Were there any Marvel comic book adaptations in the 70s/80s/90s?
Not a lot between Howard the Duck and Blade, so DC win by default?
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I kinda see his point…
Check out the list of Marvel Movies… Up until 1998 (Blade) / 2000 (X-Men), there’s nothing really memorable. I mean, the Superman and Batman movies from the 80s/90s aren’t particularly good, but they were a lot better than what Marvel was releasing at the time.
Additionally, the DC Animated Universe was way ahead of anything that Marvel was doing on the Animation side at the time.
Edit: Ninja’d by Daneel
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I saw that in a theater, opening weekend even… I am not sure I completely regret it as even though it is an awful film it was a kind of dumb fun. Probably not worth the admission cost though.
What would shitty activists do with themselves?
Actually make the world a decent place?!
Talk sense, Adam. This way leads to madness.
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So they have a kid that shops at Hot Topic. “2edgy” isn’t really ballsy.
Maybe the idea could have been good, but the execution is pure schlock, but not my ideal brand of schlock.
I used to be a big comic book fan. I don’t actually like the movies, because people in suits doing supernatural things just appear dumb to me, I lose the suspension of disbelief immediately.
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You will notice I said Marvel Studios, yeah there were sparse movies earlier but they are all hit and miss. Marvel Studios which is doing the whole Marvel Cinematic Universe has been some good stuff where the recent DC films I just haven’t bothered with seeing when I read my fellow geek reviews of them.
I do like the DC animated stuff which I totally forgot about. There is some really good stuff there.
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Oh, I’m not talking about Suicide Squad at all in regards to it being ‘ballsy’. I’m talking about the “deadly serious, no jokes, geared towards hardcore fans, slow and ultra stylized” approach to making Man of Steel and Batman vs Superman. Suicide Squad is pure Hot Topic.
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Ahhh, ok. One day I’ll perhaps check those out.
You said "Marvel Studios, but you were arguing against a comment that said “DC comics USED to have the best comic book adaptation movies around” and referring (with the Batman and Superman references) to a time before Marvel Studios existed.
So yes, since Marvel Studios started (and certainly since the Dark Knight trilogy ended), Marvel has had the better movies. That isn’t a good argument against DC having the best adaptations before that.
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I’m just done with comic book movies.*
I’ll watch them when they’re on HBO or something, or when they show up at the library.
I won a free ticket for Suicide Squad yesterday (via that silly T-Mobile Tuesday thing) but couldn’t be arsed to claim it.
I did really like Batman in 1989. But I was 11. And I won’t deny Michelle Pfieffer in the sequel was…formative.
The MCU stuff is just so formulaic. The DC stuff (limited stuff that I’ve seen) is dreary.
*unless they do a Dredd 2, natch.
It wasn’t meant to be, though, was it?
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They got a lot of flack. They aren’t “fun” in a popcorn-movie sense. But my friends who love Alex Ross comic art, Frank Miller comics, and have been DC comic book fans for many many years really dug their super slow, thoughtful, cerebral, moody pace and deeply nerdy references. YMMV.
They were also very solidly a product of their time, so they (well, some of them, anyways) felt a lot better at the time than they do now.
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Superman and Batman, as least the first two of each franchise, were both box office hits and solid films. Maybe they don’t hold up as well when compared to the newer stuff, but at the time they were great.
DC also had success with The Flash, The Adventures of Lois and Clark, and Swamp Thing on TV.
In contrast, Marvel had basically nothing. In the 70s IIRC they had some animated stuff and Spiderman on The Electric Company and The Hulk on TV and a few direct to video messes.
Slowly in the 90s Marvel started to get a foot hold, and in the early 2000s they really began to equal or even surpass DC.
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I also said looking back on them I kinda find most of them not so great. They are as hit and miss as the previous Marvel stuff.
Gah I am getting to be a cranky old film critic and I really do like some trashy films but I think the only stuff that would hold up for me today are Superman 1&2 and Batman Begins, the rest just meh.
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Batman Returns [edit: I meant The Dark Knight], as a movie, isn’t the best. As a showcase for Heath Ledger’s Joker, it’s great fun.
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The trailers had nice use of color and music, Leto actually appeared to have found a way to follow Heath Ledger’s Joker. Loved the Harley Quinn character from the animated series and looked forward to Will Smith doing a full tilt anti-hero Hancock. Sadly, it seems that they did the same crap Marvel has been doing in spending more planning on a network of sequels than actually making the movie in front of them worth following. Just because there are literally thousands of comic characters available doesn’t mean you need to throw a dozen in every damn movie, just so everybody gets to see their favorite minor hero/villain on screen.
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TV isn’t Movies though and The Flash didn’t last that long even though I liked it a lot but having the hots for Amada Pays may have had something to do with that… I have peeked at some of the new DC tv stuff and it is fair enough.
I think they really shine with their animated shows but that could be that is where they get the writers that understand the genre.
Um… pardon the quibble but I don’t think the movie is the one ‘reimagining’ her this way. I was under the impression that was her schtick for some time now, if not always ( especially when assuming standard male-gaze designed female characters ).
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I kind of had the same impression, but I’m not a comix guy.
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You mean The Dark Knight?
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