100 Greatest Comic Book Movies Of All Time

84. Batman And Robin

Batman And Robin George Clooney
Warner Bros. Pictures

Arnold Schwarzenegger as Mr. Freeze. A 27 year-old Robin who shouts "Cowabunga!" while on a surfboard in space. Bat-nipples. "My rubber lips are immune to your charms" Need I go on?

Batman & Robin is like some corporately-mandated, "what will the kids like?" question sprawled across a spreadsheet and injected with the whims of Hollywood's A-list. It is nothing less than an in-motion disaster; a contrast-too-high smorgasbord of buzzwords, DC references and angular architecture designed to evoke a version of Gotham no one who worked on this ever saw.

It is both enrapturing and disgusting; a triumph on some unknown scale that also made people hate Batman movies for EIGHT YEARS.

Oh, and there's a Bat-Credit Card.

[Scott Tailford]

83. Spawn

Spawn Movie
New Line Cinema

Can something be both before and after its time?

Spawn's reliance on computer generated hellscapes really, REALLY feel distracting in retrospect, and even at the time weren't the most believable, though if you loved the source material enough, it was admittedly great to see Todd McFarlane's designs on the big screen.

Sadly, that is nigh-on the only positive, as the CG imagery? It is DISASTROUS. Entire semi-meaningful scenes are ruined by godawful, fang-toothed creatures and explosions where static snapshots of characters are sent pirouetting off-screen.

Worth it literally just to point and say, "Ah, that's cool. Spawn", and nothing else.

[ST]

82. V For Vendetta

V For Vendetta Sketch
Warner Bros. Pictures

V For Vendetta is a hugely underrated movie - hence my solitary vote being the only one for it on this list, unbelievably - and often gets misremembered as not being a comic book movie in the first place. Just because it's not true Marvel or DC doesn't mean it doesn't count.

Anyway, it's incredibly clever, terribly pertinent and brilliantly plotted, while adapting one of Alan Moore's most essential works. Sure, it's not as flashy or as insistent as some of the superhero films on this ranking, but it's absolutely worth a re-evaluation alongside them.

[SG]

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Josh has over 11 years of experience as a published writer, having worked nine of those years as a full-time content producer at WhatCulture. In that period he has created hundreds of articles, videos and podcast episodes for multiple WhatCulture channels, specialising in gaming, horror and film & TV. He now primarily works as a senior content producer and presenter on WhatCulture Gaming where he co-hosts the WhatCulture Gaming Podcast, a top 3 UK most listened to gaming podcast that he co-created in 2018. Over the years he has reviewed several high-profile gaming releases, covered industry events with on-site reporting, opined on breaking news, and even kicked off his interviewing career by chatting to childhood hero, Tommy Wiseau.

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WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.

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NCTJ-qualified journalist. Most definitely not a racing driver. Drink too much tea; eat too much peanut butter; watch too much TV. Sadly only the latter paying off so far. A mix of wise-old man in a young man's body with a child-like wonder about him and a great otherworldly sensibility.

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