Marvel Comics have been adapted for the silver screen for decades upon decades, now. In all that time, there have been different ways that creators have sought to adapt famous characters into their film counterparts. Of course, with so many different movies, there is a wide variety of success.
Some of those movies are pretty much exact replicas of the comics, just pasted into the movies. However, there have been quite a few movies throughout this run that just haven’t lined up with the comics. For better or for worse, these are the movies that don’t follow the comics at all.
10 Howard The Duck (1986) — Life is existential & so is Howard the Duck, but the film just didn’t get him
Unfortunately, the biggest problem with Willard Huyck’s 1986 film Howard the Duck is having a crew that didn’t quite understand the fundamental point of Howard the Duck in the comics. While Howard the Duck is admittedly a strange character, that’s kind of the point.
He is present as surreal, absurdist, and sometimes terrible things happen around the galaxy, reminding readers that the wildest moments in life can also be the strangest, that the darkest moments can also be the dumbest. Life is existential, and so is Howard the Duck, but the film just didn’t get him.
9 Daredevil (2003) — the writing just wasn’t there
When Mark Steven Johnson’s 2003 film Daredevil was released, it received generally mixed reviews. Ben Affleck played the titular character of Daredevil, also known as Matt Murdock, but he has since somewhat faded into oblivion. This interpretation of Daredevil didn’t really resemble Matt in the comics, and Elektra seemed even less like herself than ever.
Though Jennifer Garner tried to give a good performance, the writing just wasn’t there. It’s unfortunate, but, since then, Charlie Cox has played Matt Murdock in Marvel and Netflix’s Daredevil, so fans have gotten a better interpretation since.
8 Elektra (2005) — in spite of Jennifer Garner’s best efforts, it’s still considered one of the worst superhero movies of all time
After Daredevil received mixed reviews immediately after its release in 2003, Rob Bowman released a spin-off film, Elektra, in 2005. With Jennifer Garner reprising her role, Elektra received even worse reviews than Daredevil had. In fact, it’s still considered one of the worst superhero movies of all time, in spite of Jennifer Garner’s best efforts.
Not since Howard the Duck had a superhero movie been received so poorly. Fans didn’t even really want to support Elektra, because the movie seemed like such a departure from the character in the comics as to be unrecognizable.
7 X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) — in the end, the timeline ended up rebooted just to fix this movie’s problems
After X-Men kicked off the superhero genre — and the 21st century — with a bang in 2000, X2 received mixed responses in 2003, and X-Men: The Last Stand was the worst of all in 2006. The third film in the original X-Men trilogy, directed by Brett Ratner, X-Men: The Last Stand was a disappointment to fans who were hoping to see the characters in their final forms on the silver screen.
However, after six years of building up the universe, this movie collapsed like a house of cards right out of the gate. General audiences and fan viewers alike didn’t enjoy this movie; in the end, the timeline ended up rebooted just to fix this movie’s problems. Luckily, there was a solution in the comics to fix this un-comics-like film.
6 Spider-Man 3 (2007) — Peter Parker seemed almost unrecognizable in this film & each of the villains also seemed like a mess
Much like X-Men: The Last Stand closing out the X-Men trilogy with a whimper in 2006, Spider-Man 3 ended the Spider-Man trilogy on a low note in 2007. Sam Raimi’s trilogy had been going well, with many considering his films Spider-Man 2 from 2004 and Spider-Man from 2002 to be among the best superhero movies of all time.
This made Spider-Man 3’s negative reception all the more disappointing for fans of Spider-Man. Peter Parker seemed almost unrecognizable in this film, and each of the villains also seemed like a mess. Hopefully, if Tobey Maguire appears in the MCU, they’ll be able to fix the sins of this movie retroactively.
5 X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) — it seemed to butcher each of the characters it featured
Not only is Gavin Hood’s 2009 film X-Men Origins: Wolverine not the prequel movie for Wolverine that fans were looking for, it seemed to butcher each of the characters it featured. Logan Howlett, also known as Wolverine, wasn’t much like his comics' counterpart, or even really like his version in the original X-Men trilogy.
Even worse, Wade Wilson — better known to Marvel Comics fans as Deadpool — was completely unrecognizable in comparison to his comics counterpart. As bad as this was, though, the Deadpool movies later were able to mock it and somewhat improve on those mistakes.
4 Avengers: Age Of Ultron (2015) — the movie seemed to take a huge departure from the comics, both story-wise & with its characters
The Ultron plotline in the comics wasn’t the best-received story in the history of Marvel Comics, which made it all the more surprising that Joss Whedon chose to adapt this story in 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron.
Even more surprising, the movie seemed to take a huge departure from the comics — not just story-wise, but with its characters. Each of the Avengers acted differently than fans had ever seen them acting before, seeming so unlike themselves that the Russo Brothers, Anthony and Joe, were given the Avengers movies after this.
3 Fantastic Four (2015) — it didn't feel like it was portraying a family & fans noticed that
In 2005, Tim Story’s Fantastic Four movie premiered to generally mixed reviews, but a lot of fan popularity. Part of why fans loved this movie so much was because the film portrayed the Fantastic Four, also known as Marvel’s First Family, as a family that truly loves each other.
The same was, unfortunately, not true of Josh Trank’s 2015 reboot film Fantastic Four. This movie didn’t feel like it was portraying a family, and fans felt that. The Fantastic Four will be re-entering the MCU in an upcoming movie directed by Jon Watts.
2 Doctor Strange (2016) — Stephen Strange acted more like Tony Stark & the Ancient One was portrayed by a non-asian actress
Scott Derrickson’s 2016 film Doctor Strange was a great deal different than the Doctor Strange of the comics. Not only was Stephen Strange acting more like Tony Stark than anything else, but the Ancient One was portrayed by a non-asian actress.
These differences from the comics stood out to a lot of fans, and Doctor Strange received mixed-positive reviews upon release. However, the character was improved drastically by Avengers: Infinity War, and fans are optimistic about how Sam Raimi’s upcoming film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will go.
1 Logan (2017) — it may have been something completely different, but it was also something special
Fans recognized that James Mangold’s 2017 film Logan was unlike the Wolverine they knew from the comics, but they also knew that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Logan may have been something completely different, but it was also something special, something original, and something truly spectacular.
This movie is not only considered to be a good superhero movie but just a good movie overall. The Wolverine of Logan may not strongly resemble the Wolverine of Marvel Comics, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t amazing anyways.