Comic Book Movies: Why So (Usually) Average?

Throughout the history of comic book movies, there are a few that have risen to the top. Yet, for the most part, the average comic book movie is…well, pretty average. Most comic book movies nowadays are better than your worst fears, but not as good as your highest hopes.

For every one summer blockbuster that becomes the talk of the critics and sends fanboys into convulsive spasms of awesomeness overloads, there’s a handful of others that don’t measure up to expectations, perform modestly, and are best served as a minor footnote, like Ghost Rider. And let’s not forget the utterly horrible ones that are a complete trainwreck: Daredevil, Catwoman, Batman And Robin, etc. So, the question is: even though comics are incredibly diverse in terms of characters and powers and universes, why does the quality of comic book movies have to be so diverse as well? Here are two reasons.

One of the main reasons it’s so hard to make a good comic book movie is because of time. Directors go into a summer blockbuster wanting to get millions of people interested in their movie, not just the dedicated hardcores that have followed a character since they were old enough to read. Even in sequels, there is one main question that can be the bane and downfall of a comic book movie: how on earth do you cram decades upon decades of character history into a movie that usually ranges from 1½ to 2½ hours? Where does “conveying crucial information about the heroes’ past” end and “padding the story with useless background filler” begin?

A second problem plaguing comic book movies today is vision. Whose vision of a character do you represent? In terms of Batman comics, Batman and Robin featured a return to campy overturns and light-hearted one-liners…and for its efforts it’s been derided as one of the worst things to ever happen to Batman in history. The Dark Knight Returns showed off a grim quasi-terrorist Batman refusing to go quietly into middle-age, while Kingdom Come showed an ever-cocky Batman that needed a full-body cast of his own design to keep his body together. Which version is best? Which version is “right”? Which one will the general population like more? In a world where almost every major comic book crossover involves at least one sweeping company-wide retcon (a term that basically means changing “canon,” the accepted continuity of a comic book universe), how do you even begin to tell a conclusive story?

In the end, it’s not easy to make a comic book movie. It’s even harder to make a good comic book movie. Not only does it take a good director, it takes a director that takes his subject matter seriously and doesn’t just see it as a way to cash in on the “in” thing. Not only does it take a good script, it takes a delicate balance between familiarity and uniqueness. Even some fantastic actors can flop in their comic book roles, while others once thought of as spelling ruination to a world-renown character can later be regarded as the single-best interpretation of that character ever. Balance is a key factor, good directing is a key factor, playing to your strengths and weaknesses is a key factor, and sometimes even luck is a key factor.

Looking ahead, some massive comic book properties are lined up to get the star treatment. “Watch-Mania” is making the rounds on the internet, as the genre-changing “Watchmen” graphic novel becomes a blockbuster film of epic proportions. Spider-Man 4 is all but confirmed, as is a threequel entry into Christopher Nolan’s Batman franchise. Even a Superman reboot is rumored. Each one has almost unlimited potential…and unlimited chances for failure. Only time will tell if they master time and vision…or if time and vision master them.