Here is a list of comic-book related movies... and best of all, just about every one of these movies is available for purchase (most are available on DVD)! Clicking the image will take you to Amazon.com for safe and secure shopping.
Note: this list only includes "modern" movies and does not include the serialized movies of the 1930's and '40's.
Feature Films: |
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(1936) A boxed set of the 1930's serials, starring Buster Crabbe. |
(1966) The full-length feature film of the campy, 1960's Batman TV series. |
(1978) With Christopher Reeve as Superman and a musical score by John Williams, this movie brought majesty to comic book movies. |
(1980) Robin Williams as Popeye! |
(1980) Music by Queen! Appearances by Max Von Sydow (Minority Report), Timothy Dalton (James Bond), and Brian Blessed (voice of Boss Nass from Star Wars: Episode I). |
(1981) Superman is back! And this time, he faces three villains as powerful as he is! |
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(1982) Written and directed by horror pro Wes Craven. Note: this title may not be available at this time. |
(1983) Generally regarded as the worst Superman movie, this film includes comedian Richard Pryor. It also stars Annette O'Toole as Lana Lang (who would go on to play Ma Kent in the Smallville TV series). |
(1984) Although more of a campy adaptation than a serious one, it's still a fun movie to watch. |
(1986) Generally regarded as a major bomb, this was movie was produced by George Lucas! Note: this item is available only on VHS. |
(1987) This movie-with-a-message was generally panned by critics and was the end to the Superman movie franchise... until Superman Returns (2006). |
(1989) This movie finally put the "Dark" into the "Dark Knight Detective". |
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(1989) The Swamp Thing is back in this sequel. |
(1989) Another not-so-good Marvel Comics' movie. Note: this is the version starring Dolph Lundgren (from Rocky IV)- there is a new version planned for release in the summer of 2004. |
(1990) A live-action version of the Eastman/ Laird comic, this movie would go on to spawn 2 seqels. |
(1990) The yellow-coated detective, starring Warren Beatty, Madonna, Al Pacino, and Dustin Hoffman. |
(1991) Mixing action and adventure, this movie was supposed to launch an entire franchise, but never got off the ground. |
(1992) Batman faces new foes: Catwoman and Penguin! |
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(1992) Marvel Comics tries its hand at movies again... and still doesn't do very well. Note: this item is available only on VHS. |
(1994) Originally an independent comic, this movie set the standard for dark comic book movies (yes, it was darker than the Batman movies). |
(1994) Originally an independent comic, this movie had the comedic talents of Jim Carrey and includes Cameron Diaz (Charlie's Angels). |
(1994) A big-budget version of the comic-book character, with Alec Baldwin as the Shadow. |
(1995) A new Batman (Val Kilmer), Robin (Chris O'Donnell), Two-Face (Tommy Lee Jones), and the Riddler (Jim Carrey). |
(1995) Sylvester Stallone stars in the title role. |
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(1995) Lori Petty stars in this adaptation of the independent comic. |
(1995) With Bill Pullman (Independence Day), Christina Ricci (Addams Family), and of course, Casper the Ghost (as himself). |
(1996) Billy Zane stars as the purple-suited hero. |
(1997) With punny one-liners and neon colors, this movie has been generally creditted as ending not only the Batman movie franchise, but comic-book movies in general. |
(1997) Image Comics and Todd McFarlane try their hand at movies. |
(1997) Marvel Comics tries again, this time with a lesser-known comic... and the results are much better. |
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(1998) A "second-string" Marvel Comics' character in a movie that did fairly well, but with nowhere near the results of the earlier Batman or Superman movies. |
(1998) Two comic icons meet in their first live-action movie. Starring George Hamilton, Hilary Duff (The Lizzie McGuire Movie), Teri Garr, and Shelly Duvall (Popeye). |
(1999) Based on the Dark Horse comic, this movie includes plenty of comedic talent: Ben Stiller, Jeanne Garafalo, Hank Azaria (of The Simpsons), and Paul Reubens. |
(2000) Marvel Comics' first blockbuster movie also included an incredible cast: Patrick Stewart (Star Trek: The Next Generation), Ian McKellan (Lord of the Rings), Halle Berry (who would go on to win an Academy Award for Monster's Ball), and Anna Paquin (Academy Award winner for The Piano). It was so well-received that Marvel would start work on movies with its other major heroes: Spider-Man (2002), Daredevil (2003), Hulk (2003), and even an X-Men sequel (2003). |
(2001) Johnny Depp and Heather Graham star in this movie about Jack the Ripper, based on the Alan Moore graphic novel. |
(2002) A sequel to the 1997 original. |
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(2002) A sequel that was more "B-Movie" than the original, but just as fun. |
(2002) The first blockbuster movie to be based on a Marvel Comics character. This was a perfect "comic-book movie"... and further confirmed the fact that Marvel Comics should keep making movies. |
(2003) Marvel Comics starts its year of movies with this offering. |
(2003) The X-Men are back, with a sequel that may be better than the first... and further proving that comic-book movies are still going strong. |
(2003) The Hulk, as seen by the director of the martial arts film, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. |
(2003) Starring Sean Connery, this movie is based on the Alan Moore series. |
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(2003) Starring Paul Giammatti and Hope Davis, this movie is based on the comic book series based on the life of artist Harvey Pekar. |
(2004) Considered the best comic book movie ever. |
(2004) A big-budget version, starring John Travolta (Pulp Fiction) as the villian. |
(2005) The big-budget adaptation... not to be confused with Roger Corman's version from the early 1990's |
(2005) A new "restart" to the Batman franchise. |
(2005) Based on Frank Miller's graphic novels and directed by Robert Rodriguez (Spy Kids, Desperado). |
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(2006) Nicholas Cage as Ghost Rider! |
(2006) Is this really the last stand for the X-Men? |
(2006) Directed by Bryan Singer (of X-Men), this movie returns Superman to the big screen. |
(2007) Based on the acclaimed graphic novel by Frank Miller and Lynn Varley, this movie tells the story of the 300 Spartans making their last stand against the Persians at Thermopylae. |
(2007) The Silver Surfer (and Galactus) make their big screen appearance. |
(2007) This sequel includes Eddie Brock, Venom, the Sandman, the Hobgoblin, a "dark" Peter, Gwen Stacy, and more. |
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(2007) The live action (and CGI) version finally hits the big-screen. |
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Animated Movies: |
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(1986) A fairly violent movie, it features the death of many Transformers, including Optimus Prime, as well as introducing plenty of new Transformers to add to the toy line. |
(1987) Originally planned as a theatrical release, this went straight to video (and TV). The new DVD includes the original "And now I know" public-service-announcements (shown at the end of every G.I. Joe episode). |
(1993) The first animated Batman movie after Tim Burton's vision, this was released to the theaters in Dec 1993. |
(1998) The first direct-to-video movie from the new animated Batman series. |
(1998) The first direct-to-video movie with both Batman and Superman. |
(1999) The movie that introduces the future Batman. |
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(2000) The future Batman meets the original Joker. Guest-starring Mark Hamill (from Star Wars) reprising his role as the voice of the Joker, from the original Batman animated series. |
(2004) Though not based on an actual comic book, this movie is a tribute to comic-book heroes, including the Fantastic Four. |
(2007) Based on the Marvel hero. |
(2007) Based on the best-selling 1993 storyline. |
(2007) Based on the Marvel hero. |
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Collected TV Series: |
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(1941) Collects the classic Max Fleischer cartoons. |
(1967) The original animated series which ran from 1967 to 1970 and gave us the "Spider-Man, Spider-Man, does whatever a spider can" theme song. |
(1976) Starring Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman. |
(1977) Season 2. Note: will be available March 1, 2005. |
(1978) The entire series collected in the ultimate DVD collection! |
(1978) The Justice League... when they were known as the Super Friends. |
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(1983) As with the Transformers, was this a TV series based on a comic based on a toy series? This is the original mini-series, aired in 1983 and 1984. |
(1984) Was it a TV series based on a comic book series based on a toy series or the other way around? Who cares? It's still fun to watch! |
(1985) Season 2. |
(1986) Season 3 and 4. Introduces the Transformers from the movie (Rodimus Prime, Galvatron, etc). Season 4 is only 3 episodes and is the same as the "Transformers Heroes: Rebirth" DVD set. |
(1985) Season 1, part 1. |
(1985) Season 1, part 2. |
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(1985) Season 2, part 1. |
(1986) The final three episodes of the series; introduces more new Transfomers, such as the Headmasters and Targetmasters. |
(1988) The two made-for-TV movies continuing The Incedible Hulk, with appearances by Thor and Matt Murdock (Daredevil). |
(1990) The pilot movie for the TV series. Note: this item is available only on VHS. |
(1991) The 2-part episode from the TV series, guest-starring Mark Hamill (from Star Wars) as the Trickster). Note: this item is available only on VHS. |
(1994) The series that started the "noir deco" look for the new Batman, Superman, and Justice League series. Includes Mark Hamill as the Joker and Michael Ansara (Buck Rogers, Star Trek) as Mr Freeze. |
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(1996) Featuring the same look as the Batman animated series. Note: will be released on January 25, 2005. |
(1999) Includes all 3 seasons of HBO's animated series. Note: this series is intended for mature audiences. |
(2001) The first series featuring the Justice League (instead of the "Super Friends"). |
(2001) Green Lantern is put on trial for destroying a planet, featuring the Manhunters! |
(2001) An epic storyline- first Felix Faust attacks Wonder Woman's home island. In the next segment. Superman is captured by Mongul and forced to fight on Warworld. |
(2000) It was smart, it was witty, it was brilliant... so, of course, it was cancelled after 8 episodes. This DVD set collects all 8 episodes of the series along with 1 unaired episode. |
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(2001) It's "Superman: The Early Years", but without the "Superboy" and with a generous blend of "Dawson's Creek" and a small helping of "X-Files". Season 1 ran from September 2001 to May 2002. |
(2002) Season 2: September 2002 to May 2003. |
(2003) Season 3: September 2003 to May 2004. |
(2003) This series ran on MTV starting in 2003 and stars Neil Patrick Harris (Doogie Howser, How I Met Your Mother) and Ian Ziering (Beverly Hills, 90210). |
(1989) This series first ran on HBO, starting in 1989, but the DVD sets weren't released until 2005. The bad puns of the Cryptkeeper offset the horror of the rest of the show. |
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And, if I've left out any movies or TV series that you think are important, just send me an e-mail and let me know!