“Heroes, Villains, and Me” is a periodic article on Geeky KOOL by Larry Litle about the world of comic books and my reaction to it. “Heroes, Villains, and Me” is not a comic book review article. I will write about current events, speculation and rumors, or my own wacky thoughts about the world of comic books.
A few days ago, my friend, Jason Lee Knight, posted on Facebook that Zach Snyder should direct the new The BATMAN movie. There is an online petition pushing for this very thing. Knight stated that the two best comic book movies were directed by Snyder. He believes that Watchmen and BVS are the two best Superhero movies ever.
This sparked a conversation with a few friends, including Brittney Greer. I declared that Jason’s statement about the best two comic movies of all time was bold and wasn’t shared by everyone. This lead to a discussion of the top favorite comic book movies. I made the statement at neither Watchmen nor Batman Vs Superman were on my top 20 comic movie list. In fact, BVS isn’t even in my top 5 Batman movies.
We all have our favorites. We also have those movies that just don’t groove with us. A favorite list is all opinion and how a movie made us feel at the time.
After some thought, I decided to share my favorite 10 Comic book based movies. You will probably not fully agree with my list. I will include things that you didn’t like as much as I did. I will exclude movies that you feel should be there. Feel free to leave your top 10 list below.
1) Marvel’s Avengers– Marvel Entertainment gave us some really good individual heroes movies and then brought these characters together for one really KOOL movie. We had never seen a live action Superhero team movie like this. It set the bar for what other comic book movies could be and should strive to be.
***Favorite Scene– Fight between Thor, Iron Man, and Captain America. Thor’s hammer coming down on Cap’s shield was awesome. I went back in forth on this because I love the Black Widow scene at the warehouse where she takes down all of the bad guys.
2) Captain America: Winter Soldier– Marvel has a special way of making superhero movies merged with other genre of movies. No movies shows this at the same level as Winter Soldier. This movie is Action Spy Buddy film in a Superhero movie. This movie is fantastic. I love the interaction between Cap and Natasha.
***Favorite Scene– I wanted to make this one of the great buddy scenes between Natasha and Cap but I have to go with the elevator scene. This demonstrates what Captain America brings to the table.
3) Batman (1989)– “Who are you man!” “I am Batman!”. This movie showed us the Dark Knight side of Batman. Michael Keaton is my favorite Batman. I still can quote most of this movie. When I find this movie on, I stop and watch it. I still love this movie like I did in 1989. I wore out my VHS because my roommate and I watched it every day for a semester.
***Favorite Scene- The art museum scene demonstrates the true crazy of Jack Nicholson’s Joker. I love how Batman rescues Vicky Vale. The Joker exasperates “Where does he get those wonderful toys?”
4) Guardians of the Galaxy– My top three movies are easy for me to pick. After the top three, these movies take one small step down but among numerous awesome movies with very little difference. Guardians comes up as #4. This movie was just so much fun. It set an awesome comical science fiction movie into the Marvel world with the Avengers.
***Favorite Scene- It is definitely the prison scene. I loved our heroes interaction and learning about each other. They were all so varied and yet they learned how to work together. I feel in love with Rocket and Groot in the prison.
5) Marvel’s Ant-Man– Marvel makes a father/daughter relationship movie in the middle of the Marvel universe. Ant-Man may have a shrinking power but this movie is large on heart and on laughs. Luis and his stories make this movie so fun.
***Favorite Scene- Luis telling the story with Stan Lee.
6) Captain America: Civil War– What happens when super hero friends come to the irreconcilable differences? You have a Civil War. This movie had been building since the first Avengers movies. Events in Winter Soldier led Cap to be very suspicious of the government. The events in Age of Ultron led to Tony to not trust himself or fellow heroes with the control of their group. You throw in the Winter Soldier being framed, the Avengers dividing up to fight, and the introduction of the Black Panther. This lead to a wonderful movie.
***Favorite Scene- Airport fight scene. Spider-Man steals Cap’s shield, Ant-Man becomes Giant man, and Black Widow kicking butt and finally using her wrist blaster “Widow Bite”.
7) Batman Returns– I know some will argue against this movie. Batman Returns is not a perfect movie but one that I love. I love Michelle Pfeiffer as Cat Woman- Meow! Christopher Walken is an awesome as the evil CEO. Michael Keaton returns to the role of Batman in wonderful form. No, I didn’t love Danny Devito and his Penguin costume but did love Paul Reubens as his father. This movie had a great Noir feel to it.
***Favorite Scene– Fight scene on the roof with Batman and Catwoman. ” I am Catwoman. Hear me roar.” Nuff Said.
8) Captain America: First Avenger– Here is a retro World War II movie mixed with a retro science fiction movie that introduces us to Captain America. This movie is a perfect movie introduction to one of the most iconic Superheroes. Captain America: First Avenger has the balance of a World War II movie with romance like Pearl Harbor. Our introduction to Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) is worth this movie at the eighth spot in our list.
***Favorite Scene– Cap going into the Hydra Stronghold by himself and kicking butt. There are tons of great action scenes in this movie but I love this first introduction of Cap to Hydra.
9) Superman II– Superman II was the first live action superhero movie I saw in the theater. Christopher Reeves in my Superman. He is humble and can kick butt when he has too. He cares about the civilians and protects them from Zod and the gang. He uses his mind to outsmart the equal powerful villains. There are weird and quirky things like the plastic wrap from the S and the kiss to make Lois forget but overall it is a fun movie. It developed a love for comic book movies.
***Favorite Scene– The fight at the Fortress of Solitude. This is a wonderful display of why Superman is really super and not just Super-powered.
10) Spider-Man– After years of waiting, I finally saw my favorite fictional character on the big screen. It wasn’t a perfect movie. I am a fan of web shooters and not organic webs. This movie had heart. When I saw the characters, they looked like what I expected. Aunt May and J.J. Jameson looked exactly like they did in the comics. I am not a fan of the ever younger Aunt May that has happen with the later versions of Spider-Man.
***Favorite Scene– The scene at the school where Peter discovers how his Spidey Sense can help me avoid being beat up by Flash. This was a perfect way to show Spider-Man greatest power- his Spidey Sense.
Honorable Mentions: Mystery Men, Sky High, Batman (66), Iron Man, Thor, Spider-Man 2, X-2, Days of Future Past, 300, and First Class.
Again, I expect people will not agree. Please share you lists below.
Stay Geeky My Friends!
