Top 4 Movies Based on Comic Books

A long time ago, comic books were a way for the socially inept to come out of their shell, enjoy a bit of escapism, or experience stories in a new way. Since the 70s, however, movie companies have realized there’s money to be made by following the comic books. For our list of the top 4 movies based on comics, we are going to limit ourselves to one movie per franchise, in order to give fair opportunity to all of them. Mind you, there are plenty of comic book movies that don’t feature superheroes or superpowers, but we may make another list for them.

Watchmen

Normally, when you see a comic book adaptation, there are too many changes in order to either try something new or pander to the audience of the time. That’s why He-Man, for example, had a mullet and Teela had a perm in the movie.

Because of this, it is really refreshing to find a movie that follows the comic book design and plot almost to the letter. Granted, there are a few differences, like the characters possessing superhuman strength, the different defining moment of Rorschach’s career, and the disaster that strikes the world, but all-in-all, an excellent comic turned into a superb film on what it means to be morally right, how to treat criminals and the common people and should heroes wear masks in the first place.

Logan

This movie was the perfect way to allow Hugh Jackman to step away from the X-Men franchise by following bits of the Old Man Logan storyline. The movie follows Wolverine after his mutant powers started failing him. He is older, slower, and doesn’t heal quite as effectively as he used to. As it turns out, he just one of the many mutants who lost their abilities and he is working as a limo driver to make ends meet and to take care of now demented Charles Xavier.

In a twist, he has to care for a little girl that has his powers of healing and claws – X-23, or Laura Kinney, portrayed by Dafne Keen. This is, arguably, the best X-Men movie out there. Interestingly enough, there was an attempt to make a movie about X-23, but there is no confirmation on whether the movie will ever be created.

The Dark Knight

Christopher Nolan made the movie the best Batman movies there are, and not just by acting. He also produced and directed the movies and we got to witness the last great performance of Heath Ledger as the Joker. The movie was inspired by several storylines, including the famous “The Killing Joke”. It was very difficult to choose which film from the trilogy should be included on this list, as they all deserve a spot. However, out of the three, The Dark Knight is the best and we are yet to see a better Batman than Nolan.

Superman II

Henry Cavil is amazing, but we cannot forget the late and great Christopher Reeve. There are two different cuts of the movie out there, but both are awesome and either one is, by far, the finest Superman movie past and present. There is the iconic line “Kneel before Zod”, there is the Superman we all know and love, what is there left to ask?

The wonderful thing about the movie’s plot is that it gives the main character a chance to walk away from his powers and to face responsibility of three super-humans conquering his planet (sound familiar?) So, not only is this movie the best Superman movie, but it is one of the greatest films based on a comic.