12 Ways Comic Book Movies Totally Ripped Each Other Off

1. Gigantic Fiery Street Art

Remember that moment in The Dark Knight Rises when Batman announced his return to Gotham by burning a great big Bat symbol into the side of the bridge into Gotham, and how stirring it was? Of course, it relied on us forgetting both that Batman had teleported back to Gotham, and that he'd stopped on his way to effectively do a spot of graffitti, but as a realisation of the film's fascination with symbolism it was a strong motif.

And then when Spider-Man did largely the same thing in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, in order to express his love for Gwen Stacy, the audience cooed in appreciation, even if the impact was dimished somewhat by the fact that we'd seen it before.

But Batman wasn't even the first comic book hero to make his mark in fire as a "I was here" statement of intent, as Nolan pretty much stole the moment from The Punisher (2004 - the second, and probably best), in which the titular hero manages to manipulate some explosions to look like his flaming skull calling card.

Yes, the film is terrible, but that doesn't make pilfering its one bad-ass moment fair.

What have you seen comic book movies steal from each other? Share your own picks below.