10 Least Accurate Movie Portrayals Of Comic Book Characters Ever
Why is Batman using a gun, Zack?
For decades now, Hollywood has been pumping out more and more comic book films, to wildly different levels of success. On the whole, the films have told the stories of our favourite superheroes and their dastardly villains faithfully, whilst generally only tinkering with a few aspects of the characters to fit more appropriately for a modern audience.
Still, that doesn't mean every adaptation of these characters to the big screen has been done particularly faithfully. For some, their origins and core traits which make them iconic in the first place remain intact, and feel like they've been ripped right out of their respective comic book. For others, there was clearly some misunderstanding in the development of these films, which has led to some rather unflattering results. Some stray so far away from their initial comic book interpretations that they ignore the cruxes of what makes the character special in the first place.
However, this isn't necessarily bad news, as some writers directors and actors have gone above and beyond, expanding on a character in interesting and unexpected ways, whilst keeping the accuracy where it really matters.
As more and more heroes and villains are being brought to our screens, it's important for studios to look back and see what they got right, and what they got wrong.
10. The Green Goblin
Arguably the Wall-crawler's arch nemesis, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 skipped the more recognisable Green Goblin, Norman Osborn, for his son, Harry. Whilst Harry has taken on the mantle before in the comics, his father is more closely associated with the villain.
The movie also acts like Harry and Peter have always been best friends, though this falls flat, since the film's mantra of 'tell, don't show' does no favours for creating a believable friendship. Harry appears out of no where, with him either reminiscing with Peter about all the fun adventures they had offscreen, or being a whiny, stuck up brat, with the latter being particularly inaccurate when compared to comic book Harry.
Still, the film does a decent job of conveying the death of Gwen Stacy storyline in a believable, heart wrenching way, which is relatively accurate to the story seen in the comics in 1973. Much like the original story, The Green Goblin, after learning of Spider-Man's secret identity, kidnaps Gwen and forces Spidey to inadvertently kill her by snapping her neck with his web after the villain threw Stacy from a clock tower. With only some slight deviations from the original story, like Harry being Gobby rather than Norman, and a tower replacing the Brooklyn Bridge or George Washington Bridge, this somewhat makes up for the substandard characterisation of Peter's 'best friend' earlier on.