50 Comic Panels That Should Be Movie Scenes

All-Star Superman #1

The Comic Panel: Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely delivered to the most succinct and elegant recounting of Superman’s origin on the first page of their maxiseries.

Big Screen Version: The next time a filmmaker wants to recap or flashback to Superman’s origin, they need look no further than these four panels.

Hawkeye #3

The Comic Panel: Matt Fraction’s acclaimed series has been a mix of comedy, action and drama. In this memorable panel, Clint Barton discovered that danger does not always show up at convenient moments.

Big Screen Version: Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye is the member of the Avengers who has received the least development and on-screen time. We would like to see some of this humour and action transferred to the character in Age of Ultron .

Avengers/JLA #4

The Comic Panel: After the usual conflict between DC and Marvel’s premiere superhero teams in this crossover, they eventually united to battle the rogue Guardian of the Universe Krona. Superman holding aloft Thor’s hammer and Captain America’s shield was silly but somehow unforgettable.

Big Screen Version: We know that Marvel does not even control the right to all of its own characters, but maybe one day the companies will get it together for an all-out crossover. We won’t be holding our breath.

Batman and Robin #16

The Comic Panel: A new era for the Caped Crusader was the introduction of Batman Incorporated. Bruce Wayne transformed Batman into a global brand, with colourful operatives spread across the world.

Big Screen Version: This is a concept that would translate perfectly into the DC movie world and offer a global stage for Batman’s adventures and his foes’ plots.

Amazing Spider-Man #42

The Comic Panel: Mary Jane Watson is finally introduced. Little did Peter Parker know that he was meeting his future wife. Well, up until that thing with the devil that we do not talk about, at least.

Big Screen Version: Shailene Woodley is out of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 , but Parker has to meet her eventually. We demand some fan service with the use of this famous opening line when he does.

Batman #678

The Comic Panel: When Bruce Wayne found himself assaulted from all sides and broken down by his enemies, he activated a crazed backup personality he had created to protect himself in such an emergency. In his brightly coloured suit of rags, he was the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh.

Big Screen Version: This is a great example of two things: Batman pushed to the very edge of breaking, and the fact that even then he is prepared and always in control. It would make a fascinating psychological exploration of Bruce Wayne on screen. Though they might want to ditch the costume.

The Ultimates #12

The Comic Panel: Mark Millar’s alternate reality version of Captain America is a more aggressive and confrontational character than his mainstream universe equivalent. This is one of his most memorable and controversial moments.

Big Screen Version: Chris Evans’s Captain America has been very straight laced in his previous two appearances. It would be great to see a bit of an edge to him in Captain America: The Winter Soldier .

New Gods #1

The Comic Panel: Jack Kirby’s legendary splash page saw the Old Gods die in blood and fire to make way for his New Gods.

Big Screen Version: Sooner or later in an expanding DC Comics cinematic universe, the dynamic New God characters are bound to appear. This is how they should be introduced.

X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills

The Comic Panel: When confronted by the X-Men, the anti-mutant campaigner Reverend William Stryker lashes out at Nightcrawler, one of the gentlest of the team’s members and revealing who of the two was really the most inhuman.

Big Screen Version: X-Men: Days of Future Past is known to see the mutant hunting Sentinel robots, and the story the film is based on is steeped in the conflict between humans and mutants. This scene is a classic image that embodies the conflict.

Batman #666

The Comic Panel: In a dark and apocalyptic future, Damian Wayne, son of the original Batman, has taken up his father’s mantle. He struggles against an army of strange but familiar villains in a world on the very edge of destruction.

Big Screen Version: There have been some great alternate versions of Batman, including this one and Batman Beyond/of the Future , but none have made it to the big screen. With fans complaining about frequent reboots, here is a way of injecting some freshness into the franchise.