9 Iconic Comic Book Storylines That Sucked In Movies
We might care about Superman's death if we actually cared about Superman.
Adapting an acclaimed comic storyline for the big screen is always a tricky prospect. The filmmakers have to stay true to the source while streamlining or cutting things that don’t work, or would be too expensive to film. Deviations from the comic usually anger the fanbase, though, and even Watchmen – a movie that was probably a bit too close to the comic – was blasted for changing the alien squid ending.
Sadly some studios don’t care about the source material all that much to start with, and just want to use it as a jumping off point. They’ll change the setting or characters, and generally only play lip service by using particular images. And - shocker - this usually results in a film that fails as an adaptation and a movie in its own right.
It’s always disappointing when this happens, and there’s nothing worse than watching iconic moments from a comic get mangled on the big screen. A lot of blockbusters are guilty of this sin, and here we’ll be looking at some of the biggest offenders.
9. No Man's Land - The Dark Knight Rises
Whoever came up with the No Man’s Land arc for Batman had clearly just finished watching Escape From New York; to call the ideas the same is putting it lightly. After a series of disasters, the government declares Gotham City a wasteland, so they wall it off and abandon those left behind. This leads to gang warfare between the main villains, while Batman and the police try to restore order to the crumbling city.
It’s a fascinating look at the breakdown of Gotham, and how Batman and the city have to adapt to new tactics just to survive. This story was used for the jumping off point for the last act of The Dark Knight Rises, and while it works fine as a plot device to raise the stakes, it doesn’t do justice to the scope of the comic.
The comic had multiple heroes and villains clashing over the course of a massive story, and The Dark Knight Rises feels much more muted and small-scale in comparison. For the story Nolan was telling it works, but as an adaptation of a great comic it’s a huge letdown.