallax into the mix - another character created by Johns, albeit in a different arc - felt totally random, and the decision to turn him into a giant brown cloud rather than the monstrous yellow entity dreamed up by Johns was baffling. This movie just failed to get anything right when all was said and done, but that hopefully hasn't deterred Warner Bros. from turning to Johns' work for inspiration down the line.

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5. Demon In A Bottle

Even before Marvel was bought by Disney, them tackling Tony Stark's alcoholism always felt somewhat unlikely. However, they decided to pop it in as a subplot of sorts in the already extremely crowded Iron Man 2, but they really needn't have bothered. In an extremely loose adaptation of Demon in a Bottle, Tony got a little drunk and trashed his mansion like an idiot, and while it did appear as if the movie was going to touch on him having a drinking problem, it was forgotten about after a coffee with Nick Fury.

There were other elements borrowed from this storyline in the movie too though, including Justin Hammer. While Sam Rockwell was a lot of fun to watch, he was wasted here and a far cry from the man who pretty much broke Iron Man's spirits in the source material. Since this movie, Tony being an alcoholic has never been touched on, so don't expect to see it in Iron Man 4 (if it ever happens).

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4. Superman: Birthright

Despite rumours early on that Man of Steel would adapt Mark Waid and Leinil Yu's superb Superman: Birthright, it ended up borrowing only a handful of elements, though those still had quite an impact on the movie (Superman's first flight for example was very close to that comic book). Zack Snyder and David Goyer's biggest mistake was not taking more from Birthright, especially as this movie could have done with the optimism it brought to the table.

Clark Kent travelling the world before donning the costume and even Jesse Eisenberg's Lex Luthor from Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice were clearly inspired by this tale, but the spirit of Superman was still missing from Man of Steel in many ways, hence why Waid was so upset by the movie at the time. As good as it was to see some elements lifted from Birthright, it ultimately needed a hell of a lot more of them.

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3. The Fantastic

Fox messed up the Fantastic Four's origin story back in 2005 and later dropped the ball on The Coming of Galactus, and while it was clear from the start that Josh Trank's reboot wasn't going to be exactly comic book faithful, it did at least appear as if it would adapt the decent enough first arc of Ultimate Fantastic Four by Mark Millar and Brian Michael Bendis.

That comic wasn't too fantastical, but the movie was even less so, and while it got some elements right - The Baxter Building being a government think tank and the initial relationship between Reed and Victor before they became drinking buddies - it completely dropped the ball on the rest by being too grounded. We never even got to see their prototype costumes, and even the weird goat feet Doom from the comics was better than the mess we ended up with in Fantastic Four. What a waste of Toby Kebbell...

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2. The Dark Phoenix Saga

The fact that the writer of X-Men: The Last Stand has acknowledged completely f***ing up The Dark Phoenix Saga says it all really. It was Bryan Singer who set the stage for this iconic storyline to be brought to the big screen in X2, but he abandoned the X-Men franchise to go and make Superman Returns, leaving it in the less than capable hands of Simon Kinberg and Brett Ratner.

While they got Jean coming back from the dead right, everything else was horribly wrong, and adding insult to injury was the fact that The Last Stand also did an appalling job of adapting The Cure from Joss Whedon's stellar run on Astonishing X-Men. This movie was all about showing a crazy and out of control Jean, and as a result, it missed the point of what made her transformation into the Phoenix so great in the comics (something emphasised by the focus on Wolverine instead of Cyclops).

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1. Civil War

Make no mistake about it, Captain America: Civil War is one of Marvel's best movies and a bona fide 5* flick. However, when it comes to being an adaptation of Mark Millar and Steve McNiven's Civil War comic book, it disappoints. As glad as I was to see Chris Evans make it out of the movie alive (because he's, you know, awesome), it was hard not to fell let down that Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting's epilogue featuring the assassination of the patriotic superhero wasn't included here, especially as that would have drastically changed the landscape of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Phase 3.

The movie was also unable to include everything from Spider-Man's decision to switch sides to The Punisher's surprise appearance and that finale Negative Zone battle which spilled into New York City. As a result, regardless of how great this film was, it's hard not to wish it could have stuck closer to the story its named after.

Which of these movies disappointed you the most? Have we missed any others which were a let down when it came to adapting famous comic book storylines? Share your thoughts below!

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193 Comments

1 2 3 4 5

GinjaNinja - 7/19/2016, 9:06 AM

Thank you for confirming that it was not that they were bad movies, but that they just didn't adapt the exact storyline (which I am actually glad). Although some movies sucked

Quartzo - 7/19/2016, 9:06 AM

"The Death Of Superman" is [frick]ing shit.

OptimusGrinds - 7/19/2016, 9:46 AM

@xDeathStroke - I watched Max Landis's video on it and it perfectly describes how stupid it is. Return of Superman was worse imo.

BIGBMH - 7/19/2016, 9:50 AM

@xDeathStroke - Lol, I clicked on this article just to argue that point. It's just a tedious, drawn out fight the ends with both of them "dying." Hardly even deserves to be called a story, let alone a great story.

ICStoopedPeople - 7/19/2016, 7:46 PM

@MrDitkovich - I always forget Mandy Moore is in this. Whenever I watch it I immediately think, "I wonder how they got Mandy Moore."

Clundgren - 7/20/2016, 12:43 AM

@xDeathStroke - Not only is it a sh*tty comic, it also inspired the trend of "killing" off marquee characters as a publicity stunt, only to bring them back soon after.

Which is yet another reason it was a terrible subplot in the film. How could the scene be "emotional" when the whole audience knows that he will be back in the very next film?

And why complaining about Civil War *not* killing Captain America is dumb. Killing characters off just to resurrect them again right away is bad. It's a terrible trend in comics; we need it to stay out of the films (yes, the X-Men have already f**ked that one up).

SuperCat - 7/19/2016, 9:08 AM

LOL!!! That headline!

blackandyellow - 7/19/2016, 9:08 AM

The worst has to be how bad 2004 Punisher [frick]ed up "Welcome Back, Frank."

AlexdoxA - 7/19/2016, 9:11 AM

@blackandyellow - What about Wolverine's catch phrase delivery in Origins...

McGee - 7/19/2016, 10:03 AM

As a Punisher fan, I want to say f*ck you...but you're not wrong. :(

exies7 - 7/19/2016, 9:11 AM

I actually agree with everything on the list. I enjoyed all of these movies but when a superhero flick fails to exceed or match the original inspiration, I wonder if the adaption was really needed at all.

I was let down by both bvs and civil war but I enjoy both movies (civil war a bit more) but the source material was better.

One displayed a barely emotional death (to me, my opinion) because there was no investment and the other played it a little safe.

Either way, we're getting good films and that's all that matters but I wish both companies would focus on better writing. Civil war was masterfully put together but the story itself was a little average. BvS took risks but I'm not sure it justified itself in terms of viable adaptions.

PesciGotPepsi - 7/19/2016, 9:18 AM

Comic book movies shouldn't be 100% accurate, so saying Civil War suffered from not being just like the comic is frankly silly. I for one think the movie was even better then the comic, and making it more accurate would have made the movie worse IMHO

exies7 - 7/19/2016, 9:21 AM

@PesciGotPepsi - one thing I will say, the actual civil war comic (imo) wasn't very good. I'm not sure a direct adaption would have worked better but I do think the story they used was a bit safe.

DallasAvenger - 7/19/2016, 9:18 AM

Yeah, the Dark Phoenix Saga, the Death of Superman and Demon in a Bottle were all handled pretty terribly. The Fantastic isn't even a good comic storyline so I don't think that really counts. The origins aren't good movies but it never really felt to me like they were trying to tell those particular retellings of the origins.

But I don't really want the stories from the comics translated to the big screen. I want the characters to be essentially exact translations from the comics but I want to see them in new stories you could only tell on the big screen.

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8 Great Comic Book Storylines Which Were Totally F***ed Up By Superhero Movies

While the majority of superhero movies do their own thing, many borrow storylines from the comics. Some do them well, others not so much, but these movies f***ed up some true classics on the big screen.

8. The Death Of Superman

7. Captain America Lives Again

6. Green Lantern: Secret Origin

5. Demon In A Bottle

4. Superman: Birthright

3. The Fantastic

2. The Dark Phoenix Saga

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