10 Most Important Comic Book Movies Ever Made
Setting the standard and raising the bar for the comic book genre.
For almost two decades now, the comic book movie has reigned supreme as one of Hollywood's most consistently popular and lucrative genres. Although names as high-profile as Steven Spielberg and George Lucas have said that the bubble will burst eventually and the genre will go the way of the Western and fade away, the Western was incredibly popular from the late 1930's all the way through to the mid-70's, so don't expect it to happen anytime soon.
Much criticism has been leveled at the movie business in recent years in regards to its big-budget output, with phrases like 'creative bankruptcy' and 'lack of originality' thrown around on an increasingly regular basis. It seems that almost every well-known comic book has been adapted for the big screen at this point, in some cases several times over, with many of them failing to leave much of an impression at all.
Hollywood is always waiting for that next movie that serves as the inspiration for the next wave of projects, which has been the case ever since the advent of the talkies. In the comic book realm, these groundbreaking and hugely influential movies don't happen too often but when they do, their fingerprints are left all over the genre and sometimes even beyond.
10. Road To Perdition
It may not have been the first of its kind, but Sam Mendes' Road to Perdition went a long way to establishing the idea that comic book movies didn't just have to be about superheroes and spandex, they could also be awards-friendly prestige pictures as well.
Eventually nominated for six Academy Awards including Best Supporting Actor and Best Cinematography, Road to Perdition was rightfully acclaimed as an impeccably-made period piece that maturely dealt with the heady themes of violence and father/son relationships.
Outside of the enthusiastic critical response, the movie's success also proved that more adult comic books could be translated to the big screen with great success and paved the way for more complex adaptations such as American Splendor, A History of Violence, Sin City and others.