Hollywoods infatuation with comic characters has led to some iconic and outstanding successes; Robert Downey Juniors Iron Man is amazing; Heath Ledgers Joker is iconic; Tom Hiddlestons Loki is captivating; Hugh Jackmans Wolverine is incredible. But for each of these successes there are examples of interpretations that are shamefully painful to watch; recent years have seen adaptations reach new heights, but in the early 2000s there was a visible struggle within Hollywood to turn comics into live action. This struggle is essentially a fight between adhering to the comics, which can work, but more often than not it leads to childish films, or adapting elements of the character; this is what enabled Christopher Nolans Dark Knight Trilogy to succeed where others had failed. On the way to discovering the sacred recipe of adapting heroes there have been a number of characters who have been slain on the journey to the big screen. Unlike DCs new darker look, Marvel has attempted to root their heroes in a semi-realistic universe while still keeping many tenets of the characters intact. This means that their adaptations are lighter in tone than their DC counterparts, but on the journey to hitting this sacred recipe many of their most well loved creations were butchered. Many of these heroes deserve to be reinvented with this new formula; others were simply hard to translate into film. Marvel have recently closed a deal with Netflix allowing them to produce TV content much like Arrow; whether this universe will tie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is still unclear, but it would allow for a reinvention of some of these characters who have been butchered in recent films without the need to spend blockbuster prices...
Dishonourable Mention: Joel Schumachers Batman films
Its pretty hard to almost eradicate a genre with two films, but Schumacher came remarkably close with his two takes on the Dark Knight. The overly camp, colourful characters and cheap puns destroyed every character involved in the movies; Alfred may have survived with some dignity, until his design for the Batgirl costume was unveiled. No character survived these adaptations; the nipples on the Batman costume, Clooneys Batman credit card and the absurd ice skating scene at the start of Batman and Robin nearly damaged the franchise beyond repair. Although this led to Nolans departure from conventional Batman films, which was positive, the damage to the characters remains a haunting memory for anyone embarking on a new Batman film.
A 21 year old History graduate looking for someone to listen to his ramblings. Lover of comic books, movies and all other superhero related things. Published in The Independent, always looking for interesting things to write about...Follow me on Twitter at @samclements1993, and check out my blog: http://samuelclements.wordpress.com/
