What's your favorite period comic book movie?

[Breogan]

Probably the Zorro franchise.
With Hopkins playing a continuation of Fairbanks', last one wasn't great, but these somewhat work as a period "superhero" legacy Trilogy.
And with the extended ending Alejandro(Banderas) passing the mantle to his son Joaquin.

Pretty much:

Mask of Zorro
Captain America(1stA),
The Rocketeer
The Shadow
Watchmen (although admittedly until others indicated it, I didn't first come to mind as period film since I read it in the 80s)
& The Phantom are my favorites.

Okay, technically it was a pulp novel series .... first. But [it] did have a comic series before the film.

And since the OP allowed for it and opened the door to all the pulp proto-superheroes, I'll add Solomon Kane

 

[def28]

Yeah, Mask Of Zorro is friggin awesome. Dug the historical references in that flick as well. That's probably my favorite. Followed by Rocketeer.

 

[Breogan]

Does Sky Captain count?

Kind of a hybrid nod to Fleischer Superman, Spysmasher, Captain Midnight and other aviator pulp heroes of the time.

Also very comic book stylized is Dick Tracy

 

[Batmannerism]

Watchmen, absolutely. While X-Men First Class is a better film, Watchmen was incredibly ambitious and is largely successful - and ultimately saved by the perfect casting of Jackie Earle Haley as Rorschach (which made up for the other castings, which were terrible, except JD Morgan as Comedian).

I see Watchmen as more of an achievement than X-Men FC, which is saying a lot because somehow Snyder pulled it off - I mean, you know Matthew Vaughn is going to make a good film, but Snyder is so hit and miss.

After Batman v Superman I have to shake my head to believe that Snyder made Watchmen too.

 

[DACrowe]

If we are counting Zorro, here we go:

1. The Mask of Zorro
2. X-Men: First Class
3. X-Men: Days of Future Past
4. The Rocketeer
5. The Mark of Zorro (1940)
6. Watchmen
7. Road to Perdition
8. X-Men: Apocalypse
9. Captain America: First Avenger

Actually, Cap had a pretty weak first outing, I am not sure if I should even include it in the list.

 

[Peyton Westlake]

Captain America : TFA & Rocketeer are clearly the 2 best in my opinion.

Both happen to be by same director.

 

[spider-neil]

X-Men FC by miles

Massive soft spot for Rocketeer

 

[lordofthenerds]

1. X-Men: DOFP
2. X-Men: First Class
3. Captain America: TFA
4. Road to Perdition
5. 300

 

[SM_experiment]

I am suprised no has mentioned any french comics yet. I mean the Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn or all of them or The Extraordinary Adventure of Adele Blanc Sec or Blueberry or Lucky Luke or Asterix and others are to choose from in the period category. But here is a small list of my opinion:
The Extraordinary Adventure of Adele Blanc Sec a good adventure movie featuring The title heroin fighting mystical and technological horrors at the turn of the century early 1900s.
X-Men First Class the only really good X-Men movie.
Rocketeer fun adventure with rocket packs.
Road to Perdition is beautiful and wonderfully acted but also drags on in scenes.
The rest are different degrees of bad or mediocre.

Honorable mention: Watchmen. Has scenes that are wonderful but undermines the story thorugh plot changes, has none of the complexity and depth the comic has. With the exception of Jackie Earl Hailey and maybe Patrick Wilson the cast sucked. All the characters were made more heroic, especially Rorscharch except Ozymandias who is turned into the one dimensional villains his comic book counterpart mocked and was just so obviously evil when comic has no heroes and villains. Some of this wouldn't have been that grating on me if not for the fact that the movie tries so hard to be comic that when it fails, undermines and lacks so much of what makes the comic great just means everything is felt more.

 

[halo10]

1. Captain America Winter Soldier
2. Xmen 1st Class
3. Dark Knight
4. Xmen United
5. Spiderman (2001)
6. Avengers
7. Captain America:Civil War
8. Deadpool
9. Guardians of the Galaxy
10. Iron Man 3

(honorable mention: Xmen, Xmen Days of Future Past, Superman the movie, Superman 2, Man of Steel, Blade 2 )

 

[BoredGuy]

Cap: TFA for me
It was fun and pulpy and old school in all the right ways

The X-films' periods feel very fake and tacked on to me, as if someone once saw a picture of people in 70's clothes and was like "oo that could be fun in our movie"

And Watchmen and some of the others feel very modern despite the fact they're set in another time... if it wasn't for Nixon and the Cold War elements, that movie could've happened in any other time and been largely unchanged

 

[2kt09]

I haven't yet watched 300 or its sequel, so for the moment, I'm fine with Hercules being my favorite Greco-Roman cbm. The Rock's most wooden performance to date, but everything else attribute to a really enjoyable "swords and sandals" experience.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is one I'd love to go back and view.

Of the WW era movies I have seen (The Phantom, The Rocketeer, CA:TFA), The Rocketeer best encapsulates and sensationalizes the period, The Phantom emulates with an action adventure edge, and CA:TFA handles the war angle decently bolstered most by its performances.

If "neo-noir" counts, Frank Miller found a gorgeous aesthetic. The first Sin City comes out on top for telling a more swathing story, but The Spirit is still a visual treat. Watchmen is apparently under that umbrella, but I prefer to stick it with the post-war cbm's with that intro montage as practically the greatest of the aforementioned WW era flicks.

Of the period-focused X-flicks, DOFP is, without hesitation, my favorite for exactly the reasons Shikamaru made + other aspects enriched by the Cold War era setting. First Class was a neat homage to a cinematic style. Apocalypse didn't do as much as those 2. Origins Wolverine had that one good intro montage spanning a longer course.

Watchmen, I have to see again to properly judge.

 

[Webfoot Hero]

As I can't really remember much of the Rocketeer, I'll go with CA: TFA and X-Men: FC.

 

[Doctor Octopus]

Rocketeer was good for old 40's feeling. But movie not so good. Just ok.

 

[Breogan]

I'll now add Wonder Woman close to the top of my list!

Love that they chose the rarely used WWI setting.
Great use of incidental characters and specifics from the period, everything looked great!

 

[OutOfBoose]

FC and DoFP.

 

[Osiris-Rex]

1. Wonder Woman
2. Captain America: The First Avenger
3. Watchmen
4. The Rocketeer
5. League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

 

[Grootster]

I believe Captain America is the only period piece comic book movie I've seen.

Unless you count Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, which technically took place in 2014.

 

[Visualiza]

My personal favorite - DoFP
Best depiction of its respective period - First Class

 

[pr0xyt0xin]

My favorite is DoFP.

But Wonder Woman, Captain America and First Class are all better as period pieces.

 

[Samurai_Adam]

Watchmen

 

[Breogan]

I'd love to see a well done B&W long-eared Batman Pulp/Noir film set in 1939-40.

Using diesel-punk/deco technology and gadgets for that era.
With a Jokers straight-up channeling Veidt's Man Who Laughs, or Hugo Strange story.

Big question; does The Batman carry his holster and gun?