10 Comic Book Movies That Don't Deserve To Be Rotten On Rotten Tomatoes

8. The Phantom (1996)

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 43% Given how badly The Phantom was received by audiences and critics back in 1996, it's no wonder that Billy Zane has struggled to maintain a consistent level of work in the years since. On paper, this looks like a travesty: Zane cast as a one-dimensional hero, based on a comic book that few people were familiar with, all from the director of Free Willy. But you know what? This movie is a lot of fun and should be commended for its wholly original take on the superhero film. Maintaining a light-hearted appeal throughout, The Phantom plays as a genre parody of sorts: at times, the film attempts to break down the conventions of the superhero film, long before films like Kick-Ass and Deadpool tried. Aside from its purposely campy hi-jinks, then, there's some really meta stuff on show ("For those who came in late..." announces the voice-over at the start, before getting us caught up with hero's origin story, which isn't all that far removed from a joke you'd find in Deadpool), whilst for the action-hungry there are genuinely great and impressive set-pieces. As a result, The Phantom doesn't deserve to be so consistently ignored, and should be enjoyed as an admirable comic book flick that tried something different - and mostly succeeded.