Super-sized superhero surprises – – Gamereactor

(10) Avengers

Of course, by that time Marvel Studios had consolidated its position as the best in the subgenre, and there was no doubt that they would play all the cards, spend all the money, and put all the heroes they had already then included in their own films into Avengers. Full steam ahead, full roll – maximum budget, and all that. In this way, of course, it was no big surprise that Avengers became a spandex spectacle the likes of which we had never seen before. But I did not believe in an ensemble film of the kind Feige and Whedon decided to make, and after the very pale Thor and the very mediocre Iron Man 3, I was skeptical to say the least. I had expectations, which resulted in a complete cinematic shock when it turned out that Avengers was absolutely furiously good. Well written, quirky wording, freshly funny, nerdy and super stylish with character portraits that felt traditional and comic book correct and super fresh – all at the same time.

(09) Hellboy

It felt very strange indeed that Columbia Pictures gave Guillermo del Toro a free hand to try to bring Dark Horse Comics’ underground hit Hellboy to the big screen. It also felt doomed to fail when Mignola himself stated in the British press before the theatrical premiere that he didn’t like what Del Toro had done with his beloved comic book character, and beforehand, this smelled like a flop, way off. But! The Old Man from Hell came out of nowhere and stormed into the genre like a red-faced whirlwind. The film itself was terribly entertaining, Pearlman was perfect in the role of Hellboy and, of course, it appeared that Del Toro’s strange aesthetic and dark visuals went perfectly with Mignola’s stylistic cartoons.

(08) Captain America: Winter Soldier

Personally, the First Avenger debut of Superman-like, heroic, mother-in-law-scented boring Steve Rogers felt like a miss. Minus the scene where he transforms into Tony Stark Senior’s custom-made mutation chamber (with accompanying foot chase), it’s a downright bad movie, if you ask me. So I had absolutely no expectations for the sequel, where we would follow an unwitting Cap in a “modern setting” after he awakens from his long hibernation.

(07) Leaf

The director had never made a feature film before, Blade was relatively unknown even to comic book fans, and none of us understood when it became clear that New Line Cinema would invest hundreds of millions in making a horror/action film based on a Marvel character. At first Blade sounded like an unmitigated disaster. However, this would soon prove completely wrong, as Blade was not only a remarkable film in many ways (dark, violent, gory, exciting, cool and with incredibly well-reasoned and delicious mythology), but also made a lot of money for a film company in financial trouble.

(06) Ant-Man

A movie about a man who makes himself so small that he can ride on the backs of flying ants, starring the old man from I Love You, Man. It honestly felt like one big, bad joke beforehand. But the finished film, skillfully orchestrated by Yes Man director Peyton Reed with a script by Shaun of the Dead creator Edgar Wright – would prove to be much better than the promised premise. Rudd was perfect in the lead role, as were Douglas and Lilly. The humor was perfect and the small scale (both figuratively and literally) of the storytelling made it feel intimate and cozy as opposed to Marvel Studios’ usual spectacle productions.

(05) Nanny

The only Batman we had seen outside the comics at the time was the 1960s series with a woefully inept Adam West (with no muscle on his body and painted eyebrows on the outside of his mask) as Bob Kane’s masked avenger. Kapoow! Worthless was just the first name, which in many ways meant that most people at the time had completely ruled out Batman in terms of his possible future career as a major movie star. But then Beetlejuice man Tim Burton entered the picture and promised (daringly) that he could help Warner with a complete renovation of all things Batman, which (as we all know) he did. The shock when Batman rolled out in cinemas (1989) was total and I remember the conversation at school. Everyone was lyrical and in many ways it was this movie that started the whole genre that today is somewhat hugely saturated by ten annual comic book roles.

(04) Sin City

For nearly 25 years, Frank Miller’s dream project Sin City was described as one of the relatively few comic books that could not be turned into a feature film. It was too stylistic, too raw, too dark, too violent and too much Miller to be transferred to the screen. But. Desperado’s old man Robert Rodriguez had an idea, after being kicked out of the Hollywood union and thrown out of Tinseltown, with his own studio starting in Texas. Together with Frank, he managed to perfectly capture what made the comic so brilliant, and Sin City is known as one of the absolute best films in this genre ever made.

(03) Guardians of the Galaxy

Let’s face it, nobody knew about the comic book before Marvel had the crazy Gunn turn it into a lavish Hollywood movie. And I mean no one, hardly the most ardent Marvel collectors. As Gunn is used to, he chose a bunch of obscure characters over the more familiar faces of the comic book giant, all so he could squeeze in his meaty, supra-typical storytelling style and wry humor. It was also the case that put-together Parks &; Rec comedian Chris Pratt never felt like a handsome, well-trimmed lead actor beforehand, and that said, expectations for this film were zero. None. That it ended up being absolutely brilliant means it stands firm as one of the subgenre’s biggest surprises.

(02) Guardians

Many a screenwriter had tried to transform Alan Moore’s darkly funny, satirically sharp and brilliant commentary on the ever-expanding world of comic book heroes in the 1980s, but none had succeeded. Many a director had tried to find a way to film the best-selling Watchmen, and they had all dropped out. But then Metal Gear Solid voice actor David Hayter took on the task of rewriting the script, while Dawn of the Dead director and former music video legend Zack Snyder agreed to direct. Along with the award-winning Larry Fong behind the camera, they all managed to do Moore’s graphic novel justice in what I consider the best comic book movie of all time and the biggest comic book movie surprise of all time.

(01) Iron Man

Marvel had ambition but no experience, no seasoned studio heads or proven, award-winning directors. They had former assistant producer (at Marvel) Feige and his pal Jon Favreau suggesting they could save a lot of money by dropping the proposals for Matt Damon or Tom Cruise to star in their first in-house film, and instead put their money on Robert Downey Junior, who had relatively recently been released from his latest round of drug rehab. Marvel Studios was formed, and despite the lack of a script, Feige, Favreau and Downey pulled out all the stops to co-write the script for what would become one of the biggest Hollywood underdog hits ever. As a collector, I never read much Iron Man, I never understood why Marvel wanted to start that ending, and I never thought in advance that Downey would work in that role. No real expectations. Here’s to a movie that would turn out to be absolutely phenomenal.