The Top Comic Book Movies Of All Time

In the last twenty years, comic book properties have been bought up by major motion picture studios everywhere. Nerds from every corner have flocked with their less nerdier friends to catch the special effects, the A-list celebrities playing their favorite heroes, and to catch whether or not the movie is true to their favorite comic book. Some movies have followed the comic book nearly scene for scene, where as some merely seem to rewrite the world of the superhero. I submit my choices for the top comic book movies...so far.

1. Batman Begins: Christopher Nolan rebooted the franchise to a higher degree than anyone could have expected. The first in a series of Batman movies started by Tim Burton did not follow storyline/timelines of the Batman comics and also came off as cartoon like by the time actors like Arnold Schwarzenegger played Mr. Freeze. Christopher Nolan started off by casting the most obvious choice for Batman/Bruce Wayne...British actor, Christian Bale. Bale ended up being a great choice, along with fellow great choice Michael Caine as Alfred. Other great choices such as Morgan Freeman, Liam Neeson, and Gary Oldman followed as well. Not only was casting great, but Nolan made sure to give Batman a darker tone. He kept the movie plausible, even with it's comic book technology. Also Nolan thought ahead and viewed the movie as a trilogy and didn't introduce The Joker as the first villain Batman faces, but instead the one that had something to do with his training, Ra's al Ghul. Throwing in Scarecrow as a more local to Gotham villain was also a good idea on the Nolan crew. Overall, this movie ressurected Batman in cinema and produced an even better sequel and another highly anticipated one.

2. The Dark Knight: Speaking of Batman, the Christopher Nolan sequel was even better. With a lead in from Batman Begins when Gordon hands Batman a joker playing card. Casting for The Joker was widely speculated and at one point a rumor floated around that it was Crispin Glover. Then a more grittier version was leaked when a picture of Heath Ledger as The Joker appeared on the internet. Heath Ledger threw himself into this role and played it better than anyone could have imagined. The unfortunate result was drug overdose that Heath Ledger died from. Though I don't like when movies and television shows change the actor/actress playing a role in the middle of a run, Maggie Gyllenhaal played a better Rachel Dawes than Katie Holmes did. Throw in the build up and fall of Harvey Dent and the gruesome special effects they used to give him his Two Face half and the movie definitely revealed itself as argubaly the best comic book ever produced. Ending with Batman on the run and even nods to Batman comic fans with appearances by the original OMAC computer and the third in the series, The Dark Knight Rises will have a lot of heavy expectations.

3. The Crow: Based on the graphic novel of the same name written by James O'Barr, this movie also had fatal consequences for it's star Brandon Lee. Some speculated that the Lee family curse was involved, but whatever the case, it was a gunshot wound sustained during an action scene. The movie has a dark tone and is based on the day, Devil's Night. After being killed along with his girl, Eric Draven's soul is brought back to avenge their deaths. Excellent performances by Brandon Lee and the CG team who planted his face on a stuntman's body to complete the movie, as well as one of the best soundtracks in movie history (Stone Temple Pilots, The Cure, Nine Inch Nails, Violent Femmes, Rage Against The Machine, Pantera, Henry Rollins, etc) set a tone that gives the viewer the feeling that anyone in the movie can die any moment.

4. Sin City: Perhaps the best graphic novel turned movie based on how true to the novel the storyline is. Based on four of the seven graphic novels written by Frank Miller, Sin City even used the graphic novel as the scene by scene storyboard that Robert Rodriguez, Quentin Tarantino, and Frank Miller used to make this movie. Cinematography was excellent with a near black and white movie that mirrored the look of the graphic novel. Casting could hardly be better with perfect casting done on Dwight (Clive Owen), Gail (Rosario Dawson), Nancy (Jessica Alba), and Marv (Mickey Rourke). The only thing that this movie left in the air is the knowledge of whether or not Robert Rodriguez will ever get Sin City 2 made, based on the final three graphic novels.
5. Tank Girl: Campy in nature, this movie dates itself to the nineties decade with it's style, music, and even fashion. The movie was well casted, as Lori Petty looked the part better than most can and legendary Malcom McDowell playing the villain. Little known Naomi Watts also played sidekick, Jet Girl that helps Tank Girl bring down Water & Power. The only downfall is The Rippers. In the comic book, they were a race of mutated kangaroos, but in the movie, they are a genetically modified race of super soldiers. Still, without a lot of public knowledge of the exact storyline of Tank Girl, this fact about The Rippers falls lost of most of those that watched the movie. The movie is upbeat, energetic, and fun, which can be a trait lost on many other comic book movies. It also seemed to represent a decade (the nineties) better than other movies. The movie was released shortly before celebrities such as Gwen Stefani became nationally known (if cast later in the decade, Tank Girl could have been played by Stefani), the rebirth of Ice Tea's career (new to acting), and the foreshadowing of Jaime Hewlett's music project, The Gorillaz. A rumor of a reboot of Tank Girl has floated around, as another script has been floated around the movie studios.

6. Iron Man: The best of the movies based on a Marvel property. This movie is the perfect example of a lead actor perfectly casted. Robert Downey Jr. was born to play Tony Stark. Also Terrence Howard was a great James Rhodes. The script was well done, showing Tony Stark's original Iron Man costume to save himself from those whom kidnapped him. Later on after returning to America, Tony develops the Iron Man costume that we all know. In his process of developing the updated suit, a bit of comedy is portrayed when Tony Stark tries to refine the flight systems on his suit and he has trouble controlling it. The only downfall was Gwyneth Paltrow playing Pepper Potts. Her performance did not match the energy, humor, or the charm that Robert Downey Jr. brought to the screen.

Many other comic book movies were entertaining as well, but had flaws keeping them from this list. Casting such as Jessica Alba as Sue Storm didn't make sense, while she was a great match for Nancy in Sin City. On the other end of the spectrum, Patrick Stewart as Professor X and Hugh Jackman as Wolverine were perfect jobs of casting, but flaws in storyline hurt the movie.

Anticipated movies such as Dark Knight Rises and The Avengers could very easily move themselves onto this list of great comic book movies by next year. Other movies were also borderline on this list such as The Watchmen and Road To Perdition. With major motion picture studios buying up properties, I'm sure this list of movies will be ever changing.