This multi-part blog will take a look at some of the most iconic stories ever told in pop-culture and how well they were adapted into live action. In most cases, the source material is always better then the live action adaptation, it’s rare for the live action to be just as good if not better then the material it’s based on.
DISNEY SEQUELS ripped off DARK EMPIRE by Tom Veitch & LEGACY OF THE FORCE by Aaron Allston, Karen Traviss & Troy Denning
The Disney Sequels ripped off two Expanded Universe story lines Legacy of the Force and Dark Empire, the Sequels had Luke Skywalker’s nephew fall to the Darkside which is what happened in Legacy of the Force series and had Palpatine/Sidious brought back from the dead which was in Dark Empire.
In Legacy Of The Force, Jacen Solo, twin brother of Jaina and eldest son of Han and Leia, falls to the darkside and becomes Darth Caedus and tries to stop a future of a mysterious dark man (Darth Krayt) from destroying the galaxy and keeping his family safe. Where as in the sequels, Kylo Ren/Ben Solo fell to the Darkside because he was manipulated by Supreme Leader Snoke and Luke tried to kill him.
In the Dark Empire storyline, after learning that Sidious/Palpatine could cheat death, Luke became his apprentice believing he could defeat Sidious by learning the secrets of the Darkside. Unfortunately, Luke ended up in over his head and he and Leia managed to defeat him by temporary severing Palpatine’s connection to the Force and his own power destroys his clone body. Palpatine would later try and get his hands on the new born Anakin Solo and allowed Han Solo to destroy his final clone body that was already failing him to free his spirit to possess Anakin Solo’s body, only be stopped by Luke’s Jedi friend Empatojayos Brand, sacrificing himself and sending Sidious’s spirit into the Netherworld Of The Force where he would be restrained by the spirits of every Jedi that had ever lived over the last 25,783 years and would experience eternal torment, thus cementing Sidious/Palpatine’s fate for good.
Where as in the Sequels, there was no mention of Sidious/Palpatine being alive until Rise of Skywalker which was done so bad due to plot contrivances and to many McGuffins (objects that move a story along) and it was just all over the place. Dark Empire had Luke going toe to toe with Sidious which is what the Sequels should have done instead of Luke hiding on another planet with no contact with rest of the galaxy like Yoda did after the fall of the Republic and the Jedi Purge in Revenge Of The Sith.
Sources:
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Star_Wars:_Dark_Empire_Trilogy
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Star_Wars:_Legacy_of_the_Force
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Darth_Caedus
https://heroes-and-villain.fandom.com/wiki/Jacen_Solo
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Darth_Krayt
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Palpatine/Legends
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Empatojayos_Brand
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Jedi_Order/Legends
MARVEL’s GORR THE GOD BUTCHER by Jason Aaron & Esad Ribic
In Thor Love & Thunder, we don’t see an awful lot of Gorr evolving as a villain due to little screen time. We only see Gorr killing one god, Rapu, and all other gods Gorr kills are off-screen. The fourth Thor movie was trying to do too much in the span of a two hour run time. Taika Waititi, who is best known for comedy was not a good fit for trying to handle a villain as dark, bloody, violent and nihilistic as Gorr The God Butcher and the results clearly show, but getting former Batman actor Christian Bale to play the villain was a good choice. If anything, Gorr should’ve been a reoccurring villain for Chris Hemsworth’s Thor instead of just being another one time villain.
In comics, Gorr The God Butcher is one of Thor’s greatest villains. He has battled three versions of the Thunder God (Thor before he was an Avenger, Thor during his time as an Avenger and King of Asgard in a dystopian future) across time and space slaughtering countless pantheons of gods. Gorr watched as all his loved ones die in horrible ways and was outcasted by his people when he spoke blasphemy about the gods by saying that they don’t exist because if they did, they would answer the prayers of him and his people. Then one day during his exile, Gorr sees two powerful beings fall out of the sky gravely wounded and fallen on the ground. One of the gods was none other then the original owner of the all powerful All-Black the Necrosword, Knull – God of the Abyss and Symbiotes. Empowered by All-Black the Necrosword, Gorr departed his home-world and Knull would let Gorr carry out his dirty work on massacring countless god across existence.
Centuries prior before becoming an Avenger, a young Thor encounters Gorr after he murders two Slavic gods and a god from the Americas. Thor was able to beat Gorr believing he had killed him after Thor’s Viking Worshippers were able to distract the God Butcher. Unbeknownst to the Thunder God, Gorr survived the encounter and would continue his murderous rampage against the gods.
Centuries later and after becoming an Avenger, Thor would encounter Gorr again on a planet where Gorr had killed its Gods so he could access the power of Time itself, which led Gorr to kill one of the very first born gods ever created stealing its heart and would then travel to an alternate desolate future world where he would enslave other gods to mine material for his endgame: a powerful super weapon called the Godbomb, that upon activation will wipe-out all god pantheons that have ever or will exist across the multiverse’s space-time continuum. While working on the Godbomb, Gorr would continue to torment Old King Thor.
During his madness, Gorr creates living constructs of his dead wife and son, however the “son” embodies Gorr’s self loathing. After Avenger Thor makes his presence known to the God Butcher, Gorr sends his Black Berserkers to the past to capture the young Thor he encountered on Earth cdnturies before he became an Avenger, but Young Thor manages to team up with Avenger Thor and Old King Thor.
Together the three Thors nearly succeed in killing the God Butcher but because Gorr was so powerful after slaughtering so many gods he leaves the Thors for dead as he goes off to activate the Godbomb. The “wife” Gorr made in his madness calls him a god to which Gorr angrily kills her. While his “son” decides to aid Avenger Thor recognises that his father has become the thing he’s always despised. Empowered by the prayers of Gorr’s “son” along with the combined prayers of all surviving gods, Avenger Thor was able to absorb the power of both the Godbomb and All-Black The Necrosword leaving Gorr weak with his “son” naming Gorr as the God of Hypocrisy before being killed by Thor’s younger self.
Gorr would later come back to life to finish what he started but was thwarted by King Thor, King Loki, and King Thor’s granddaughters the Goddesses Of Thunder thus killing Gorr again.
Gorr would soon be restored to life but was left without his memories of his past life as serial-killing genocidal maniac or his family. King Thor placed him under the care of benevolent gods on another planet so the he would live out the rest of his life in peace.
Sources:
https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/God_Butcher_(Story_Arc)
https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Gorr_(Earth-616)
https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Godbomb_(Item)
https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Thor_Odinson_(Earth-616)
https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Thor_Odinson_(Earth-14412)
https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Loki_Laufeyson_(Ikol)_(Earth-14412)
https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/All-Black_(Symbiote)_(Earth-616)
https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Earth-14412
MARVEL’S INFINITY SAGA by Jim Starlin, George Perez & Ron Lim
Avengers Infinity War became one of the biggest blockbuster movies ever made by raking in $2billion dollars and left audiences around the world shocked when the main villain of the MCU – Thanos The Mad Titan, completely mopped the floor with the universe’s greatest heroes and succeeded in killing half of all life in the known universe leaving the surviving heroes in a state of complete despair as they could do nothing but accept defeat.
Infinity War combines elements from different comic storylines such as the Infinity Gauntlet – Thanos snaps half the universe out of existence, Infinity War comic which the movie gets its name from and Infinity -Thanos’ armies attack Black Panther’s nation of Wakanda.
One major difference between the comics and movies was Thanos’ motivations and nowhere near as many characters that appear in the movies compared to the comics. In the comics, Thanos is in love with the embodiment of Death itself, sometimes referred to as Lady Death or Mistress Death, but no matter what Thanos does, Death is never satisfied with him.
When we see Thanos for the first time in the post-credit scene of Avengers, Thanos is informed of Loki’s failed attempt to take over Earth and is told by The Other that to court the Avengers is to court Death to which Thanos smiles (see video below).
Thanos’ comic-book motivation was referenced in live action but was changed by the time Infinity War came out in 2018, because the movie’s directors, the Russo Brothers, wanted Thanos’ motivations to be more realistic as opposed to being seen as cliché generic cartoon villain.
In the MCU, Thanos is obsessed with balancing the universe as he believes that it will fall into disarray with resources becoming finite and depleted and civilisations being left to suffer hence why he goes around the universe with his armies and wipes out half the population of the planets he conquers. Endgame was the final instalment of the MCU’s Infinity Saga and wraps up a decade of storytelling and is an original script that’s not based on any pre-existing material but makes references to other comic book moments like Iron Man wielding the Infinity Stones.
Sources:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Infinity_War
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Infinity_Gauntlet
https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Infinity_Gauntlet_(Event)
https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Infinity_War
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avengers:_Infinity_War
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Marvel_Cinematic_Universe_films#The_Infinity_Saga
https://www.cbr.com/infinity-war-scenes-comic-books/
MARVEL’S AGE OF ULTRON by Brian Michael Bendis & Bryan Hitch
In the comics, Ultron is a constant reoccurring main antagonist to The Avengers and the world. Ultron who was originally created by the first Antman (Hank Pym) and not Iron Man like he is in the MCU. In the comics, Ultron is an expressionless, emotionless and remorseless murder machine, but in the MCU Ultron was made more human looking and tried being more human in personality and he tried to be funny which is a departure from his comic book version. Ultron was referenced in the now de-canonised TV Show Agents of Shield/AoS by an inhuman clairvoyant who saw metal men rising up and destroying humanity (see video below).
If AoS was still canon to the movies, it would’ve made Ultron even more terrifying because he was foreshadowed and he would unleash hell on humanity and it would’ve been awesome to have Clark Gregg’s Phil Coulson team up with Earth’s Mightiest Heroes again, who was killed in the first Avengers movie by Loki, but was brought back to life by Nick Fury using a drug derived from Kree DNA.
Despite being called “Age Of Ultron”, Ultron was only alive for a few days in the movie and in that time built an army of himself and a doomsday machine to play dinosaur destroyer to kill humanity and the Avengers destroyed Ultron’s army of drones with ease – whereas in the comics the Ultron Drones are just as formidable as the original Ultron. The comic-book storyline was a lot more insane which involved a lot of other heroes aside from the Avengers and time travel – which was used as a plot device for Avengers Endgame (2019) to undo the destruction Thanos did to the universe.
The MCU could’ve given Ultron his own story arc within the Infinity Saga, and could’ve used time travel and introduce other heroes into the MCU a lot sooner such as Black Panther/T’Challa, Antman/Scott Lang, Wasp/Hope Van Dyne and Captain Marvel/Carol Danvers. At the end of his own movie, Ultron gets defeated when Iron Man, Thor and Vision mess up his face, pummelled by Hulk, Scarlet Witch tearing out his power-core and Vision destroying the last Ultron drone that he was using to escape. James Spader‘s voice performance as Ultron was good though.
Ultron had the potential to be a truly terrifying villain like in the comic series Ultron Unlimited, where he gives a terrifying speech after he and his army committed genocide against the entire East European Nation of Slorenia and turn the dead human population into zombie cyborg soldiers, whereas in the MCU he only destroyed a small city in Sokovia by turning it into an artificial meteor to kill humanity. In the comics, Ultron even has a twisted sense of love when it comes to family, especially towards his creator Hank Pym/Ant-Man.
Avengers #21 “Ultron plans to use the brain patterns of his captors to create a race of robots. The Avengers discover Slorenia’s dead citizens have been ‘resurrected’ as cyborg zombies under Ultron’s control. The team fight their way through them and a number of earlier Ultron models. Following immensely difficult wins, they soon discover the Ultrons number in the hundreds, at least…” – Source: (https://marvelcrossovers.blogspot.com/2019/01/ultron-unlimited-1999.html)
“Have you ever loved something that mistreated you, father? Been used, a tool to prop up a small man’s quest to be taken seriously? Were you ever betrayed by the one soul in the world who should have cared for you? I have grieved you, father. Accepted your contempt for me–and moved past it. Still, I see your reflection painted on every grotesque human face. All you ever wanted was to have an impact on the world. And so you will. The greatest impact ever felt! I will kill what is most important to your quivering ego–YOUR AUDIENCE! AND THEY WILL CURSE YOUR NAME AS THEY DIE! “Hank Pym, the genius who killed us all!” —Ultron. Source: (https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Avengers:_Rage_of_Ultron_Vol_1_1)
My bride. My wife. And all they care about is that pretender! I see it now. Machine Man was right. Even merged you’d choose him over me! So be it, then… you can all die together! —Ultron Pym (Ultron merged with Hank Pym). Source: (https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Tony_Stark:_Iron_Man_Vol_1_17)
Also it would’ve been awesome if Ultron looked liked this in live action (images below).
If you watch the Screen Rant Pitch Meeting by Ryan George (below), he perfectly sums up why Age of Ultron wasn’t a good superhero movie.
Sources:
https://www.cbr.com/avengers-ultron-destroyed-slorenia-sokovia/
https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Slorenia
https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Ultron_(Earth-616)
https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Ultron_Unlimited
https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Ultron_Unlimited
https://marvelcinematicuniverse.fandom.com/wiki/Ultron
MARVEL’S SECRET INVASION by Brian Michael Bendis
In the comics, superpowered individuals are being replaced by the shapeshifting Skrulls, a major space empire in comics, whereas in the MCU the Skrulls are alien refugees fleeing from war and persecution by the Kree Empire.
Secret Invasion on Disney Plus is one of the biggest flops in the MCU and has been given mixed reviews by critics, but a number of media outlets and many long time Marvel fans online have said that the show is a massive failure.
The show has created major continuity issues within the MCU like Tony Stark/Iron Man’s friend James Rhodes/War Machine being a Skrull since Captain America Civil War (2016) thus undoing all of his character development from that point onwards, Emilia Clarke’s Skrull character getting just about every power of major superhero and villain from previous MCU instalments and ruining everyone’s favourite super-spy and man of mystery Nick Fury (Sam L. Jackson).
Sources:
https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Secret_Invasion_(Event)
https://insidethemagic.net/2023/07/7-reasons-why-marvels-secret-invasion-flopped-aml1mmb/
https://couchsoup.com/furys-final-flop-marvels-secret-invasion-leaves-fans-furious-and-frustrated/
https://www.gamesradar.com/secret-invasion-premiere-viewing-figures-second-lowest-marvel
https://thedirect.com/article/secret-invasion-viewership-mcu-disney-shows
https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/secret-invasion-ending-future-marvel-cinematic-universe-1235685163/
https://gamerant.com/secret-invasion-war-machine-skrull-replaced-when-explained/
DC’S CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS by Marv Wolfman and George Perez
One of the best stories in history of DC Comics where countless heroes team up to save the Multiverse from the Anti-Monitor while various villains try and conquer remaining worlds.
Crisis On Infinite Earths was adapted into a 5-Part crossover in DC’s Arrowverse shows Arrow, Supergirl, Batwoman, The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow. The Crossover ran from December 2019 to January 2020 and was supposed to be the big send off to Stephen Amell’s Oliver Queen/Green Arrow who started the Arrowverse back in 2012.
For me and many other viewers who watched the Arrowverse shows, the 5-Part COIE crossover was the last straw and is one of the worst comic book adaptions ever seen. Many people went online to express their disappointment after watching the crossover and made videos as to why it was so bad. The crossover was heavily criticised for bad writing, unnecessary characters, acting, cgi and poor fan service, particularly Kevin Conroy who voiced Bruce Wayne/Batman in the 1992 Animated Series as it was his first time playing Bruce Wayne in live action and was completely wasted by the people making the show. The crossover was supposed to be the Infinity War-Endgame spectacular for the Arrowverse, but ended up being an absolute dud. The way the heroes defeated the Anti-Monitor was so anticlimactic and dumb and completely wasted Green Arrow’s sacrifice to save the multiverse after he became the nigh-omnipotent Spectre.
Sources:
https://arrow.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000003086213
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crisis_on_Infinite_Earths_(Arrowverse)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crisis_on_Infinite_Earths
https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Crisis_on_Infinite_Earths
X-MEN’S DARK PHOENIX by Chris Claremont & John Byrne
One of the most iconic storylines in the history of comics, Jean Grey dies due to the immense power of the Phoenix Force after being under the evil influence of the Hellfire Club.
Dark Phoenix has had two live action adaptations, the first being X-Men 3: The Last Stand and the second Dark Phoenix. Neither movie did the comic storyline justice.
Sources:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dark_Phoenix_Saga
https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Dark_Phoenix_Saga
WATCHMEN by Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons
In a distant corner of the DC Multiverse, exists a reality where the only heroes are masked vigilantes and an omnipotent superhuman who has lost his humanity. In Watchmen, someone is killing off all vigilante heroes while a growing threat lurks in the shadows and threatens all humanity.
Watchmen explores societal, moral, political and philosophical zones that most comics don’t and is considered one of the best comics and graphic novels ever published.
Watchmen has also had two live action adaptations, a movie directed by Zack Snyder and the tv show by Game of Throne’s co-creator Damon Lindelof.
The Watchmen movie was more inline with the tone and themes of the comic but critics and audiences were somewhat divided. The director’s cut was better received (see video below).
While the TV Show was praised by critics with “universal acclaim”, but TV viewers were divided on it with many going online to express how bad it was. Watchmen creator Alan Moore himself has even blasted the series and every other live action adaptation of his works.
Sources:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watchmen
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watchmen_(film)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watchmen_(TV_series)
https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/watchmen-10-anniversary-zack-snyder-terry-gilliam-darren-aronofsky-paul-greengrass-a8792791.html
https://www.avclub.com/alan-moore-gq-interview-watchmen-v-for-vendetta-1849674648
https://www.nme.com/en_au/news/tv/alan-moore-criticises-embarrassing-watchmen-tv-adaptation-3332184
THE SANDMAN by Neil Gaiman & Mike Dringenberg
Much like Alan Moore’s Watchmen, the Sandman Comics are for more intellectual comic readers and not for the faint of heart. The comics are about anthropomorphic personas of metaphysical entities that play important roles in the grand scale of existence, these “entities” are called “The Endless” a handful of some of the most powerful beings in existence directly under God himself, who are all siblings with each one having a realm of their own to lord over.
Morpheus aka The Sandman and The Lord of Dreams and Nightmares is captured from his native realm and learns that change is inevitable and wants to better understand humanity. Gaiman’s work has exerted a considerable amount of influence over the fantasy and graphic genre since being published and has been called one of the greatest graphic novels of all time along with Watchmen. Praise has been given for the casting, design & costume, visuals, performance and faithfulness to the comics.
Having watched the show myself, I thought it was really well done and was a nice change of pace as it isn’t so crazy like the Marvel shows on Disney Plus, which have been a disaster according to many long time Marvel Fans and numerous media outlets along with Disney Star Wars. A work friend of mine said he enjoys the Sandman show more than the comic series it’s based on.
THE BOYS by Garth Ennis & Darick Robertson
In this world, superheroes are created by a powerful corrupt organisation and heroes are basically celebrities who engage in reckless and dangerous behaviour at the cost of the world’s safety. The Boys, a group of individuals led by Billy The Butcher, monitor and interfere whenever superheroes are up to no good, mostly with grim and sometimes funny results.
I never read The Boys comics, but everyone says the show is better than the source material and I did enjoy the show just as much as James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker and the Deadpool movies as they are a dark, graphic and hilarious spin on the superhero genre.
ANAMORPHIC 