For the most part, comic book movies are pretty family-friendly. The movies, filled with our favorite superheroes and supervillains, have a bunch of violence but very little blood, and - aside from Zack Snyder's upcoming four-hour Justice League cut - you're not going to hear Batman dropping any four-letter bat-bombs. But none of this is to say that every comic book movie is fine for the little ones.
While it may seem like a new thing with movies like Deadpool, Joker, and Birds of Prey, the truth is that many movies based on comics have been made for more mature audiences over the years. Some of these movies proudly declared their comic book roots while others kept that part of the story quiet, but each one exists because of men and women who sat down and created stories for the four-color page.
10 300
Based on the true story of Battle of Thermopylae, Frank Miller's 300 was praised by critics when it came out as a comic and loved by audiences when Zack Snyder turned it into his first of many comic book-based movies. Snyder, a fan of Miller's work, did his best to recreate the comic on the big screen, not only to use Miller's story but to make the film look as much like the comic as he could. Along with turning Gerard Butler into a movie star and Zack Snyder into a hot director, 300 grossed nearly 500 million dollars at the box office off of a budget of just $65 million.
9 Wanted
While Mark Millar's The Kingsman has been the comic turned movie that gets the most notice, Wanted, a series he did with artist J. G. Jones, was the first of his work to make it to the big screen. The movie, which stars Angelena Jolie, James McAvoy, and Morgan Freeman (not to mention Chris Pratt in a small role), tells the story of Wesley Gibson, a beaten down by life office worker who learns that he's actually the son of a member of the Fraternity, a society of assassins that keeps the world safe.
Filled with intense action and some amazing facial expressions from James McAvoy, Wanted was a box office hit and sent Hollywood rushing to find more Mark Miller comics to buy up and turn into movies.
8 V For Vendetta
Based on the series by Alan Moore and David Lloyd, V for Vendetta was written for the screen by Lana and Lilly Wachowski - the siblings behind The Matrix - and stars Natalie Portman as Evie, a woman who finds herself wrapped up in the life of V, a man in a Guy Fawkes mask seeking revenge against the British government played by Hugo Weaving.
Like the comic it is based on, V for Vendetta has had a long-lasting effect on the world. The hacktivist collective Anonymous, formed just a year before V for Vendetta was released, would later adopt the Guy Fawkes mask as their symbol. Membersof the collective wworeit at protests.
7 Constantine
Based on the DC Comics character created by Alan Moore, Rick Veitch, Steve Bissette, and John Totleben and using the Garth Ennis and Will Simpson Hellblazer storyline "Dangerous Habits" as a blueprint, 2005's Constantine stars Keanu Reeves as the titular character as he battles demons and angels to save the world from destruction.
Comic fans were furious when the film was announced. In the comics, John Constantine is a British man who was clearly designed to look like the musician Sting, and casting Keanu Reeves in part and moving the story from London to Los Angeles - ruffled some feathers. Over time, the film has gained a strong following, leading to recent rumors of a sequel being in the works.
6 Road To Perdition
Adapted from Max Allan Collins and Richard Piers Rayner's graphic novel, Road to Perdition follows Tom Hanks as Michael Sullivan, a mob enforcer who, along with his young son, hunts down the mob boss who had the rest of their family killed. The movie, which was nominated for six Academy Awards and won Best Cinematography, also starred Paul Newman, Jude Law, and Daniel Craig. In a fun bit of comic book trivia, Tyler Hoechlin, who plays Superman in the DC Arrowverse shows, plays Tom Hanks' son in the movie.
5 A History Of Violence
When A History of Violence came to theaters, many people who enjoyed the film were shocked to learn it was based on a graphic novel by John Wagner and Vince Locke, but no one was more surprised to learn that fact than David Cronenberg, who directed it. Like the graphic novel, the movie tells the story of Tom, a cafe owner who finds himself becoming a minor celebrity after he stops a robber at his store. His appearance on the news brings him to the mafia's attention, who believes that Tom is actually a hitman who vanished after turning against the mob.
The movie, which stars Viggo Mortensen, Maria Bello, William Hurt, and Ed Harris, was praised by critics and went on to be included in several best of the year lists and receive two Academy Award nominations.
4 Snowpiercer
Directed by Bong Joon-ho and based on the French graphic novel Le Transperceneige, Snowpiercer is a post-apocalyptic sci-fi film about the only remaining humans who live on a train as it travels a globe-spanning track across a frozen Earth. The story centers on Curtis Everett, played by Chris Evans, a lower-class tail-section passenger who leads a rebellion against the upper-class elitists who live at the train's front. Snowpiercer deals with class division issues and the anger these issues create, a subject Bong Joon-ho would further explore in the Academy Award-winning film Parasite.
3 The Diary Of A Teenage Girl
Based on Phoebe Gloeckner's graphic novel of the same name, The Diary of a Teenage Girl is set in 1975 and follows the life of Minnie Goetze, a 15-year-old girl who wants to be a cartoonist. Initially worried that no one will ever have sex with her, Minnie soon starts an affair with her mother's boyfriend, which kicks off a series of sexual adventures for the teen. Starring Kristen Wiig, Alexander Skarsgard, and Bel Powley, The Diary of a Teenage Girl was a critical darling but failed to catch on.
2 American Splendor
Based on the autobiographical comic books written by Harvey Pekar, American Splendor is as off-kilter as the man it is about. The movie, which mixes live actors, documentary, and animation to tell the story of Harvey Pekar, stars Paul Giamatti as the grumpy writer and Hope Davis as his wife, Joyce Brabner.
Covering the life of Harvey, starting with him as an angry child in Cleveland who refuses to dress up like a superhero for Halloween into his twenties when he starts his own independent comic, American Splendor, while working at a VA hospital while gaining a fanbase and up to Harvey's first battle with cancer. The real Harvey Pekar and Joyce Brabner, along with Harvey's friend Toby Radloff (who is played by Judah Friedlander), show up in the movie to comment on the things that have been changed.
1 The Crow
Based on James O'Barr's comic, The Crow is sadly best remembered for the on-set tragedy that took the life of star Brandon Lee. In the movie, Lee played Eric Draven, a Detroit musician who watched as a gang beat his girlfriend to death before killing him. A year later, Eric is woken from his grave by a crow and given a chance to exact revenge on the men who killed him. The Crow was a minor success at the box office but gained a cult following, leading to several sequels and a short-lived TV series.