When you think of the great comic book characters who've never had their own movie, it makes you wonder why some of those who did managed to get the green light. Very few of the movies granted to obscure comic book characters have been a success... yet the movie studios keep pumping them out like nobody's business. Of course, having a more popular comic book character as the titular star doesn't necessarily guarantee a good movie - there's no reason why Daredevil, Ghost Rider, Spawn or Green Lantern shouldn't have been given a good movie, for example. Done right, they could have been great. Unfortunately, in most cases, they were pretty horrendous. But it's not these types of characters we're looking at here; it's the characters for which there are reasons why their movies shouldn't have happened; Unknown characters, boring characters, zany characters, characters whose respective companies had far superior options to choose from and characters for whom the timing of a movie was questionable to say the least. Essentially, these characters suck and so did their movies. On that note, here are 11 comic book characters who should never have had their own movie (and the alternatives who should have had one instead)...
11. Tank Girl
In a world where female comic book characters like DC's Wonder Woman and Marvel's Ms. Marvel are yet to have titular movies, you have to wonder why Tank Girl has. Back in 1995, the character who appeared in UK comic magazine Deadline got a movie (starring Lori Petty) with a cast that included the likes of Naomi Watts, Malcolm McDowell, Iggy Pop and Ice-T. It was pretty reckless and ambitious to think such a minor comic with such a crazy style would work. The comics were frequently disorganised, anarchic, psychedelic and downright absurd and generally showed very little regard or interest for conventional plot or committed narrative. Other characters included Tank Girl's "boyfriend" - a mutated kangaroo named Booga - and Iggy Pop's lecherous paedophile Sam. With a $25 million budget, the film grossed $4m at the box office. Trilogy Entertainment Group shouldn't have been slightly surprised by that. Alternative movie that should have been made: Modesty Blaise. A Titan Books character like Tank Girl, Blaise is far more interesting. Indeed, a 1966 film was made about the character and it earned more than $2 million at the box office even then and, after a failed attempt at getting a television series commissioned in the 1980s, a more modern film about the organised crime leader, assassin, private investigator and seductress would have been a lot more interesting than Tank Girl.
