Non-Marvel and DC Comic Books on Film

[Antoine Doinel]

Yep, I meant Deadpool. As for whether or not the character can carry a film, the audience I was with seemed to be eating out of Ryan Reynolds' hands and if he is anything near as charismatic as he was in the few minutes he had in this XOW, the film will be at least watchable. Let's just hope they get a decent script for him to work with.

[oldsheperd]

I never cared much for Wolverine when I was collecting comic books. Uncanny X-Men was my favorite comic and I tended to gravitate more towards Colossus and Gambit.
I guess I just couldn't get the appeal of Wolverine.
I liked Magneto as well. I hear there is a Magneto Origins in the works.

[dx23]

Reports say that Chris Hemsworth will be cast as Thor.

[dx23]

I just came back from watching Captain America and have been really impressed with the great work Marvel Comics has done with these Avenger films. They are not cinematic masterpieces but I consider them very enjoyable, entertaining popcorn action flicks. Contrary to WB and DC comics, who don't know how to handle any property not named Batman, Marvel has done a great job with casting great actors and directors in these action films. As a comic book fan, I'm happy to see all the characters in live action movies but at the same time there is something great in seeing people like my wife, who could care less about comic books, enjoy these films as much as I do.

On the other hand, Green Lantern was a mess, mostly due to the same miscasting that Superman Returns had. I don't understand why Warner continues to put horrible actresses in important female leads like Blake Lively and Kate Bosworth. Seeing as how DC is shitting on their own legacy in the comic books by rebooting everything in August and starting everything with #1 issues, including Action Comics and Detective Comics, I can't imagine them actually doing something worthy with any of their characters not named Batman. Jonah Hex was a piece of shit and Green Lantern was a failure.

[Matt]

I hope more people on this forum see Captain America. It's a very fine adventure movie in the retro style of Raiders of the Lost Ark.

[jojo]

When I was a kid, I constantly wished there were more comic book movies. Now I barely give a crap about 95% of them. I really don't get the same high from guys in colorful tights beating up other guys in colorful tights like I used to. Superhero movies are a fairly linear experience, even moreso than action flicks of the "Die Hard" ilk. There's just something predetermined about the outcome that is even more apparent in a comic book movie. Bleagh.

[Matt]

I'm sure that all the fans of superhero/comic book movies in this thread appreciate your insightful commentary. Thanks for dropping in!

[jojo]

Okay, okay. I get the message. It was a pointless bitching post, I know.

[dx23]

The latest Avengers trailer looks good. It seems to be another fun comic book movie like Captain America was last year.

[Matt]

Mm. I hold the unorthodox opinion that Captain America is either the best or second-best superhero movie of all time, and I just cannot get myself excited for The Avengers. I may just have josswhedonfatigue, though.

[Mr Sausage]

Mm. I hold the unorthodox opinion that Captain America is either the best or second-best superhero movie of all time, and I just cannot get myself excited for The Avengers. I may just have josswhedonfatigue, though.

If it's second best, what's the first?

[domino harvey]

Meteor Man

[swo17]

This

I will also accept Pootie Tang.

[knives]

That's nothing like the modern Captain America from the comic who often borders on socialist to the degree that he was killed by Ironman for going against the government. Recent stories have not been set in the past for the most part aside from the movie which has a good reason to do so being an origin story. Your entire paragraph seems to show a large misunderstanding and lack of knowledge for the character.

[Gregory]

Yeah, probably, which is why I decided to delete my post. I just don't understand Captain America enough to get into any arguments about it. I haven't read the storyline where he goes "against the government," so I don't know how that bears on the character or on socialism. I find it hard to get a handle on most of the superhero characters when their stories are so extremely long and convoluted, especially when weaving in and out of quasi-political contexts as Captain America does.

[knives]

The story I was referring to is an even bigger mess than most (now I feel bad for posting since you deleted your post), but the characterization of Capt. over the last twenty years or so has been about embodying the spirit of America and being at a loss with how the government doesn't. He and Thor are basically the only characters that Marvel still seem to be able to do competently. I think more of your criticisms could be applied to Stark, but even then they at least try (often fail but try all the same)to make that more complex.

[Gregory]

I've just never felt at home in the superhero genre, partly because I could never really distinguish what makes them all fundamentally different, and what they represent, particularly when they end up in various moral/policitical/ideological contexts. They feel like they've been authored by so many different people that they're totally incoherent, and now that many of them (particularly Batman, it seems) have been offered up as something to be taken extremely seriously, I think there's a burden that comes with that, and yet I don't feel like it's any clearer exactly what these characters represent and what they're opposed to; the "mythos" of each character just becomes increasingly convoluted and incoherent as time goes on, leading me to wonder (unlike, say, with the mythos of vampires or Frankenstein) if there was ever anything there to begin with. And it seems like we're still encouraged to check our critical capacity at the door as much as ever, even as we're asked to take the superheroes and villains seriously as mythical-literary creations.

[knives]

They represent whatever the authors want them to represent. It's not dissimilar to the hundreds of different versions of Dracula or Sherlock. Some writers do take the characters into very much the way you're describing while others do very high concept intensive work. They're not to be taken as one long story and in fact the reset button for all characters have been done numerous times. There's more than one mythos and character even if aspects are present in every version. For example I very much advise you to check out All-Star Superman which is an alternate history take on the character in the twilight of his life that tackles all these complex themes and ideas that really isn't just a hero versus villain story. I think you're putting too much emphasis on the history and not on the individual stories themselves which should be treated almost as a separate entity from other stories. Grant Morrison's Batman isn't Kane's, who isn't O'Neil's and who thankfully isn't Miller's. Superhero comics certainly are intimidating because of their history, but it's important to remember that history doesn't matter.

[dx23]

10 Batman Films That Never Were
All of them have one thing in common: studio meddling with the idea of being a toy commercial instead of an actual movie. Studios wonder why they are hated.

[flyonthewall2983]

Bowie as Joker would have been awesome.

[SpiderBaby]

Bowie as Joker would have been awesome.

This was the same exact thing I pulled from that entire piece. Bill Murray and David Bowie in a Batman film would of been something to see.

[flyonthewall2983]

If it were a more serious treatment of the material not unlike what Nolan has done with it, William Holden as Gordon would have been as good as well. The function of that character in The Dark Knight reminded me a lot of Holden in Network, the one reasonable man amidst all the chaos.

[dx23]

With the incredible success of The Avengers, Marvel is now starting "Phase II" of their movie production with a really unusual choice in "Guardians of the Galaxy". This is one of the lesser known Marvel teams and not even the one people who know a little about comics even recognizes. This film version is based on the 2008 comics, not the 1970's one, and includes characters such as Peter Quill (Star-Lord), Adam Warlock, Rocket Raccoon, Drax the Destroyers, Quasar, Gamora, Cosmo and a tree named Groot. Still, with the right people at helm, Guardians of the Galaxy could be a really fun, entertaining, sci-fi film since the comic is just exactly that. The team recently appeared in the animated series Avengers Earth Mightiest Heroes. I'm actually looking forward to this film



The other Marvel film in production is The Human Fly, based on a comic that was based on a daredevil that used to climb buildings in New York in the 1970's. This is a really odd choice since the character is pretty much unknown and hasn't been used since a 19 issue run in the late 70's.



There are also rumors that Edgar Wright is doing an Ant-Man film and that Black Panther, Dr. Strange, Luke Cage and Iron Fist films are in development.

[knives]

well they did decide to start with the relatively obscure Ironman before Hulk or Capt. so this is in keeping with that..

[dx23]

That's true and we can even go back to Blade, who barely known outside comic fans and people who had seen the Spider-Man animated series, as what re-started this whole comic book film genre. I really like the Guardians as they are some sort of Space Avengers and if the script is as good as is rumored and they make Rocket Raccoon a true badass (could even be voiced by Ray Winstone), I don't see why this film couldn't be a success. Still, they need to have a charismatic actor play the lead guy, Star-Lord, to make this film special.