Comic Book Movies That Improved Upon The Source Material?

[Detective Conan]

What are the instances where a comic book movie made a change to an element of the source material that you felt was an improvement?

Things that come to mind:

Batman (1989): The portrayal of Gotham as this otherworldly Gothic city with elements of German Expressionism is way more interesting than comics Gotham (which was depicted as a normal city at the time).

Batman Returns (1992): Catwoman’s origin is so much more symbolically tragic and haunting than many of the comics versions.

Spider-Man Homecoming (2017): The Vulture being changed into a Walter White-esque character in terms of motivation with a tech suit made from the alien scraps leftover from the Battle Of New York.

Superman (1978): Turning Krypton into a ice planet, I thought, was a great idea and much superior to what the comics had depicted until then.

Batman Begins (2005): The portrayal of Bruce Wayne, and his origin I thought was more psychologically credible & fleshed out than what many comics had done up to that point.

The Dark Knight (2008): The Joker just having war paint; and the scars instead of falling in a vat of chemicals.

Spider-Man (2002): Uncle Ben getting killed in a car jacking with Peter being there during his last moments is much better than Ben dying in a home invasion with Peter not being present.

Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017): Ego being Peter Quill’s father is way more interesting to me than him being the son of J’son.

 

[Milk Tray Guy]

I preferred the Watchmen movie's nuclear reactor detonations to Alan Moore's squid-monster (and I love Alan Moore).

As much as I love the Flashpoint comics, I enjoy the animated movie Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox even more. Ditto with Batman: Under the Red Hood.

I thought Blade's persona and abilities were far better in the movies (very different to how Blade was in the comics at the time the first film was made).

I found McKellen's and (especially) Fassbender's Magneto far more interesting than he was in the comics.

And the biggest one for me without doubt, Chris Evans as Captain America. I'd never been a fan of the character in the comics, and when Evans was cast I thought 'Either Evans is going to be boring, or Cap's gonna be a wise-ash'. Neither was the case, and he might be my favourite piece of CBM casting so far.

 

[henzINNIT]

Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters

 

[Schlosser85]

I have lots of problems with Spider-Man: Homecoming, but the movie's Vulture is way better than the comics version.

Also Watchmen's nuclear explosion is much better than the comics' goofy-ash squid monster.

 

[MbJ]

Civil War was a much better movie than it was a comic.

Burton's Gotham became so iconic they copied it for the comics.

 

[Batmannerism]

I preferred the Watchmen movie's nuclear reactor detonations to Alan Moore's squid-monster (and I love Alan Moore).

As much as I love the Flashpoint comics, I enjoy the animated movie Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox even more. Ditto with Batman: Under the Red Hood.

I thought Blade's persona and abilities were far better in the movies (very different to how Blade was in the comics at the time the first film was made).

I found McKellen's and (especially) Fassbender's Magneto far more interesting than he was in the comics.

And the biggest one for me without doubt, Chris Evans as Captain America. I'd never been a fan of the character in the comics, and when Evans was cast I thought 'Either Evans is going to be boring, or Cap's gonna be a wise-ash'. Neither was the case, and he might be my favourite piece of CBM casting so far.

Thank God ! I thought I was the only person who thought that a Dr Manhattan Apocalypse made more sense than a giant psychic squid attack that came out of nowhere. And I love ( most of ) Alan Moore too.

Also totally agree on MCU Cap, back in the day I loathed Captain America as a comic book character, as a boring, sanctimonious " go U-S-A " stooge - but the MCU made him into a likeable ,humble and decent person that I could cheer for. By Winter Soldier I was changing my mind and by Civil War I was on team Cap all the way.

 

[Spidey_62]

Into the Spider-Verse: the Spider-Verse comic book story is a bloated, mean-spirited mess. Into the Spider-Verse simultaneously takes concepts from the early Miles Morales comics, Spider-Men, and Spider-Verse and improves upon all of them by making it super succinct and celebrates what the franchise is about 100%.

I was really looking forward to the Spider-Verse comic story when it was announced. Many are more critical of Dan Slott's Spidey than me, I enjoyed Superior for the most part but when Peter returned the stories were very flat so I stopped reading and very quickly came back because of Spider-Verse but that too was a big letdown. The scope of it is way too huge and cosmic for Spider-Man.

Throwing "every" Spider-person ever in just crowds the room and it's just 6 issues of Spider-people being killed by Morlun's energy-vampire family and teams of Spider-people fighting them ad nauseum. The central core of the story is supposed to be reaffirming why Peter is the greatest of them all. But like, why? The story explicitly has tons of Peter Parker's, but there really isn't anything that makes ours "the one" other than he's who we've followed for 50+ years. It's so dumb.

The movie gets this so much better because being Peter isn't what's important, it's just that anybody/any shape/size can be Spider-Man if they stand up for what's right and it's so much more effective of a realization. Plus the whole scope of it was much more focused and more believable and Spidey-like in the dimension hopping with it being based in scientific tinkering. Kingpin and his more down to earth motivation being the catalyst for it all too is much more concise and on brand than Morlun's magical family is hungry for spider totems.

This probably comes off as a tirade by this point but I was just so happy how the movie actually took the concept which I thought could work and actually made it work.

Honestly, the movie probably improved on Miles' character as well by giving him more to stand on his own like his interest in graffiti factoring in to his Spider-Man costume. The Prowler relationship in the comics was wasted in my opinion as well, his uncle is a straight up evil jerk who you don't like at all and he puts Miles down constantly and it's just not as emotionally effective as their relationship is in the movie.

I think the movie even did the Spider-Men inspired bits better than that book did them. Miles getting to hang out with a version of Peter Parker but not his Peter Parker is there, but the movie's version of making it an almost 40 year old de-spirited Peter was an inspired choice because it also gave Peter a heartfelt arc that we haven't seen done before. It makes the Aunt May meeting hit even more because that Peter had lost his Aunt May, unlike the comic version where it's less of a two-sided gut punch but is treated like one anyway.

Bottom line is the Spider-Verse movie not only did it better than the story it's named after but it did it better than two other stories as well.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

Thank God ! I thought I was the only person who thought that a Dr Manhattan Apocalypse made more sense than a giant psychic squid attack that came out of nowhere. And I love ( most of ) Alan Moore too.

Also totally agree on MCU Cap, back in the day I loathed Captain America as a comic book character, as a boring, sanctimonious " go U-S-A " stooge - but the MCU made him into a likeable ,humble and decent person that I could cheer for. By Winter Soldier I was changing my mind and by Civil War I was on team Cap all the way.

No offense man but... How much Captain America had you read in comics up until Evans took the part?

A boring, santimonious "go U-S-A" stooge is the last thing Steve Rogers in Marvel Comics has ever been. I don't recognize the majority of classic Cap Comics writing being even close to this vein during the Post-Thaw-Out return to publication. I can't speak for the 1940's war comics.

Frank question... Was your opinion of Captain America, the character and the comics, not actually based on any extensive experience and reading of comics with him and more likely the caricature of the type of character Cap is that's a staple of pop-culture, but not actually representative of the character and flavor of Cap stories?

Sort of similar to how because of the George Reeves TV show everyone thinks Lois Lane is a forking idiot for not realizing Clark and Superman are one and the same when the reality it that in the comics Lois' schtick was that she KNEW Clark was Superman and was always trying to prove it?

 

[Spidey_62]

Cap has always been awesome, the movie's just showed everybody that.

 

[Zarex]

There's a lot of stuff I like better. But the first thing that comes to mind is Storm's eyes clouding over when using her powers rather than being perpetually pupil-less. I remember sitting in the theater when Storm was being attacked by Sabretooth and thinking "Ooh, that looks cool!"

 

[Batmannerism]

No offense man but... How much Captain America had you read in comics up until Evans took the part?

A boring, santimonious "go U-S-A" stooge is the last thing Steve Rogers in Marvel Comics has ever been. I don't recognize the majority of classic Cap Comics writing being even close to this vein during the Post-Thaw-Out return to publication. I can't speak for the 1940's war comics.

Frank question... Was your opinion of Captain America, the character and the comics, not actually based on any extensive experience and reading of comics with him and more likely the caricature of the type of character Cap is that's a staple of pop-culture, but not actually representative of the character and flavor of Cap stories?

Sort of similar to how because of the George Reeves TV show everyone thinks Lois Lane is a ****ing idiot for not realizing Clark and Superman are one and the same when the reality it that in the comics Lois' schtick was that she KNEW Clark was Superman and was always trying to prove it?

I read a bunch of Cap in the early 80s, as well as Avengers - including the classic Scourge and Death of Modok storylines. I found him boring as bad place, - although on reflection calling him a stooge is harsh, and probably inaccurate, that's more appropriate for USAgent.

I would argue that Ultimate Cap is a lot more go USA ( e.g. when he tells the Chitauri leader that he'll never surrender because the A on his cowl doesn't stand for France), but when we get into alternative versions of a character then there's no end.

But I take your point, there's plenty of Cap storylines I haven't read which may paint him in a more favourable light - and if I'm wrong, so be it.

Regardless, I still found him an extremely dull character with very little personality- until the MCU came along.

 

[Kahran Ramsus]

Civil War by a mile. The comic version started alright but by halfway through became a disjointed mess that did its best to turn Tony Stark (and those on his side) into Nazis. The movie fixes all of that and is my favorite movie in the entire MCU.

 

[Milk Tray Guy]

I would argue that Ultimate Cap is a lot more go USA ( e.g. when he tells the Chitauri leader that he'll never surrender because the A on his cowl doesn't stand for France)...

 

[Drizzle]

I thought Kick-ash was a big improvement over the comic, which was so mean-spirited just for the sake of it even by Millar’s standards.

 

[Daltonio]

I thought Kick-ash was a big improvement over the comic, which was so mean-spirited just for the sake of it even by Millar’s standards.

This is what I came here to say. I'm re-reading through some of the comics right now and am half-way through Kick-ash 2 and it's just so.. edgy for the sake of being edgy. The first book wasn't as bad and I actually prefer the origin of Big Daddy in the comics over the movie, but the movie keeps the basic heart of the movie and tones down the edginess to a perfect spot.

 

[Batmannerism]

I thought Kick-ash was a big improvement over the comic, which was so mean-spirited just for the sake of it even by Millar’s standards.

Totally agree - even the crappy Kick ash 2 manages to be less offensive and repulsive than the comic. It's still a crappy film, but the comic is pretty damn nasty.

Amazing what Mark Millar can do when he has some editorial standards to adhere to - e.g Red Son. The reverse is also true. When he has free reign....yuck.

 

[Herofan]

It's hard for me to think of outright better rather than, at best, as good.

Maybe Catwoman and the Penguin in Batman Returns, but I maybe haven't read enough of the comic characters and even if I have they're very different characters for different kinds of media, the movie versions definitely not meant to be really for-all-ages or to be regular ongoing characters.

Probably Rogue in X-Men (at least a lot more likeable, at least as strong drama but with more streamlined background) and maybe Iceman and Pyro in X2 (more depth though I maybe haven't read enough of comics Iceman).

 

[Mandon Knight]

Kick-ash (the first film) is a vastly superior 'product' over it's original source, of which that and the sequel comic (which is pretty abhorrent). I dislike the sequel film, it just has zero to like about it.

 

[Milk Tray Guy]

I watched the animated movie Batman: Hush for the first time today.

The big twist change

Spoiler

Hush is actually Riddler; Thomas Elliot died for real in the alley

which we get in the third act was fine for me. Normally I can't stand Damian, but his short appearance (and dating advice to Batman - 'Use protection'!) had me laughing. It also made the Bat/Cat romance work, something that for me only Batman Returns had done before. I own the trade, although I'm not a huge fan of the story (the main appeal is Jim Lee's artwork). This version worked better for me (looking on Reddit, opinion seems split pretty much 50-50 between those who love the movie and those who hate it). So yes, I'd call this an improvement.

 

[metaphysician]

Civil War by a mile. The comic version started alright but by halfway through became a disjointed mess that did its best to turn Tony Stark (and those on his side) into Nazis. The movie fixes all of that and is my favorite movie in the entire MCU.

It even managed to do so while keeping Tony the villain of the piece.

Anyway, speaking of Cap. . . Winter Soldier. While the original Winter Soldier arc was nowhere near the dumpster fire of Civil War, it still wasn't a very good story. And like with Civil War, the movie adaptation basically fixed Winter Soldier by keeping almost nothing from the source comic.

 

[MCU King]

The majority of Marvel Studios movies have been vast improvements over the source material; made the stories accessible and cool to general audiences who don't read comic books or care about them. That's the strength of Marvel's approach. They turned such abstract and ridiculous concepts from the funny pages into beloved stories for all audiences to enjoy.

Batman Begins and The Dark Knight really set the stage for that trilogy to be an improvement over the source material (and those DC comics were good source material). But then TDKR came around and ruined it. TDKR was a vast step down from the comics and was almost a betrayal of them; especially retiring Bruce Wayne at 38 years old, and the reinterpretation of Bane. Now the Dark Knight Trilogy looks more like an Elseworlds tale.

 

[Dark Raven]

Civil War by a mile. The comic version started alright but by halfway through became a disjointed mess that did its best to turn Tony Stark (and those on his side) into Nazis. The movie fixes all of that and is my favorite movie in the entire MCU.

Agree. The Civil War movie is far more meaningful and about government oversight and accountability, which feels more important than just being about secret identities (which doesn't even exist in the MCU anyway). You can completely understand Tony's point of view and he still comes across as sympathetic, whereas everyone ended up hating him and his side in the comics. Everything feels in character and not just written to try to make one side the villains.

 

[Kahran Ramsus]

The movie Civil War makes Tony the antagonist without making him despicable. He is trying to make the best of a bad situation. Trying to control the situation to prevent hardliners like Ross from taking over and resorting to violent methods. He can also be reasoned with and begins to doubt his view, which is why he goes to Siberia to meet with Cap.

At least until the end, and even then it is understandable that he loses himself in a fit of passion and rage upon discovering Cap was protecting the murderer of his parents.

Comic Tony was basically a war criminal.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

The movie Civil War makes Tony the antagonist without making him despicable. He is trying to make the best of a bad situation. Trying to control the situation to prevent hardliners like Ross from taking over and resorting to violent methods. He can also be reasoned with and begins to doubt his view, which is why he goes to Siberia to meet with Cap.

At least until the end, and even then it is understandable that he loses himself in a fit of passion and rage upon discovering Cap was protecting the murderer of his parents.

Comic Tony was basically a war criminal.

Comic Tony is not nearly as likeable as film Tony in general imo. Which is one of the reasons I think Civil War worked. Tony is annoying, but in a way that feels understandable, outside of AoU.

 

[Dark Raven]

Comic Tony is not nearly as likeable as film Tony in general imo. Which is one of the reasons I think Civil War worked. Tony is annoying, but in a way that feels understandable, outside of AoU.

Civil War showed a progression of Tony's character because of the events of Age of Ultron. At the start of Iron Man 1, he would've shunned government oversight. However, seeing how things got out of hand (and also because Mariah Dillard socked it to Shellhead at the start of the film), he now felt responsible for things and felt he and others had to be accountable and not just go rogue.

Civil War was more like a Civil Skirmish in the film though compared to the comics.