Your Biggest CBM Moments/Disappointments

[henzINNIT]

We've all seen so many highs and lows in the comic book movie industry. Films, scenes, trailers, announcements, anything that triggered the biggest response. Which ones stand out to you personally?

OMGYES

1. Nightcrawler at the White House, X2. This might be the scene that got me into comic book heroes. I hadn't watched a film like this since Batman & Robin as a child, not even the preceding movie. God damn that sequence was magical.

2. The Avengers Assemble. After a couple of hours of solid set-up, I wasn't prepared for the massive pay-off action sequence. That whirling shot of everybody as the music builds is pure fanboy joy.

3. Future Coda in Days Of Future Past. It was Bryan Singer's X-Men films that got me into this mess. After a few shakey years at Fox, getting Singer back for this ambitious time travel saga was a dream come true. Seeing the entire OT cast together at the end was icing on the cake.


OMGNO

1. Sony cancels Spider-Man 4. I was gutted when this news dropped. Not only did I miss out on another Sam Raimi comic book movie, the way it all went down felt shady as hell. So quickly hitting the reboot button left a sour taste too.

2. The Dark Knight Rises. I thought the trailer was great, I don't know what happened. I watched it a few times in the cinema yet couldn't force myself to like it.

3. The reviews come in for X-Men: Apocalypse. Fox allowed critics to get their reviews in good and early, which is normally a sign of confidence from the studio. The negative press quietly confirmed a sense of dread that had been building around this film from all the underwhelming marketing. I kept my mind open, saw it, and it wasn't good. I wasn't surprised.

 

[TeeKay]

Moments:

1) Avengers Assemble
2) Airport fight/Giant Man
3) avengers protecting the key in AOU
4) nick fury post credit scene IM1
5) SM2 train fight
6) Joker & Batman interrogation scene TDK.

Dissapointments:

1) Everything DCEU post Nolan.
2) IM2
3) TASM

 

[Batmannerism]

Biggest moments, I can go a top 10

1. Superman the movie 1978: Superman looks at me and smiles as he flies off into the sunrise - that's what it felt like, pure magic, felt like I could fly too.

2. Superman the movie: Superman saves Lois Lane "You've got me ? Who's got you ?"

2. Man of Steel: Henry Cavill walks out of the ship wearing the suit, looking like Superman come to life.

4. Interrogation scene, the Dark Knight.

5. Cap and Tony's final confrontation in CW, I was glued to the screen.


6. Guardians of the Galaxy, a tie between seeing the Guardians hold hands to disintigrate Ronan, and Drax petting Rocket to comfort him - soon as I heard "Take my hand" I got a bit misty eyed, emotional stuff !


7. Magneto disarms and holds a horde of cops at gunpoint - real classic Magneto come to life ( X-Men).

8. Probably any moment in Spider Man (Raimi films) where Spidey is swinging through the city -

9. A tie between Batman flying over Hong Kong, and him landing in the Pruitt
building and using the white-eyed sonar device - because they were both amazingly cool.

10. Hulk smashes Loki "Puny god !" classic Hulk, loved it.

There are probably a bunch more, but these are the first that come to mind.

Okay, onto the big disappointments, only going to do 5 of these.


1. Batman v Superman, pretty much everything up to Batman rescuing Martha, massive disappointment.

2. Green Lantern, except for Mark Strong's Sinestro it was a massive letdown.

3. Bane, for me the mumbling weird accent didn't work - plenty of masked characters (e.g. V for Vendetta) sound wonderfully clear while masked, Bane's muffled voice was a big letdown - only Tom Hardy's physicality saved the character and made him formidable.

4. Iron Man 2: after the magic that was Iron Man, I was pumped for this film. I watched, waiting for it to get good.....and I'm still waiting.

5. Superman Returns.......... when he lands on the kryptonite island and gets his ass kicked. I mean, come on !

That'll have to do for now.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

Biggest moment for me is when Keaton first uttered: 'I'm Batman'.

Or no, wait, that honor goes to Superman saving the helicopter, most triumphant first appearance for a superhero on film. Second appearance if you count his earlier flight in the fortress of solitude.

 

[Rowsdower!]

These are in no particular order.

HIGHS

Keaton's first appearance in Batman '89. Totally changed the way I viewed the character (at that point, I only knew him from Super Friends and the old TV series).

Reeve's first public appearance as Superman, saving Lois and the helicopter. Still amazing to see.

The train battle in Spider-Man 2. Loved everything about it.

The Avengers battle the aliens and Loki to save New York.

The Batman/Joker interrogation scene in TDK. So perfect. Ledger and Bale brought their f***ing A game.


LOWS

Superman dying in BvS. It would be easy to say "the whole movie" here, but the end, to me, was just really irritating because it meant that Supes would be brushed aside even more than he already had been just so Snyder and Affleck could prop up their SUPER BADASS MURDERIN' WAY COOLER THAN BALE CUZ HE KICKS PEOPLE FASTER version of Batman.

The Spider-Man 3 dance sequence and all of Topher-Venom's scenes (tie).

Magneto and Storm help Apocalypse kill presumably millions of people in XMA but then turn good because Apocalypse is beating up on the X-Men pretty badly and that's mean.

Wolverine vs. Barakapool in XMO Wolverine.

Mariel Hemingway breathes in space in Superman IV: The Quest for a Piece of Sh**.

 

[Mandon Knight]

Great thread concept ! I will have to give this much thought, I know what they are, but need to articulate them as well as I can....

 

[Flint Marko]

HIGHS:

Everything about the Avengers, Spider-man in Civil War, Ledger in TDK, and Nick Fury at the end of IM.

I need to see Logan again but there are moments in there that might go on this list as well.

LOWS:

Everything Spider-man between 2007-2014, BvS, and X-men Origins: Wolverine.

 

[Rowsdower!]

Another low. That awful intro montage in Suicide Squad. Just dreadful.

 

[Ivan Drago]

Another low. That awful intro montage in Suicide Squad. Just dreadful.

I'd replace that with every scene with Enchantress and her stupid brother.

 

[Timebomb]

The greatest:
The interrogation scene in TDK

The great:
Hulk punching Thor after taking down alien ship
"Ready arrow guy"
Train fight with doc ock in S2
Avengers final battle
"There's only one God mam and I'm pretty sure he doesn't dress like that"
All of Christopher Reeves as Superman

The better than just good:
First flight MOS
Airplane scene Superman Returns
Airport fight CW
Batroc fight WS
Street fight WS
Loki on Odins throne TDW
Hulk and Iron Man fight
CA jump on a grenade scene
Nightcrawler opening of X2

The bad:
The DCEU (except first flight)
W Origins
Craptastic 4
BF and B&R
The Martha Moment (gets a special shout out)

 

[The Joker]

Highs

- Ledger's Joker. The definitive CBM villain. A breath taking performance, and a magnificent iteration of the Clown Prince of crime. One of the cinema's finest villains.
- TDK interrogation scene. The ultimate face off between Batman and the Joker. Bale and Ledger tore the screen up. I doubt there will ever be a better face off between these two titans on screen again.
- TDK trilogy overall. Begins is a brilliant origin tale, TDK is in a class of it's own, and TDKR for all it's faults is still a solid movie and a great cap off to the trilogy.
- Doc Ock. Visually awesome, and superbly acted by Molina. Hands down the best Spidey villain of the movies.
- Hospital massacre in Spider-Man 2. Evil Dead reincarnated.
- Spider-Man 2's train battle. Still the best action scene in a CBM for me.
- Ian McKellan's Magneto. A sublime nuanced character, who has terrific chemistry with Stewart's Xavier.
- Nightcrawler's attack on the White House. Singer outdid himself here. Amazing sequence.
- McAvoy and Stewart's Xaviers meeting face to face in DOFP. This was just beautifully done.
- Airport fight in CW. Every fanboy's wet dream.
- Avengers assemble in NY attack. An iconic goosebump inducing scene.
- Chris Reeve's Superman. The high standard set for Superman in the movies that has not been surpassed since.


Lows

- Leto's Joker. Just awful on every level. It takes a special kind of stupid to screw up the Joker.
- Martha scene in BvS. This scene is known to kill brain cells if you watch it too many times.
- Enchantress. Cannot think of a single good thing to say about this waste of screen time.
- The TASM movies. The reason Sony had to go to the MCU for help. Two piles of charmless crap.
- The Joker killing Batman's parents in B'89. Hated this change. Just did not work.
- EisenLex in BvS. Another top tier DC villain totally butchered by the DCEU.

 

[NealKenneth]

OMGYES

Spider-Man chasing down Uncle Ben's killer. This whole montage is just fantastic and seeing Spider-man swinging for the first time...this is where it all started for me!

Nightcrawler in X2. Has there ever been a better start to a superhero film? So cool that Nightcrawler stayed my favorite superhero for probably a decade, even though this was his only film until Apocolypse.

"I am Iron Man." People forget that Iron Man was B-tier back then. This film changed everything about superhero films, and no line said it better.

"Puny god." I remember being very nervous to see The Avengers because it just seemed impossible. Oops! This was the moment when I realized the film had won.

Iron Man versus Bucky and Captain America. By far the most emotionally captivating scene I've ever experienced in a superhero film.

OMGNO

The Sandman was Uncle Ben's real killer. Even when I was a kid, I knew there was something terribly wrong about this retcon. What was the purpose? And by the third film, why were we still talking about Uncle Ben?

Iron Man 3....where to start? Bland, unbelievable villain. Pepper's fake death and Tony's reaction to it. Paper-mache, remote-piloted suits. Spending half the film without a suit, then saying House Party Protocol.

The moment I realized some goofball corny scientist was Max Dillon. I used to be a big fan of the first Amazing Spider-Man. Then the second one was so bad it ruined the first one as well somehow. This was the moment, when were in Max's apartment and he was obsessed with Spider-Man, that I knew the movie was going to be awful.

...

That's all I'm going to put for dissapointments. There have been far worse moments ("Save..Martha.") but generally those were in films that I was pretty sure were going to suck anyway, so they weren't disappointing to me.

The MCU especially keeps raising the bar higher and higher. There's many, many more moments I could list for great moments but I tried to keep it short.

 

[Lantern Venom]

YES! YES! YES! Moments:

The Club Scene in Blade- I was in awe of this sequence and I've probably watched it about 100 times since '98. The horror set-up was perfect and the hero emerging to slay the vamps with merciless precision was a gorgeous piece of filmmaking.

Mary Jane shows up at Peter's Apartment in Spider-man 2- This was the quintessential Spider-man moment. Everything from her arrival to the web-slinging at the end was absolutely perfect.

The Avengers Assemble- One of the most famous moments on film, and with good reason. This is still my favorite fictional movie, period.

Hal Jordan recites the Green Lantern Oath for the first time. Regardless of the movie's missteps, I got goosebumps when this happened.

Superman saves his mother from Zod in Man of Steel- this is still my favorite Superman moment on film. In that sequence, he wasn't a demigod or beacon of hope, he was just an angry farm boy coming to protect his mom. It was so authentic.

Steve Rogers meets Sam Wilson in The Winter Soldier- Seeing one of comics' greatest bromances come to life was simply outstanding.

The Airport Battle in Civil War- This was a superb storyline in the comics and seeing it done on film was beyond anything I could have hoped for prior to 2008 and the launch of the MCU.

HUUUULK....SMAAAASH! in the Incredible Hulk. I waited for over 25 years to hear those words uttered on film.


DC's Big 3 battle Doomsday in Batman vs. Superman- I had some issues with this film as well, but that ending blew me away. Seeing the genesis of the Justice League in live-action made me forget all of the criticisms for awhile.

Gwen Stacy's Death in TASM2. The audience in the theater gasped when this happened. I remember seeing my daughter's shocked reaction and late on that night, I told her about how Gwen's death changed the direction of comics forever.

The bank robbery in The Dark Knight- the quintessential Joker crime with Ledger giving one of the best performances ever.

Captain America meets the Red Skull face-to-face in The First Avenger. Two of Marvel's icons stare at one another over raging flames. What better way to illustrate one of comic books' most enduring rivalries.

Magneto escapes from prison in X2- This was one of those moments when the effects matched the ambition. I could watch this all day.

Joker emerges from the dark in Batman '89. This is forever etched in my mind.

NO! NO! NO! moments:

Superman gives science a metaphorical middle finger by reversing the Earth's rotation in Superman: The Movie. Reversing time would have been fine had it not been done in such a ridiculous manner. This was silly even for a 70s movie.

Superman stops being a hero to hop in bed with Lois in Superman 2. This might be the worst out-of-character moment for any hero on film. The cornerstone of the comic book world, the avatar of heroism, the quintessential good guy shirks his duties as a world-protector to jump between the sheets with his girlfriend. I hated this when I was a kid. I still hate it.

Batman flops around on the floor in The Lego Batman Movie- Batman has had some great moments on film, and plenty of awful ones. Even by childrens' cartoon standards, this was stupid.

Parallax slaughters a squadron of Lanterns before they spoke or were even named in Green Lantern. If someone didn't read the prequel comics or look up Green Lantern Wiki, that viewer probably thought that these were disposable nobodies. That contradicts the concept of an elite police force chosen to wield the most powerful weapon ever created.

VINO in Spider-man 3. I had been waiting for 19 years to see my favorite Marvel character on film. I was given Blowpher Grace's singular expression covered with some ooze with no personality. Way to crap on two decades worth of comic book history, Sony.

The Mandarin is an actor in Iron Man 3. Archvillains should never be reduced to a vapid plot twist- EVER.

Doctor Manhatten walks around naked in Watchmen. The film was solid, but I really, really, really didn't need to see this.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

LOWS

The Spider-Man 3 dance sequence and all of Topher-Venom's scenes (tie).

NO! NO! NO! moments:

VINO in Spider-man 3. I had been waiting for 19 years to see my favorite Marvel character on film. I was given Blowpher Grace's singular expression cover with some ooze with no personality. Way to crap on two decades worth of comic book history, Sony.

As much as I love how Venom was represented in the movie, as much as I like Topher Grace in the role, and as distant as I am from understanding your dismay for that actor in that role, I have to admit that Venom moments in that movie are supposed to be more horror inducing than what we got, a better actor could have done it more justice.
On the plus side, we did NOT get something anywhere near as goofy as Eisenlex.

 

[Rowsdower!]

Ugh, yeah EisenLex was in a class of awful all his own. But Topher Venom wasn't much better. I think I wouldn't have hated it so much if:

1. Venom (in full monster form) didn't speak with Topher's voice
2. Venom didn't reveal Topher's face in most of his scenes
3. The "pretty please God, kill Peter Parker" scene didn't happen.

Unfortunately, we got all of those things, and that made the performance unbearable.

 

[Jochimus]

HIGHS
Batman finding out that some days you just can't get rid of a bomb.
The first night of rescues in Superman: The Movie.
The battle in downtown Metropolis in Superman II.
The first five or six minutes of Batman '89, plus any scene with the Batmobile.
For that matter, the first five or six minutes of Batman Begins, plus any scene with the Tumbler.
Any time Stanley Ipkiss has the Mask on.
Pretty much all of Men In Black.
Tony Stark putting the Mark I to work on the Ten Rings.
The Joker's pursuit of Harvey's SWAT truck in TDK.
The Howling Commandos montage and Steve Rogers discovering just how late he slept in CA:TFA.
The Avengers assemble in the middle of Chitauri-ravaged New York.
Cyber-Zola in CA:TWS.
Pretty much any scene involving Black Panther in CA:CW.

LOWS
Pretty much any live-action Superman movie after Superman II.
George Lucas' utter neutering of Howard The Duck.
George Clooney playing Bruce Wayne wearing a softcore-porn Batman costume.
Any time Ang Lee's Hulk tries that "comic-book panel come to life" nonsense.
Everybody aboard the train promising they won't reveal Spider-Man's identity in SM2.

 

[Rowsdower!]

HIGHS
George Clooney playing Bruce Wayne wearing a softcore-porn Batman costume.

I love this description of the Schumacher batsuit.

 

[scarlet-witch]

I had so many great moments that it's easier to just point out the few misses.

1) Rise of the Silver Surfer. I love Silver Surfer, I was hoping that even though the first FF movie was bad that this would be better, and it wasn't. It was awful.

2) Suicide Squad. I hated the look of Leto's Joker all along, but I let myself get hyped for it anyways and it was awful.

3) Sin City 2, Loved the first one so much, and the sequel was just bad.

4) Iron Man 3. I love Iron Man but that movie was awful.

5) Spiderman 3. Yeesh.

 

[Batmannerism]

T

Magneto and Storm help Apocalypse kill presumably millions of people in XMA but then turn good because Apocalypse is beating up on the X-Men pretty badly and that's mean.


Mariel Hemingway breathes in space in Superman IV: The Quest for a Piece of Sh**.

I didn't really think about that.

Not sure how many people die in the XMA as a result of Apocalypse's geo-tinkering, but yeah Magneto and Storm don't see a problem with that - which for Storm, who in the comics is very against killing, is weird, but for Magneto, well he hates humanity and probably would wipe out a million humans rather than kill a mutant (especially Charles Xavier, in the movies he's never been able to bring himself to kill Charles), he's got a very warped morality there.

But yeah, it does seem a weird turning point for those two when you think about it.

As for Quest for Peace, yeah it's garbage, but to be honest I'd rather watch that than Batman v Superman - at least Christopher Reeve is good in it.

 

[Steamteck]

The entire Avengers film was like a dream come true.

Iron man was another huge moment because it was the first.

Back in the day when Chris Reeve first came out as Superman reprized by Henry Cavill for me more recently. On the same note Superman and Batman's moment of face off in BvS sent Chills down my spine.

Moving into disappointments and unpopular opinions territory. There are three disappoints that crush all others and one 4th place moment that still still in the vague ballpark

TDK after Batman begins took such a dive for me it was a big let down.

TDKR I wasn't expecting much after TDK but I was ready for what it would be and I was still disappointed and expected more of Nolan

Iron man three hit me hardest because the MCU had been so spot on until then. Even the slightly disappointing Iron man two still felt like a little stumble. I was extra hyped because of Shane Black but he completely dropped the ball for me.


4th, I get why it happened and dramatically and extended story why they did it Cap's dropping his shield in CW just is horrible for me. It was less of a disappointment though because I was more ready for it.

 

[Samuron]

Actually yelled "YES!" in the theater: "Oh, no, this is much worse"

Actually yelled "NO!": Scott's floating ruby-quartz sunglasses

 

[Spider-Aziz]

Disappointments:

-Batman Returns. I don't care what it is supposed to be or how I'm supposed to take it, it's a poorly told story, an lacks joy, with disgusting moments.

-The Dark World. Dull movie.

-Electro. I like that stupid movie, but this version of Lightning Butt is the highlight of bad. Not Jaime Foxx's performance though, that was the good thing about the character.

-Batman V Superman. Do I really need to say what's disappointing about it? It will take less to say what I like about it, and that is Wonder Woman.

 

[OutOfBoose]

OMGYES:
1) Batman Returns. Black rubber and leather, animals, clowns, Burton's twisted world, no happy ending - it was my first CBM and it will remain one of my most beloved films ever.
2) Nolan's Batman trilogy. Enough was said about it over the years.
3) Pfeiffer's Catwoman.
4) Ledger's Joker.

OMGNO:
1) Suicide Squad. **** that film. Not only it's poorly written, designed, filmed and edited, it screwed up my favorite graphic novel - Mad Love.

 

[Mandon Knight]

Highs

1) Cinematic experience of watching Superman The Movie in 1978 and all the film means to me.

2) Batman Begins and a Batman film we were all waiting for and crying at that ending first time I watched it 'I never said thank you / '...and you'll never have too'

3) Man of Steel - a modern Superman that captured all I'd hoped it would be.

4) Batman & Joker chew the cud - interrogation scene in TDK

5) Raimi delivers big time on Spider-man and it's sequel

6) Watchmen Directors Cut

Lows

Batman & Robin - it's a low big enough to cover any others.

 

[InCali]

1. IM1 post credit scene....when I heard about the Avenger initiative, I almost lost it.
2. A really good Batman origin story by Nolan and TDK.
3. Walking out of the theater after watching GotG. That might seem like a stretch, but remember that I had seen TASM2 and Crapformers: Age of SuckStinkShun earlier that year.

Low moments.....where to begin....TASM2 and the end of MoS are as good a place to start as any I suppose. GL was not a highlight.