9 Iconic Comic Book Storylines That Sucked In Movies

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.