15 Films You Didn't Realise Were Based On Comic Books
5. A History Of Violence
David Cronenberg's A History of Violence is based on the 286-page graphic novel of the same name. It was written by John Wagner; the creator of Judge Dredd.
It focuses on a family man called Tom who manages a diner. When two serial killers take over the place, Tom guns them down. He saves everyone in the diner and is hailed as a local hero. A scarred mobster called Fogarty sees Tom's face plastered all over the news and recognises him as a hitman called Joey. When Fogarty confronts Tom directly, it turns his whole world upside down.
In the film, Fogary is certain of Tom's true identity. In the graphic novel, the mobster, who's called Torrino, isn't sure at first, due to being half-blind. He only becomes certain when he sees how much Joey's son looks like him when he worked with Torrino.
A sizeable chunk of the graphic novel delves into Joey's backstory, which is also left unexplored in Cronenberg's work.