The new Captain America: Brave New World poster is based on the 1979 cover of Captain America #230 (left). — Marvel Entertainment
The recent poster for Captain American: Brave New World of Red Hulk smashing Captain America’s shield was a wonderful tribute to the 1979 cover of Captain America (Vol.1) # 230 by Bob Layton and Ron Wilson.
For comics fans, the sight of a comics panel coming to life on screen can be a breathtaking event on its own.
For me, the experience of watching a comics-based movie prior to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) used to be a test of patience and acceptance. While some of the complaints had to do with the absence of CGI, which I can accept, there were others that were problematic simply because of the decisions made by “non-believers” who were making the decisions.
Among the questionable (to me, at least) decisions was a Punisher without a Skull-head shirt, an Italian Red Skull, a Razzie-worthy Catwoman, and who can forget ... Madame Web.
Anyway, today’s focus is not on bad comic book movies, but rather those who have successfully paid tribute to the original source materials by bringing iconic comic panels to life. In no particular order of preference, here are some of my favourite panel-to-film moments.
The classic scene from Amazing Spider-Man #50 where Peter Parker quits being Spider-Man by dumping his costume in the trash is reenacted by Tobey Maguire in Sam Raimi’s second Spider-Man movie.
That back breaking moment in the comics had sent shivers through many comic book fans’ spines, so kudos to Christopher Nolan who did a remarkable job by including it in the finale of his Dark Knight trilogy.
Artist Adi Granov’s drawing of Iron Man in the now iconic “superhero landing” pose has inspired so many imitations and homages, but it wasn’t until Jon Favreau simply had to put it into the Iron Man 2 movie (while proving that it was anatomically possible to execute it).
While comic fans have seen many a character (apart from Thor) lifting Mjolnir, from Beta Ray Bill to even Superman, nothing beats watching Captain America doing so in Avengers Endgame, which was one of the most iconic moments in the entire MCU!
Ok, it isn’t exactly fair to include this, considering the fact that Zack Snyder basically just recreated the entire 300 graphic novel scene by scene into a film. But if I had to choose one scene from it to include, it would be Leonidas kicking the Persian herald into a pit while yelling “This is Sparta!”.
Speaking of Snyder, while his Batman Vs Superman: Dawn Of Justice was a little too “dark” for me, the ultimate showdown between the two heroes sort of justified the tone and atmosphere of the film. We could have done without all that “Martha” stuff though.
No matter what you think of his films or style, Snyder truly is the master of recreating comic book panels on screen. Watchmen is another film where he pretty much just copied almost the entire Alan Moore-written comic onto the screen.
For me, however, it was still a big thrill to watch Ozymandias revealing his masterplan and delivered the coup de grace by telling the heroes that he already triggered the catastrophe ... 35 minutes earlier.
From one Alan Moore adaptation to another, the scene in V For Vendetta where Natalie Portman sacrifices her hair was worth the wait, as it shows how her character Evey Hammond is reborn as V’s trusted companion after going through a great deal of pain and torture.
The recent Deadpool Vs Wolverine movie is full of homages and parodies, but one that really stood out for comic fans was the recreation of the iconic cover from Uncanny X-Men (vol.1) #251 featuring Wolverine being “crucified” on a giant letter X.
While there are many, er, “blind spots” in the 2003 Ben Affleck-starred Daredevil movie, it sort of made up for it all by depicting Elektra’s death in the same way as the comics.
It’s super when it just takes one scene to save a really poor movie, and that happened with Superman Returns, where director Bryan Singer up for the disappointing story to pay homage with arguably the greatest superhero comic cover of all time.
Despite the movie picking a different Green Goblin (Harry vs Norman) and setting, the 2014 movie starring Andrew Garfield as Spidey still manages to recapture one of comics’ most tragic moment... and with a lot of style too.
Captain America’s shield versus Iron Man’s repulsor rays. Whether you see it in paper or on screen, ‘tis still a sight to behold.
