12 Great Moments In Mediocre Comic Book Movies

Why couldn't the rest of Justice League be more like Superman Vs Barry Allen?

Flash Justice League
Warner Bros.

Right now, the comic book movie genre is one of the biggest in the industry. There is the mammoth MCU, the much lesser but seemingly on the rise DCEU, and the various other companies that put out such movies like Dark Horse comics.

Seeing these larger than life characters battle huge purple aliens, villains often revealed to be a relative of some kind, or even themselves, is usually something spectacular to behold. Movies based on comic books have an ability to connect to so many people, whether you've read the source material or not.

However, this certainly isn't always the case. Some comic book movies, the likes of Green Lantern and Fant4stic, are the other end of the spectrum, offering nothing for either comic nerds or the mainstream audience to enjoy. Somewhere in the middle, there is a group of superhero movies that can't be labelled good, some are even down right bad, but there is at least one scene, or one aspect, that goes some way to redeeming it. No matter how slightly.

No, these moments don't make these movies good, but they allow you even just for a moment or two, to forget just how bad they actually are.

12. Hellboy Vs Baba Yaga In Hellboy

Flash Justice League
Lionsgate

Particularly in the world of comic book movies, reboots are always going to be a part of the industry. Some of these work incredibly well, like Tom Holland's Spider-Man soon to be trilogy, while some fall flat, like Andrew Garfield's Spider-Man trilogy that never was.

Hellboy's reboot in 2019 most certainly falls into the latter of these categories. Despite David Harbour doing his best to make the movie watchable, there is just far too much exposition, too many terrible characters, and an almost tug of war feel to the tone that can never quite settle on what it wants to be.

However, there were some parts of the movie that were watchable, enjoyable even, and if the rest of the movie had focused more on channeling these, it may not have been one of the biggest flops of the year. While some of the bizarre characters introduced in Hellboy were forgettable, the impossibly creepy Baba Yaga was something different.

If Neil Marshall was going for the dark and creepy vibe, which he seemed to be for parts of the movie, the fight between Hellboy and Baba Yaga was excellent. It was a strong balance between gross, tense, and entertaining, as the titular character scrambled to get away from his adversary's unique attack style. More of this and less teenage angst would have made this movie a lot better.

Contributor
Contributor

This standard nerd combines the looks of Shaggy with the brains of Scooby, has an unhealthy obsession with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and is a firm believer that Alter Bridge are the greatest band in the world.