Worst Comic Book Movie Adaptations?

[DruidPeter]

Wait... there was a teenage mutant ninja turtles 3?? WHERE WAS I DURING THIS?! D:

[DruidPeter]

Well, in any case... I haven't really seen too many comic book movie adaptations that were bad. I haven't seen any of the ones mentioned here. D:

But do videogame to movie adaptations count?

For example, so many people completely hated the first Mario Brothers movie, but I think people need to keep an open mind about it. I mean, it was the 80's, and the game is about a fat plumber who eats magic mushrooms and runs and jumps his way through a technicolor acid trip.

I mean, without ANY other references or precedent, I'd say they didn't do so bad. I can just imagine the writers in the conference room when the script lands: "Ok, everyone, we need to make a movie about Super Mario Bros."

"What's it about?"

"It's about this fat fuck who lives in a crazy drug world and dresses up in raccoon skins."

"...oh." lol.

[Wolven_Sister]

EDIT just noticed that allenthomas mentioned Captain America. My bad DX

I'm surprised no one's mentioned Captain America. No, no I don't mean the new Captain America made in 2011. I'm talking about the one made in 1990, but I guess it's no big deal that no one's mentioned it. Hardly ANYONE knows about it.

This old Captain America movie was made.....horribly. The acting, writing, blocking from the actors--all of it is awkward and terrible. The plot is lame and very predictable. It's bland and 2-dimensional. And the design of Captain America's costume is really funny XD It looks like it was low budget but I've seen some pretty good low-budget films before during the 90's, so that's no excuse for this.

I know superhero movies have come a long way and they've delivered some intelligent, witty, and relatable characters nowadays. I know I should give it a break since it was made in 1990 and superhero movies were still very much for children and lacked any depth (with the exception of the 1989 Batman movie) but imo this adaption of Captain America was really, really bad--even for kids.

This movie tried to take itself seriously and I recommend watching it if you're one of the people that enjoy watching bad movies just for laughs, but don't try to watch it if you're looking for a serious-toned movie. Go with the 2011 version instead XD

[DeadAccount]

Tank Girl didn't do so well. I was ok with it the first time I watched it, but as I got older and pickier...yeah, it doesn't really work. Kind of wished they just did an animated show instead - those animated little cutscenes were the best bits.

Agree with the others about Batman and Robin. It's dumb and cheesy, but still entertaining. We rewatched it recently and I just love the lighting and how theatrical it was - I honestly wanted to take screenshots for reference!

[Silerna]

I seriously hate what they did for a actual dragon ball movie (manga are considered comics to me too ) some things are better to be left alone or for what they are.

[Wolven_Sister]

It's because Hollywood knows superhero movies will give them plenty of moolah. So they dare not risk doing anything else because of the chance the majority of the populace won't like it. I'm tired of it too, I rarely go to the theatres anymore and I haven't even seen the latest Avengers movie because I'm so burnt out by superhero movies.

[paracosmlex]

There is actually a great Film Theorists episode about this.... hang on..

Okay it's actually about Video Game movies but the same idea applies!

[aspiderjonny]

Don't know about a whole movie but I've never cared for both film adaptations of the Green Goblin or Dr. Doom. They're two of my favorite villains of all of comics and I feel no movie has done them justice.

Also I really hate their movie costumes. Cosplayers make better Green Goblin suits!

[paracosmlex]

That atrocious abomination shouldn't be considered a movie, tbh.

I'm glad no awful directors have gotten to The Last Airbender at least.... < /denial>

[Silerna]

Yeah your right, still it was a shame towards the series.

Didn't liked the Last Airbender either, luckily there's no sequel coming..

[paracosmlex]

I think The Last Airbender will always be my personal worst. It just crossed so, so many lines that shouldn't have even been approached, and M. Night Shamalamadingdong's response to criticism of it just showed that HE was in denial of both his ability and his grasp on the material. It's like he took the show, took the title, and then just hashed it up however he saw fit!

And that's what seems to be a serious problem with a lot of comic book/novel/video game adaptations - these directors know a cash cow when they see one, and instead of paying homage to the original, they pompously think they can be BETTER than the original. It is a topic that actually gets my blood boiling, and more authors should be vigilant as J.K. Rowling was to ensure that their masterpiece is not destroyed.

[Aspie_Gamer]

I still don't get how bad they managed to F up Doctor Doom in the 2015 F4 reboot. Seriously, how do you take a well respected villainous comic book icon like Doom and make him look like a husk from Mass Effect with Mt. Dew flowing through his veins?! If the movie was made in the early mid 2000's...I might have...No! Even if Fan4stic had been made in 2005, not 2015, We'd still be griping about how bad they F'd up Doctor Doom.

The fact that we're in an age of comic book movies where the source material is respected a good bit more and that any comic book movie made by Marvel Studios no matter how obscure the character is will be box office gold as the case with Guardians of the Galaxy and Ant Man is especially sad given the fact that despite all this good will comic book movies have been building up the past however many years, we still somehow managed to get a genuine steaming pile of doggy poop thanks to FOX once again not giving a damn about Marvel's first family except for when they need to bust out another F4 movie lest the rights go back to Marvel where many agree they belong. And to think FOX was slowly starting to get back into our good graces with the recent X-Men films that have come out in the last 4 years. -_-

[GFalconDX]

When it comes to the worst comic book movie adaptation, there's only one that comes to mind: the Captain America movie that was filmed in the 80s or 90s. I managed to watch it recently, and good God, I can't believe how extremely cheesy and how out of character Captain America really was when compared to his comic counterpart.

[whydocowsfall]

The recent Tintin movie was... Interesting. I mean, I kind of liked it - the animation was interesting and it was pretty fun to watch, but it didn't seem right somehow. It just wasnt loyal enough to the comics! They had so much potential that they just completely missed out on. Why they didn't go for The Secret of The Unicorn/Red Rackham's Treasure I will never understand.

Also 300 is really good but I have issues with it because as an Ancient Greece nerd who is particularly obsessed with Sparta, I will never forgive it (and the comic) for giving so many of the Spartans moustaches... It was literally illegal and it's one tiny, easily acknowledged detail. Come on guys, get it right.

[jessiepolfliet]

I heard they would do that in the sequel.

[whydocowsfall]

Weeeeell okay... but The Secret of The Unicorn and Red Rackham's Treasure were two books that went together as perfect sequels anyway, so they'd probably have been more successful if they just did them as they were. Ah well, the old films were PERFECT adaptations so I guess we didn't need more. d: (If you haven't seen the old Tintin films... do. They're loyal to the art style and stories - pretty much word for word - and the voice acting just feels pretty spot on with almost every character. Whether that's because I grew up reading the comics and watching the films at the same time, I don't know... but they're just fab!)

[SkipperWing]

I dunno, TMNT2014 comes pretty close. A lot more of the plot relies on plot contrivances (the O'Neil family's responsibility for the turtles' mutation, for one), and the Turtles redesigns force a lot of aesthetic changes that don't really gel well with the series established aesthetics (Foot Clan = Mercenary group because Turtles are now Superhulks rather than skilled ninja). Then again, I haven't seen TMNT3 in a while, but I'm pretty sure I could at least sit through that.

[jessiepolfliet]

I did see all the old movies, in Dutch I might add, but the voice acting was pretty good too(one of the few since everything dubbed in dutch is horrible). But maybe I rewatch them sometime in English, or French.

[eiskaffee]

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was boring. Ok let's say that was nothing special. For fans of comic books i recommend watchin The Death of "Superman Lives": What Happened? ( http://putlockers.video/124-the-death-of-superman-lives-what-happened-2015.html ). That's the history of one legendary Hollywood project, which would have implemented most incredible dreams of comics fans, but it never happened.

[nathankschulz]

Top 5 Bad Comic Book Movies!:

1. Batman & Robin (As a kid, it was the first movie to make me realize that a movie can be bad)
2. Elektra (God awful)
3. Ghost Rider 2 (They tried something new.... It failed)
4. Blade 3 (It was weird and very, very dumb)
5. Captain America (I'm talking about the one from the 90's, where the Red Skull was Italian. So damn bad)