How Is It So Hard to Figure Out Comic Movies?

Credit: The Punisher

There’s something to be said about comic book movies since there are great examples of this genre and there are horrible ones that probably shouldn’t have been made, but were decent attempts at the time. But one has to wonder how hard it is to make a comic book movie work since at this time it’s easy to see how many people actually disdain this genre and how many absolutely love it. But the fact remains that there are so many comic book movies out there that don’t work as well as they should and it’s kind of tough to figure out why some movies turn out to be as horrible as they are. One reason could be that a lot of directors have their own vision and don’t want to deviate from it, which means that it could be ego or it could be the fact that they don’t want to tell the same story that’s been seen in the comics already. Still, there is something to be said for having a set of blueprints in the comics that makes it hard to imagine why the stories that have been laid down aren’t being used as they are. Granted, there are other reasons that this happens, and I’ll go into them in a second. But trying as hard as one can to keep the comics as accurate as they were while still on the page would be favorable, even if it’s not bound to happen. 

Credit: Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice

Access to the necessary characters isn’t always possible. 

Sadly, not every franchise is able to make use of the characters that are needed to complete one story or another. The MCU is a great example since several of the characters that could have been used for a few storylines didn’t belong to the MCU at the time, and it didn’t appear that Sony was willing to share as they’ve done with Spider-Man over the years. For both Civil War and the Infinity Saga it would have been nice if they’d had access to the X-Men, various other Avengers, as well as several other heroes who were involved at the time. But again, the rights didn’t belong to them, which is unfortunate since this would have made for a movie that would have been even more epic than it already was. The same could be said for the DCEU and other comic book movies as well, but it’s tough to say who owned the rights to various characters at the time that each movie was in the process of being made. 

Telling the same story could still work since a lot of movie fans haven’t read the comics. 

One thing to remember is that there are a lot of movies out there that are based on comics that quite a few people haven’t read. It doesn’t take a comic book fan to enjoy an action-packed movie. This idea runs into a major roadblock when it comes to the point that was made in the paragraph above, but there is room to compromise and make something work, and that could explain how some of the movies have turned out the way they did. But thinking that the stories told in the comics couldn’t work as they are on the big screen feels laughable and could be attributed to ego, but also to the idea that a director might have something interesting to contribute to the overall story. 

Credit: Spawn

Some of the special effects are tough, even for CGI.

Thinking about the type of movies that have rolled across the big screen over the last few decades, the level of CGI that has been used in one movie or another has increased, and improved over time, and yet there are still challenges that not even CGI can accomplish on its own given the scope of the story and what’s expected. Plus, there’s a moment when too much CGI can tip the balance of a movie and create a severe problem since it indicates that the movie can’t stand on its own and absolutely needs a computer-generated assist to keep its appeal. But there is a possibility of finding a balance when it comes to practical effects that are aided by one program or another. 

The most irritating part of this is when certain characters are continually misrepresented. 

Out of all the things that could and do go wrong with comic book movies it feels as though getting the look and feel of the characters wrong is one of those that manage to happen on a regular basis. Doctor Doom is a perfect example since, in three movies, he hasn’t been given the type of look that people can get behind. So the question remains, why is it so difficult to get comic book movies right? As of right now, there are too many reasons to list.