In recent years, the comics medium has become abundant with fully realized science fiction epics as smaller intimate stories within the genre. As much as we like franchises such as Star Wars and Star Trek, science fiction films have become quite stagnant, infrequently stepping outside of the common comfort zone. However, there is a great deal of untapped potential for great science fiction films within the comics medium. So here today we're going to discuss popular and lesser known science fiction comics alike that have the potential to be adapted into fantastic films.
10 Extremity
While many science fiction films and television series in recent years have been opting to tap into the cyberpunk side of science fiction, Daniel Warren Johnson's Extremity is a fleshed out marriage of science fiction and fantasy. Taking place on a series of floating islands that house warring factions and peoples. The series contains a great deal of violence not unlike what one may find in Game of Thrones, while simultaneously filling its world with a great sense of history. Tie it all together with a protagonist we can get behind on her quest for revenge, and we've got something great on our hands!
9 100%
A comic featuring a smaller and more intimate scope that utilizes its cyber punk setting as a backdrop for its interconnected stories, 100% is one of the most grounded comics on this list. The source material containins three romance-centric stories that evaluate different facets of love, each overlapping with one and other. A film adaptation would have the chance to use its science fiction elements to explore what it means to be human, not unlike films like Ex Machina and Her.
8 Bitch Planet
There are few comics quite like Bitch Planet. A feminist comic in which "non-compliant women" are sent to the series namesake planet, which serves as a sort of high tech prison. The comic serves a commentary on a litany of relevant issues ranging from aspects of women's rights to human decency with characters and themes serving as caricatures of very real issues. A film adaptation of Bitch Planet has the potential to do for Women's issues with science fiction what films like Get Out presented of racial issues through the horror genre.
7 Ronin
Frank Miller's 1980's blend Lone Wolf And Cub and the work of Moebius, Ronin is one of the most significant science fiction comics of all time. Influencing works like Samurai Jack, Ronin utilizes elements of classic samurai films alongside science fiction to create something that is incredibly unique, especially bearing in mind that it was released in 1983. While extremely influential, elements of the writing have not aged particularly well to a modern reader. Despite this, a film adaptation would have the capabilities of introducing new audiences to an older influential work while smoothing out any rough patches of the original graphic novel.
6 Eugenic
A lesser known entry on our list, Eugenic is a series that across three chapters, details the fall (and replacement) of the human race. Following the release of a manmade virus that would slowly convert humanity into something entirely different, Eugenic spaces out each chapter with a one hundred year timeskip. Few films have utilized a structure such as this, but if utilized in a manner similar to that of a Tarantino film, there is a great deal of potential for the creation of something very unique.
5 Pluto
While Naoki Urasawa's Pluto is already an adaptation itself, reworking the "Greatest Robot on Earth" arc of Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy, few stories bring as much emotion to the theme of "robo-ethics" as Pluto. The narrative follows the most powerful robots in the world as they are hunted down by a robotic being known as "Pluto" in his quest to become the most powerful robot on the planet. While this plot may seem simple and straightforward, the quality is within the detail and characters.
Pluto delves into a myriad of themes such as the ramifications of racism and war seamlessly through the conduit of robots, always remaining emotionally resonant and without coming off as preachy. While its narrative may be a tad too long for a feature film, its the perfect length for something like a Netflix series.
4 The Weather Man
Comedy? Check.
Action? Check.
World Building? Check.
Great protagonist? Check.
Wrap it all together with the aesthetic and energy of synthwave, and you've got The Weatherman.
The Weather Man is a series that fundamentally has everything needed to create a blockbuster. The series follows Nathan Bright, a weatherman on Mars, as he tries to escape from the entire human race due to crimes he doesn't remember committing. A solid blend of moral ambiguity and comedy, The Weatherman has the potential to make for a great film or even a series.
3 Paper Girls
If the success of "kids on bikes" science fiction like Stranger Things and Super 8 are anything to go by, Paper Girls has the potential to make a very successful transition into film. Paper Girls follows a groups of twelve-year-old paper girls who find themselves face to face with increasingly strange occurrences in suburbia. The series utilizes the strengths of mystery and sci-fi, always keeping the viewer invested while never revealing what's truly happening.
2 Saga
One of the elements that we love so much about franchises such as Star Wars and Star Trek is the massive scope of their respective worlds, and the memorable characters that inhabit them. Well if you're looking for scope, world building, and phenomenal characters, look no further than Saga. Detailing the exploits of lovers from warring sides of an intergalactic war, Saga's universe and cast of characters are as memorable as they are endearing. We're talking about a series that prominently features magic, a civilization of robots that have TVs for heads, and a cat that will verbally tell you if you're lying, all coherently within the same universe. And as one of the most prominent and well received indie comics on the market, we're talking about a series that has the potential to give major science fiction franchises a run for their money.
1 Batman Beyond
How in the year 2020 there is still no sign of a live action Batman Beyond film in the works is beyond us. Originally based off the 1999 animated series of the same name, Batman Beyond details the exploits of Terry McGinnis, inheritor of the Batman mantle. Across the Batman Beyond animated series and comics, we are able to see Terry navigate through the highly advanced cyberpunk city that Gotham has become while battling foes both familiar and new.
Some of the greatest superhero stories are those that are able to marry the Superhero genre with another, whether it be drama, horror, or something like science fiction. A hypothetical Batman Beyond film has a great deal of potential to a great example of a cyberpunk superhero film that we've somehow still never been able to see.