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The 5 Best and 5 Worst Movie Breaches of Comic Book Canon
A look at the deviations of comic to movie, good and bad. By
Rob Vaux
August 13, 2008
© Mania.Com
Every comic book fan knows the sensation—that queasy mixture of outrage and dread when a big-time Hollywood superhero movie makes changes. Adjustments. Little alterations in the character's background, appearance or abilities that differ from what is known or expected. Movie deviations from comic book canon can drive fans up the wall, and in some cases have turned the entire endeavor into a gigantic Hindenberg-like fireball. But they're not always bad things. The necessities of shifting mediums sometimes demand a breach of accepted canon. If done skillfully enough, they not only make the film better, but can actually add a fascinating new dimension to the characters as a whole.
Below is a list of the five best and five worst movie breaches of established comic book canon… subject to the vagaries of opinion, as always. Keep in mind that these represent true breaches--direct and deliberate changes to accepted details, not just poor choices. (David Hasselhoff's Nick Fury may be the most horrifying thing ever put on celluloid, but it's not technically a breach. It's just really bad casting.)
The Best
#5: Hellboy's Romance With Liz Sherman
He's a 300-year-old demon who's impervious to fire. She's a surly, bitter pyrotechnic with trust issues. Clearly, these kids were made for each other. But it wasn't until Guillermo Del Toro's 2004 movie adaptation that Hellboy and Liz Sherman actually consummated a romance. It worked brilliantly, further emphasizing the characters' outsider status while providing an undercurrent of longing that helped the audience identify with them. The 2008 sequel further cemented the notion, which in turn provided one of the best movie moments of the year as Ron Perlman's Hellboy and Doug Jones' Abe Sapien belt out their romantic woes to the dulcet sounds of Barry Manilow.
#4: Queen Gorgo's Expanded Role in 300
Frank Miller is brilliant, but he has serious issues with women. In his original graphic novel 300, he seemed perfectly happy keeping Queen Gorgo on the sidelines while King Leonidas went out and slaughtered Persians by the bushel. But Zack Snyder gave her plenty more to do in his adaptation: fending off the skeezy advances of Hellenic scumbag Theron (Dominic West) while reminding the Spartan council what a bunch of sissies they were for not backing her husband. The triumph lies less in the subplot itself than in the way it blends seamlessly with the remainder of the film: the dialogue is so spot-on that it might have been Miller's own. "This will not be over quickly. You will not enjoy this. I am not your queen." Yowza.
#3: Mystique's Bare Skin
In the comics, Marvel's sinister blue-skinned shape-shifter always grappled with some significant questions of logic. Her costume never quite followed the rules--sometimes it was a part of her body, sometimes it wasn't--and the specifics of her powers would constantly shift to match the writers' convenience. The X-Menmovies cut that Gordian knot by making her natural form utterly devoid of clothing. Not only did it make her powers comparatively sensible, but it let Rebecca Romijn prance around buck nekkid for the better part of the trilogy. And buck nekkid supermodels should always be encouraged.
#2: Heath Ledger's Joker Make-Up
The Clown Prince of Crime has been perennially depicted in the comics with permanent chalk-white skin and green hair. It was a part of his ghoulish identity, and the best writers could parlay that into some seriously scary stuff. But in keeping with his more realistic vision of Batman, director Christopher Nolan tossed it out the window. The Joker's face in The Dark Knight is just make-up applied over scarred but otherwise ordinary skin. Hey, a more plausible Joker could never be as hard-core as the comics, right? Or turn the film's PG-13 rating into a hollow farce, right? Or prove so intense and unsettling that it would haunt people's nightmares for weeks on end, right? Right?!
1. Harley Quinn
Even though she came from a TV show and not a movie, Harleen Quinzel stands miles above the competition in this category. (She can be grandfathered in for her appearance in The Return of the Joker.) Originally created as a throwaway hench-girl for the legendary Batman animated series, she became so popular that she was actually added to the official DC Comics canon. Tweaks like that have happened before, but usually as a part of some brazen cross-promotion scheme. No one else ever did it with one-tenth as much style as Harley… and no one else ever did it solely because they were so unspeakably cool. That's how you make a change for the better.
Honorable mentions go to Spider-Man's organic webshooters, Gene Hackman's off-beat take on Lex Luthor, and the overall changes in the X-Men's costumes (sparing Hugh Jackman the indignity of dressing like a giant bumblebee).
The Worst
#5 Judge Dredd Takes Off His Helmet
No, the 1995 Sylvester Stallone movie wasn't as bad as some say. And yes, he was a big star at the time, which presumably meant that people wanted to see his face onscreen. But in most ways that count, the helmet defines that character, and the minute the filmmakers removed it, Judge Dredd stopped being about Judge Dredd. Everything else was just sound and noise.
#4 A Blonde Wonder Woman
Similar to the Stallone fiasco, here's a textbook example of what happens when filmmakers don't think the details really matter. The 1974 TV movie turned Wonder Woman into a blonde, got rid of her super powers, and saddled her with a costume that made her look like Evel Knievel's groupie. They had a little cover due to a brief period in the comic books where Wondie followed the same basic path, but the wiry, milquetoast and not-at-all-raven-haired Cathy Lee Crosby still had about as much in common with the character as… well, as Julian McMahon has with Dr. Doom. Luckily, someone wised up and actually bothered to read the comics before signing Lynda Carter for the next attempt.
#3 Phoenix Kills Cyclops In X-Men 3
Okay, so the actor is tired of playing Wolverine's hapless rival and wants to jump ship so he can go play Superman's hapless rival. Fine. But if filmmakers set out to basically shoot the Dark Phoenix saga, they'd better put his character front and center. And if they're going to kill him, they'd better do it with an appropriate sense of gravitas. Famke Janssen's throwaway dispatch of James Marsden's Cyclops--taking place off-screen and with less fanfare than school kids crossing the street--threw a monkey-wrench into the entire proceedings, and saddled X-3 with a burden from which some felt it never recovered.
#2 Halle Berry's "Catwoman"
No. Just… no.
#1 Bat Nipples
This entire list could be a litany of Bad Things Joel Schumacher Did, but nothing encapsulates fans' skepticism about Hollywood adaptations than those two little words. Campy? Ironic? Playful riffs on Batman's homoerotic undercurrents? Horse puckey. They were embarrassing. They were crass. They were painfully crude in their symbolic intentions, and they did little more than turn the character everyone paid good money to see into a walking punchline. When Bob Kane wanders around the set, muttering about the costume choices, something is very wrong. The good news is that, like #4 above, the people in charge eventually took the hint.
Dishonorable mention goes to the giant cloud Galactus in Rise of the Silver Surfer, the Saran-wrap "S" in Superman II, and the fact that--in four separate movies--Bruce Wayne's freaking girlfriend found out who he really was! (Yeah, it happened sometimes in the comics, but never quite so indiscriminately. Way to keep a secret, big guy…)
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