My Hero

I don't know if you guys started this thread already, but here goes. The nineties definitely were the years of the superhero, and it looks like with the release of Spiderman we can expect much more of the same in the new millenium. So the question of the hour is who is your favorite super hero brought to the big screen.
Starting with me i would have to say it's a tie between Batman part one against the Joker, and an underrated movie named The Punisher. All my friends hated it I loved it.

So lets get the ball rolloin peeps.

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"Aim high, it costs no more to shoot at eagles then it does to shoot at skunks"

What kind of hero? Just super-heroes? Or can I nominate Frodo?

who?
It extends to comics transferred into movies. Like Unbreakable (sucked) doesn't count.

That kinda reduces the options, dontcha think? Anyhoo, Spider-Man is easily one of my favorites. The first Batman in a very close second.

*ICK*, I thought the bastardized movie version of The Punisher was a horrible adaptation of the comic book. Wasn't as Godawful as Judge Dredd or Howard the Duck (nothin' is), but horrible just the same.


Best superhero movie for me is still 1978's Superman: The Movie. Captured all of the requisite basics of the well-known story, slightly updated with winks and laughs, brought to life very well by Richard Donner and company with top-of-the-line effects for their day. Fun, star-filled excellent casting - Hackman as Luthor alone was a stroke of genius. Still holds up well today.

Warren Beatty's Dick Tracy (1990) is lots of fun too, and the graphic style of duplicating the comic strip color schemes and perspectives is endlessly fascinating. It's more flawed than Superman: The Movie, but damn good anyway. Don't know if you consider Dick Tracy a "superhero" or not, but it's a great comic brought to life.

Men In Black has all of the fun of the comic book, capturing that deadpan humor & clever tone spot-on, plus the big movie-star casting of Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones that works absolutely perfectly and adds another layer of charm. Here's hoping the second installment continues the fun. If agents K & J aren't superheroes, who is?

I think the best comic book adaptation yet is Conan the Barbarian (1982)...yes, even better than Superman: The Movie. But again, I don't know if you'd consider a bloodthirsty, sword-wielding thief and bezerker a "superhero" per se. He doesn't wear tights or stop super geniuses from taking over the world, but I love him all the same and gush about John Milius' classic regularly.

Two that are fantastic in their own way if you just let yourself go with the all-out campiness and diliberate cheese, are Batman (1966) and Flash Gordon (1980). Both are hopelessly dated in the eras which they were made, but that's also part of their charm (for me, anyway). Can't be viewed critically at all, only as pure fun - which they surely are.



And there is an existing thread where some of us discussed this a bit, HERE. That one asked for favorites/least favorites of comic book and video game movie adaptions.

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"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra

thanks for the update. I can't believe i forgot about Superman. That was a great flick.Yoda I don't think it narrows it down terribly.
p.s. I knew i was gonna stand alone on the punisher thing. It may have not followed the comic well, but i still think it was a good movie

I love Conan. I was just talking about that movie with Matt (Toose) yesterday and we both agree, blood and sex just plain rocks when done in the right way. Conan has all the components. Good call.

Ditto. Conan rocks. I especially like the music. Might be my favorite soundtrack ever.

My favorite superhero movie is probably Spider-Man, but i also like X-Men, Superman II, Superman and Batman, probably in that order.

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One of the biggest myths told is that being intelligent is the absence of the ability to do stupid things.

I forgot about X-Men. I suppose I was thinking in terms of singular heroes, rather than groups (perhaps because group superhero movies are less than common). I dug X-Men far more than any of the Batman or Superman movies. It might sound lame to have my first two choices both originate within the last few years, but that's what I'm goin' with.

i just watched X-Men a while ago it was a great film i will admit and they would have to be my hero rather than the superman and Batman movies. I never did get how the one thing to destroy supermans powers was a piece of planet in which he was born and came from

Agreed, Yoda. In fact, I think I said the same thing here once. Don't know what thread.

X-men good call. Great movie. Even though it only came out recently it still ranks up there. When I was a kid I loved Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I thought that was just the coolest movie.

p.s. any news on a X-men two release

Yep.

sweet nightcrawler was like my favorite character on the cartoon. I wonder how they are going to depict him on the big screen. This should be interesting.

X-Men was awesome! I forgot about that. My sisters and I used to collect the cards and the comic books...when the movie came out, we were disappointed about some of the casting choices (Halle Berry...blech)
but overall, I thought they did an excellent job. Sabertooth was really cool, just like in the cartoon. I'm jacked about the next X-Men movie.

I'll second that emotion. I'm so ready for X-2... I get tingly just thinking about it.

I'm surprised no one mentioned Gerard Depardieu in My Father, The Hero. Any big lumpy father who would pretend to be his teenage daughter's lover is a hero in my book.

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You were a demon and a lawyer? Wow. Insert joke here."

yeah with R-Kelly tendencies. Sicko

Do we really have to stress the use of the - in between Spider and Man here?

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"I was walking down the street with my friend and he said, "I hear music", as if there is any other way you can take it in. You're not special, that's how I receive it too. I tried to taste it but it did not work." - Mitch Hedberg

i would think not