The Best Superhero Movies

There have been several movies over the past few years that have adapted famous comic books to the big screen. I'm just going to list the best of the best of those films.

The 1989 BATMAN is a classic, hands down. Dark, atmospheric, and catering more to fans than children, this first movie showed people Batman could be serious. And honestly, the Batman franchise really needed to get away from the disgrace that the Adam West Batman had left it in. Thankfully Tim Burton came along and decided to and some grit and grime to the character.

As a child, and even to this day, Batman is one of my favorite comic book heroes. In being a fan I have always understood that Batman has never been anything but a dark hero. And Michael Keaton managed to capture the darkness of Batman and make the character into the symbol of fear he is meant to be to criminals. Then again, what would Batman be without an enemy to strike fear into? And what better enemy than his nemesis the Joker? Burton hit gold once again in casting Jack Nicholson as the Clown Prince of Crime. What ended up on screen was a darker version of the Joker than anyone had seen. Nicholson is excellent in portraying a criminal mastermind that is slightly off his rocker.

As far as the films plot goes, it manages to stay fairly true to the source material. Very wisely, the film decides to quickly move past the origin phase of the Batman legend. Instead, the audience is given the ability to witness a Batman that has clearly been doing his thing for some time now. There are a few plot points that have nothing to do with the comics at all however. For example, the Joker never killed Bruce's parents. And if you pay very close attention you can catch Billy Dee Williams playing Harvey Dent. That's right, a black actor was cast as the man that would later become Two Face. But don't get me wrong, I really do like this film, it's one of my favs. The things that are wrong with the plot pale in comparison to all that is right. The BATMAN is an amazing comic book movie.

While I have stated that the 1989 BATMAN is one of my favorites, so is this movie. This is the best thing to the happen to the entire series.

After BATMAN RETURNS the series went down the drain and just became ridiculous. Even the studios saw that Batman was fading away, and they divised a plan to remedy the whole situation; Christopher Nolan. The director behind the great film Memento picked up the franchise and brought it into a completely different light. Nolan has brought a sense of reality to the Batman legend that I'm sure thought would never come. For once someone that actually gave a damn about the source material was in charge of a comic book adaptation. What's more, Nolan actually made the world believe that a man could done a suit and fight crime under the guise of The Batman.

And in making the world believe, Christopher Nolan decided to cast a very in shape Christian Bale as the Bruce Wayne/Batman. It's my opinion that Bale has been the best Bruce Wayne yet, as well as being in the best shape of any of the previous Batmans'. Still keeping in the vein of bringing reality to the story, Nolan brought in Liam Neeson as Ras al'Ghul. Neeson is great as one of Batman's more refined enemies. Of course, Cillian Murphy was pretty impressive as the Scarecrow too. And I wouldn't dare forget to mention Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox. It's amazing that this character finally got to see the big screen, showing the world where Mr. Wayne gets all of his amazing toys.

This films plot has been the closest to the comic books over any other film in the previous series. Christopher Nolan really did a great job delivering a Batman film to the fans for the fans. With any luck, when he done with his series it will lead up to the Batman we first saw in the Tim Burton BATMAN.

This was a great comic to film adaptation. Spawn is often overlooked when people start talking about comic movies, and I think the biggest part of that is because the company that made the comic (Image Comics) isn't that widely known.

For those that don't know, Spawn tells the legendary tale of Al Simmons. A government assassin, Simmons is betrayed by his employers and killed. Upon dying he is sent to hell for all those that he has murdered. The ruler of hell (who goes by the name Malebolgia) offers him a deal. If he leads Malebolgia's army in the war against heaven Simmons will be allowed to see his beloved wife once more. As go most deals with the devil there is a catch. Simmons is returned to the land of the living, only it is now 5 years after his death. Simmons must now try to piece together what symblance of a life he has left while trying to battle the hell that so badly wants him back.

That's the plot of the movie, and for the most part it's the plot of the comic. There really aren't that many screw ups present in the movie, and the ones that are there aren't really that big. The director Mark A. Z. Dippe did good by casting Michael Jai White as Spawn. White had the right physical build and acting chops to pull off both Simmons and Spawn. And John Leguizomo pulls of the Clown (one of Malebolgia's right hand demons) perfectly.

Effects wise, the movie is pretty damn good for its time (1997). The most impressive effect to me was the transformation the Clown goes through turning into Violator. Surprisingly the visual guys got the look of almost all the characters down with very little needless changes.

If you do happen to be a fan of the comics you will notice a huge amount of references in this bad boy. There are atleast 3 characters from the comics that have on screen cameos and few others that are talked about.

If you haven't seen this movie and are a comic book fan I suggest you give this one a watch. It's not the brightest of superhero movies, but it does have a superheroes' heart to it.