#25 - #16
Released May 11, 1994
Adapted From The Crow (Caliber Comics)
Starring Brandon Lee
Director: Alex Proyas
Domestic Box Office Total: $50.6 Million
A man brutally murdered comes back to life as an undead avenger of his and his fiancée's murder.
Why It Made The List: Alex Proyas's film adaption of The Crow is a honest and true to the source version. It takes a few liberties from the comics but most movies do, then there's the performance from the late Brandon Lee. Amazing, from his heart, and believable! Hollywood wanting to remake this is a terrible idea, the film stands on it's own.
#14 X-Men First Class (2011)
Released June 3, 2011
Based On The X-Men (Marvel Comics)
Starring James McAvoy & Michael Fassbender
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Domestic Box Office Total: $146 Million
In 1962, the United States government enlists the help of Mutants with superhuman abilities to stop a malicious dictator who is determined to start world war III.
Why It Made The List: Despite it's continuity liberties it takes witht he film, X-Men First Class is the most solid X film next to X-Men 2. The relationship between Xavier and Magneto is well payed here, and the final battle in the film is epic and x-citing!
Released April 1, 2005
Based On Sin City (Dark Horse Comics)
Starring Bruce Willis, Clive Owen, Mickey Rourke, Jessica Alba
Director: Robert Rodriguez & Frank Miller
Domestic Box Office Total: $74 Million
A film that explores the dark and miserable town, Basin City, and tells the story of three different people, all caught up in violent corruption.
Why It Made The List: Out of all the films on the top 25 this may be the absolute most faithful adaption. Robert Rodriguez used the comics as a guideline for every scene in the film, along with the dialogue and the result is fantastic.
Released April 16, 2010
Based On Kick-Ass (Marvel's Icon Comics)
Starring Aaron Johnson& Nicholas Cage
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Domestic Box Office Total: $48 Million
Dave Lizewski is an unnoticed high school student and comic book fan who one day decides to become a super-hero, even though he has no powers, training or meaningful reason to do so.
Why It Made The List: The film is a brutal hard-core look at what it would be like, in a sense, to try and be a super-hero in real life. The comics were ultra violent and the movie doesn't stray from that. In fact, it kicks ass.
Released June 19, 1981
Based On Superman (DC Comics)
Starring Christopher Reeve
Director: Richard Lester & Richard Donner
Domestic Box Office Total: $108 Million
Superman agrees to sacrifice his powers to marry Lois, unaware that three Kryptonian criminals he inadvertently released are conquering Earth.
Why It Made The List: Superman 2 is still one of the best sequels of all time. The battle in the city at the end of the film is astounding, and 30 years later, we still don't have a Superman film that compares to the original two films. That has to mean something.
Released July 22, 2011
Based On Captain America (Marvel Comics)
Starring Chris Evans, Tommy Lee Jones, & Hugo Weaving
Director: Joe Johnston
Domestic Box Office Total: $174 Million
After being deemed unfit for military service, Steve Rogers volunteers for a top secret research project that turns him into Captain America, a superhero dedicated to defending America's ideals.
Why It Made The List: It may be the newest film out of the 25 on the list, but it made an immediate impact. People had seemingly low expectations for the film, but it delivered, and delivered well! The film is damn good and now we all can't wait for The Avengers!
Released March 9, 2007
Based On 300 (Dark Horse Comics)
Starring Gerard Butler
Director: Zach Snyder
Domestic Box Office Total: $210 Million
King Leonidas and a force of 300 men fight the Persians at Thermopylae in 480 B.C
Why It Made The List: Along with Sin City, this adaption is also very faithful to the source material. Snyder gave the film a unique visual style to the film, and over all it just gave it's audience what it wanted to see. A ass kicking film with a cool story too! It's also still one of the biggest selling Blu-Ray's to date!
Released May 2, 2008
Based On Iron Man (Marvel Comics)
Starring Robert Downey Jr, Gwyenth Paltrow, & Jeff Bridges
Director: Jon Favreau
Domestic Box Office Total: $318 Million
When wealthy industrialist Tony Stark is forced to build an armored suit after a life-threatening incident, he ultimately decides to use its technology to fight against evil.
Why It Made The List: Marvel had some success with the X-Men and Spider-Man franchises so Iron Man was a new start for them. If it failed then it could have meant no more Marvel movies, but it didn't. The film was solid and damn good, and now we are getting an Avengers movie, all because this movie rocked!
Released June 23, 1989
Based On Batman (DC Comics)
Starring Michael Keaton & Jack Nicholson
Director: Tim Burton
Domestic Box Office Total: $251 Million
The Dark Knight of Gotham City begins his war on crime with his first major enemy being the clownishly homicidal Joker.
Why It Made The List: Before Christopher Nolan came along, this Batman film was it! A dark brooding Batman that overlooked Gotham City and battled The joker. Over 20 years later the film doesn't hold up as well as Superman The Movie does for an older film, but it still helped launch Batman into modern mainstream!
Released May 3, 2002
Based On The Amazing Spider-Man (Marvel Comics)
Starring Tobey Maguire, Kristen Dunst & Willem Dafoe
Director: Sam Raimi
Domestic Box Office Total: $403.7 Million
When bitten by a genetically modified spider, a nerdy, shy, and awkward high school student gains spider-like abilities that he eventually must use to fight evil as a superhero after tragedy befalls his family.
Why It Made The List: James Cameron at one time toyed with Spider-Man on the big screen but he never did it. Perhaps it would have been amazing, but Raimi did an amazing job also, giving a great film, and an even better sequel (but that's later on the list). Maguire was excellent as Peter Parker, and watching Spidey fly through New York is a comic geek's dream.
Tomorrow The Top 5!!
