5 good comic book movies not starring the Avengers or Batman

Guess what everyone, there are comic book movies in existence that don’t star one of the Avengers, Batman, Superman, Spider-Man or the X-Men. Nothing against those characters, but there are other movies based on comics that are pretty damn good. Sure there are a lot of bad ones out there — Howard the Duck, Jonah Hex, Judge Dredd — but the good ones more than make up for those.

For a list that only contains five movies, I had to cut some really good ones out, like Hellboy, The Crow, R.E.D., The Men in Black, The Rocketeer and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (everyone already knows that comic book and video game fans love that movie, and I didn’t want to waste a spot on this list with something you already know). Here’s the ones that made the list…

300

This isn’t one of my favorite comic book movies, but I can admit that it was a good entertaining movie. The cast is phenomenal, with Gerard Butler, Lena Headey, Michael Fassbender and Rodrigo Santoro leading the way. But what drives this movie is the visual style (which has been used in other movies since, including Watchmen) and the amazing battle choreography. The fight scenes are among the best I’ve seen in a movie, mainly due to the cool factor of the camera slowdowns and the action onscreen.

Dredd 3D

I had my doubts about Dredd 3D (mainly because I think any movie with ‘3D’ in the title is going to suck), but I am so happy to be proven wrong. Dredd 3D was an awesome movie, true to the comics, and infinitely better than the 1995 film Judge Dredd starring Sylvester Stallone and Rob Schneider. Karl Urban is fantastic as Judge, Jury and Executioner. The movie has an awesome visual style with plenty of grit, action, and blood. And it’s not campy. Judge Dredd should never be campy.

Blade

How perfect was Blade when it released in 1998? I must have seen it three times in theaters. Wesley Snipes was perfect as the Daywalker, and the depiction of vampires and the world in which they live with humans was awesome. The fight scenes made me fall in love with the character, and the movie actually made me get into the comics. Then there was Blade 2 and Blade: Trinity — two movies I’ll never watch again.

Constantine

I know it got mixed reviews, but most of GameZone agrees that Constantine was a good movie. It is based on certain comic book story arcs, and there are some changes made to both the character and some of the details of the story, but for the most part Keanu Reeves does a good job as the titular character, both as a cynic and an exorcist.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

The 1990 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie (the first one made) is the best version of them in both TV and film. It was so good that it spawned a couple crappy sequels, like most good movies do. It most closely follows the comics on which it is based, and I have nothing but high praise for the story, acting, and surprising emotional moments in there. This is the one true version of the Turtles.

Honorable Mention: Guardians of the Galaxy

This is kind of cheating, but I loved this movie so much that I have to include it on the list. I wanted to keep mainstream comic book characters out of it, but the Guardians of the Galaxy have never been mainstream until this summer. In my opinion, it’s the best comic book movie made yet — even better than The Avengers. Yes, I went there.