how do these cinematic adaptations
measure up to the source material
welcome to watchmojo.com and today we’ll
be counting down the top 10 superhero
movie storylines that were better in the
comics before we begin we published new
videos every day so be sure to subscribe
for more great content for this list
we’ll be looking at popular or iconic
comic book arcs and crossover events
that have been adapted to the big screen
but which failed to live up to their
source material to be clear many of the
films we’ll be discussing today are
solid if not fantastic comic book movies
what we’re interested in however is how
they compared to the comics that
inspired them number 10
age of Ultron Avengers age of Ultron age
of Ultron was an adaptation in name only
but making any connection to the 2013
story by Brian Michael Bendis in which
were introduced to an alternate future
Earth where Ultron has decimated
humankind is sure to draw comparisons
from fans and well here we are
while the comic storyline proved to be
divisive amongst critics and readers
there is no denying its epic scale so
when the sequel to Joss Whedon’s
Avengers was announced with the subtitle
age of Ultron
fans were understandably thrilled while
they both have their flaws rather than a
sprawling tale of conquest and genocide
spread across the multiverse this big
screen version opted to tell its own
I was born yesterday number nine the
fall of the mutants x-men apocalypse I
need your help my job like Ultron this
villain is one of the biggest threats in
the Marvel Universe and unfortunately
his big screen debut felt similarly
beneath him again like Ultron apocalypse
has an alternate timeline to his name
the age of apocalypse thankfully Fox
never claimed to be adapting this iconic
storyline the 2016 film most closely
resembles the follow the mutants
crossover from 1988 the x-factor story
specifically which involves the villains
four horsemen the film succeeded on some
fronts but given that it had to
introduce the complex titular character
alongside many other new faces the movie
never hit it strider properly translated
the might power and gravitas of
apocalypse to the big screen what do you
the hands number 8 alien costume saga
spider-man 3 Wow Sam Raimi kept his
campy evil dead inclinations in check
for the first two spider-man films
unfortunately in the third he seemingly
took all that pent-up b-movie fun and
doused Tobey Maguire spider-man in it
well the symbiote turns Parker and
Spidey into an emotionally volatile and
dark hero in the comics in spider-man 3
and makes him a cringy dancing wannabe
ladies man in general jerk
even worse however is when the scorned
symbiote bonds with Eddie Brock in the
comics this made for a thrilling
conflict and venom grew to become a fan
favorite villain come antihero in the
film
he’s one villain to many and the less
said about Topher Grace is Brock the
better I like being bad it makes me
happy number 7 Wolverine The Wolverine
you’re a soldier and you seek what all
soldiers do an end heel pain after the
painful x-men origins Wolverine James
Mangold’s The Wolverine was undeniably a
breath of fresh air for the character
and his fans alike but it wasn’t without
its faults and unfortunately it couldn’t
hold a candle to its source material
Wolverines first solo limited series
released in 1982 is widely considered to
be among the greatest in the characters
publishing history in the story by Chris
Claremont which features stunning art by
Frank Miller
Logan goes toe to toe with a powerful
crime boss Lord Shingen while
simultaneously falling in love with the
villains daughter it was a moving tale
of love loss and redemption the movie
borrowed heavily from the storyline but
in the third act dropped all nuance and
opted to fixate on a bastardized version
number six batman nightfall The Dark
Knight Rises no one cared who I was till
I put on the Mars Christopher Nolan took
many liberties with the source material
but when you look at the grounded gritty
Batman trilogy he delivered they seemed
justified his realistic take on Bane
worked surprisingly well but pulling a
switcheroo inside lining him as a
glorified henchman thus triggering
flashbacks to Batman and Robin was one
of the few major mistakes
sure Talia brought the trilogy full
circle but at the expense of this film
had Bane remained front and center
Nolan wouldn’t be on this list but given
that twist we’re still waiting to see
the iconic nightfall storyline done
justice on the big screen with the film
that recognizes that Bane is far more
than just another villains muscle number
5 the night Gwen Stacy died the amazing
spider-man 2 second only to the loss of
Uncle Ben the tragic death of Gwen Stacy
at the hands of the Green Goblin is one
of the most formative experiences in
Peter Parker’s career as spider-man his
shocked readers and it rocked our hero
to its core
remember this was before the age of
comic book deaths as a sales tactic to
be fair the actual moment of Gwen’s
death and Marc Webb’s film is moving
unfortunately it just didn’t have the
context or quality film to back it up
this film introduces electro and the
Green Goblin rushing both Harry’s intro
and his transformation is just too much
way too fast
speeding through every stage of this
number four Watchmen Watchmen
I understand there’s even a movie in the
works I’m not hearing a question mr.
Alan Moore’s landmark graphic novel
Watchmen is widely considered to be one
of the greatest comic book stories ever
written a dark reflection on the concept
of heroes it’s been the subject of much
analysis and critical study until Zack
Snyder stepped up to the plate it was
long considered an unfilmable story why
because it was specifically made to fit
its medium a near-flawless balance of
still images written dialogue and
narration for some Snyder succeeded in
delivering the best possible adaptation
for others it failed because that’s all
any attempted adaptation could do
regardless of your thoughts on the
adaptation you’d be hard-pressed to find
anyone who’d argue that the film is an
improvement on the source material
[Applause]
number three last hand
daredevil you know I’ve learned one
thing in all my years in this business
was that nobody’s innocent nobody most
of the comic book adaptations got here
by deviating from source material
daredevil starring Ben Affleck and
Jennifer Garner is unique in that is
arguably one of the more direct
comic-book adaptations ever made
unfortunately it aims to adapt elements
of one of the greatest daredevil runs of
all time and tried to do it before
filmmakers really figured out how to
make great comic book movies it checks
as many of the boxes from Frank Miller’s
celebrated run as it can squeeze into
its runtime but without any of the
substance the story of daredevil and
Elektra was captivating on the page but
painfully two-dimensional on screen no
great tragedies okay number two The Dark
Knight Returns and the death of Superman
turns out taking two classic stories and
smashing them together does not make for
a very good adaptation when Superman
died in 1992 he was an icon of truth
justice and the American Way
so when he gave His life defending the
planet in an epic and satisfying battle
with doomsday people were affected by
his death the world over the problem
with Batman vs Superman apart from a
poorly CGI doomsday and shoehorning the
battle into a story that was also
adapting the iconic battle between
Batman and Superman at the end of Frank
Miller’s classic The Dark Knight Returns
is that the DC EU failed to make us care
about this Superman before killing him
number one the Dark Phoenix saga x-men
this highly influential x-men story was
so poorly adapted to the big screen that
Fox is already revisiting it the third
installment in the original x-men
trilogy and sadly a disappointing end to
a chapter that had really delivered up
to that point The Last Stand tried to do
far too much the Dark Phoenix saga
explores the influence of the powerful
extra planetary Phoenix force over Jean
Grey it’s an important chapter in the
x-men lore but one that’s tough to fit
into a single film so the fact that the
filmmaker opted to make it just one of
the various plot lines naturally made
for a seriously disappointing adaptation
here’s hoping they get it right the
second time around do you agree with our
picks check out these other great clips
from WatchMojo and subscribe for new videos every day
measure up to the source material
welcome to watchmojo.com and today we’ll
be counting down the top 10 superhero
movie storylines that were better in the
comics before we begin we published new
videos every day so be sure to subscribe
for more great content for this list
we’ll be looking at popular or iconic
comic book arcs and crossover events
that have been adapted to the big screen
but which failed to live up to their
source material to be clear many of the
films we’ll be discussing today are
solid if not fantastic comic book movies
what we’re interested in however is how
they compared to the comics that
inspired them number 10
age of Ultron Avengers age of Ultron age
of Ultron was an adaptation in name only
but making any connection to the 2013
story by Brian Michael Bendis in which
were introduced to an alternate future
Earth where Ultron has decimated
humankind is sure to draw comparisons
from fans and well here we are
while the comic storyline proved to be
divisive amongst critics and readers
there is no denying its epic scale so
when the sequel to Joss Whedon’s
Avengers was announced with the subtitle
age of Ultron
fans were understandably thrilled while
they both have their flaws rather than a
sprawling tale of conquest and genocide
spread across the multiverse this big
screen version opted to tell its own
I was born yesterday number nine the
fall of the mutants x-men apocalypse I
need your help my job like Ultron this
villain is one of the biggest threats in
the Marvel Universe and unfortunately
his big screen debut felt similarly
beneath him again like Ultron apocalypse
has an alternate timeline to his name
the age of apocalypse thankfully Fox
never claimed to be adapting this iconic
storyline the 2016 film most closely
resembles the follow the mutants
crossover from 1988 the x-factor story
specifically which involves the villains
four horsemen the film succeeded on some
fronts but given that it had to
introduce the complex titular character
alongside many other new faces the movie
never hit it strider properly translated
the might power and gravitas of
apocalypse to the big screen what do you
the hands number 8 alien costume saga
spider-man 3 Wow Sam Raimi kept his
campy evil dead inclinations in check
for the first two spider-man films
unfortunately in the third he seemingly
took all that pent-up b-movie fun and
doused Tobey Maguire spider-man in it
well the symbiote turns Parker and
Spidey into an emotionally volatile and
dark hero in the comics in spider-man 3
and makes him a cringy dancing wannabe
ladies man in general jerk
even worse however is when the scorned
symbiote bonds with Eddie Brock in the
comics this made for a thrilling
conflict and venom grew to become a fan
favorite villain come antihero in the
film
he’s one villain to many and the less
said about Topher Grace is Brock the
better I like being bad it makes me
happy number 7 Wolverine The Wolverine
you’re a soldier and you seek what all
soldiers do an end heel pain after the
painful x-men origins Wolverine James
Mangold’s The Wolverine was undeniably a
breath of fresh air for the character
and his fans alike but it wasn’t without
its faults and unfortunately it couldn’t
hold a candle to its source material
Wolverines first solo limited series
released in 1982 is widely considered to
be among the greatest in the characters
publishing history in the story by Chris
Claremont which features stunning art by
Frank Miller
Logan goes toe to toe with a powerful
crime boss Lord Shingen while
simultaneously falling in love with the
villains daughter it was a moving tale
of love loss and redemption the movie
borrowed heavily from the storyline but
in the third act dropped all nuance and
opted to fixate on a bastardized version
number six batman nightfall The Dark
Knight Rises no one cared who I was till
I put on the Mars Christopher Nolan took
many liberties with the source material
but when you look at the grounded gritty
Batman trilogy he delivered they seemed
justified his realistic take on Bane
worked surprisingly well but pulling a
switcheroo inside lining him as a
glorified henchman thus triggering
flashbacks to Batman and Robin was one
of the few major mistakes
sure Talia brought the trilogy full
circle but at the expense of this film
had Bane remained front and center
Nolan wouldn’t be on this list but given
that twist we’re still waiting to see
the iconic nightfall storyline done
justice on the big screen with the film
that recognizes that Bane is far more
than just another villains muscle number
5 the night Gwen Stacy died the amazing
spider-man 2 second only to the loss of
Uncle Ben the tragic death of Gwen Stacy
at the hands of the Green Goblin is one
of the most formative experiences in
Peter Parker’s career as spider-man his
shocked readers and it rocked our hero
to its core
remember this was before the age of
comic book deaths as a sales tactic to
be fair the actual moment of Gwen’s
death and Marc Webb’s film is moving
unfortunately it just didn’t have the
context or quality film to back it up
this film introduces electro and the
Green Goblin rushing both Harry’s intro
and his transformation is just too much
way too fast
speeding through every stage of this
number four Watchmen Watchmen
I understand there’s even a movie in the
works I’m not hearing a question mr.
Alan Moore’s landmark graphic novel
Watchmen is widely considered to be one
of the greatest comic book stories ever
written a dark reflection on the concept
of heroes it’s been the subject of much
analysis and critical study until Zack
Snyder stepped up to the plate it was
long considered an unfilmable story why
because it was specifically made to fit
its medium a near-flawless balance of
still images written dialogue and
narration for some Snyder succeeded in
delivering the best possible adaptation
for others it failed because that’s all
any attempted adaptation could do
regardless of your thoughts on the
adaptation you’d be hard-pressed to find
anyone who’d argue that the film is an
improvement on the source material
[Applause]
number three last hand
daredevil you know I’ve learned one
thing in all my years in this business
was that nobody’s innocent nobody most
of the comic book adaptations got here
by deviating from source material
daredevil starring Ben Affleck and
Jennifer Garner is unique in that is
arguably one of the more direct
comic-book adaptations ever made
unfortunately it aims to adapt elements
of one of the greatest daredevil runs of
all time and tried to do it before
filmmakers really figured out how to
make great comic book movies it checks
as many of the boxes from Frank Miller’s
celebrated run as it can squeeze into
its runtime but without any of the
substance the story of daredevil and
Elektra was captivating on the page but
painfully two-dimensional on screen no
great tragedies okay number two The Dark
Knight Returns and the death of Superman
turns out taking two classic stories and
smashing them together does not make for
a very good adaptation when Superman
died in 1992 he was an icon of truth
justice and the American Way
so when he gave His life defending the
planet in an epic and satisfying battle
with doomsday people were affected by
his death the world over the problem
with Batman vs Superman apart from a
poorly CGI doomsday and shoehorning the
battle into a story that was also
adapting the iconic battle between
Batman and Superman at the end of Frank
Miller’s classic The Dark Knight Returns
is that the DC EU failed to make us care
about this Superman before killing him
number one the Dark Phoenix saga x-men
this highly influential x-men story was
so poorly adapted to the big screen that
Fox is already revisiting it the third
installment in the original x-men
trilogy and sadly a disappointing end to
a chapter that had really delivered up
to that point The Last Stand tried to do
far too much the Dark Phoenix saga
explores the influence of the powerful
extra planetary Phoenix force over Jean
Grey it’s an important chapter in the
x-men lore but one that’s tough to fit
into a single film so the fact that the
filmmaker opted to make it just one of
the various plot lines naturally made
for a seriously disappointing adaptation
here’s hoping they get it right the
second time around do you agree with our
picks check out these other great clips
from WatchMojo and subscribe for new videos every day
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