Decider Lists

20 Comic Book Movies That Don’t Star Superheroes

By Brett White @brettwhite

Published July 14, 2017, 12:30 p.m. ET

Photos: Everett Collection ; Illustration: Dillen Phelps

**Road to Perdition** **(2002)**
**Rotten Tomatoes:** 81%
**Based On:** *Road to Perdition* (Paradox Press)
Sam Mendes' Great Depression-set crime drama is quite possibly *the* go-to example of a movie based on a comic that *isn't* about superheroes. The graphic novel, written by Max Allan Collins with art by Richard Piers Rayner, was originally published in 1998 and was optioned almost immediately. The film adaptation features a stacked cast, including Tom Hanks, Jude Law, and Paul Newman.©DreamWorks/Courtesy Everett Collection

**Wanted** **(2008)**
**Rotten Tomatoes:** 72%
**Based On:** *Wanted* (Top Cow)
If wanted had been made a year or two later, after the superhero boom of 2008, it probably would have looked a lot different. The film follows James McAvoy's schlubby average joe as he suddenly finds himself a major player in a worldwide network of highly skilled assassins (including Angelina Jolie). The comic by Mark Millar and JG Jones follows a similar structure, but McAvoy's character instead got involved with costumed supervillains. If it was made a few years after the critical acclaim of *The Dark Knight* and *Iron Man*, one wonders if *Wanted* would have hid its superhero roots.©Universal/Courtesy Everett Collection

**V for Vendetta** **(2006)**
**Rotten Tomatoes:** 73%
**Based On:** *V for Vendetta* (DC Comics/Vertigo)
The original *V for Vendetta* series by Alan Moore, David Lloyd, and Tony Weare became an instant classic after it was released in 1989. Set in a post-apocalyptic version of the UK, the series follows the anarchist V as he fights to overthrow a fascist regime. The film, which was written by the Wachowskis of *Sense8* and *Matrix* fame, stars Hugo Weaving in the title role and Natalie Portman as his young protege. The film, one of many based on Alan Moore's work, was only a modest success, but you still see that Guy Fawkes mask pop up at every protest or march.©Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection

**Red** **(2010)**
**Rotten Tomatoes:** 71%
**Based On:** *Red* (DC Comics/Homage)
Bruce Willis heads up an all-star cast of retired CIA agents played by Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, and Helen Mirren. This over-the-top action comedy was a surprise hit and even scored an almost equally successful sequel (2013's bluntly titled Red 2). The film, which features plenty of action but zero capes, is based on a comic series of the same name by writer Warren Ellis and artist Cully Hamner. *Red* does have superhero roots, though; it was initially published by DC Comics' imprint Homage.Summit Entertainment/courtesy Everett Collection

**A History of Violence** **(2005)**
**Rotten Tomatoes:** 87%
**Based On:** *A History of Violence* (Paradox Press)
David Cronenberg turned his auteur eye towards the graphic novel of the same name by John Wagner and Vince Locke. Originally published in 1997, the film served as the basis for Cronenberg's adaptation-although the film *does* take a few liberties with the source material. Viggo Mortensen plays the owner of a diner whose life changes after he kills a pair of burglars. William Hurt scored an Academy Award nomination in this film for his portrayal of Mortensen's brother Richie, even if the part only lasted 8 minutes.©New Line Cinema/Courtesy Everett Collection

**Persepolis** **(2007)**
**Rotten Tomatoes:** 96%
**Based On:** *Persepolis* (L'Association)
Cartoonist Marjane Satrapi's autobiographical graphic novel was originally published in 2000, and Satrapi later turned her life story into a feature-length animated feature. *Persepolis* tells Satrapi's life story through a series of vignettes, focusing primarily her childhood in Iran in the '80s. The black and white film was a massive hit with critics (it's the best-reviewed movie on this list) and even scored an Academy Award nomination for best animated feature.©Sony Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection

**2 Guns** **(2013)**
**Rotten Tomatoes:** 64%
**Based On:** *2 Guns* (BOOM! Studios)
Stephen Grant and Mateus Santolouco's 2007 series about a pair of "criminals" scored a pair of A-list actors when it made the leap to the big screen. Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg star as a undercover agents forced to go on the run together, jumping from shoot out to shoot out. Like *Red*, *2 Guns* proved that comics can also form the basis of kick-ass action movies, ones that deliver at the box office compared to their relatively modest budgets.©Universal/Courtesy Everett Collection

**American Splendor** **(2003)**
**Rotten Tomatoes:** 94%
**Based On:** *American Splendor* and *Our Cancer Year* (Four Walls Eight Windows)
Legendary indie cartoonist Harvey Pekar spent almost 30 years releasing autobiographical comics detailing the mundanity and heartache of his life under the title *American Splendor*. Almost a decade after the end of *Splendor*, Pekar's life story was turned into a dramedy starring Paul Giamatti in one of his first headlining roles. Like *Persepolis*, *American Splendor* and its film adaptation show that comics can also focus on the emotional intricacies of everyday life.©Fine Line Features/Courtesy Everett Collection

**Snowpiercer** **(2014)**
**Rotten Tomatoes:** 95%
**Based On:** *Le Transperceneige* (Casterman)
While Chris Evans was tearing up supervillains as the star-spangled Captain America, he was *also* tearing his way through a super-powered train on a mission to overthrow the fascist behind the controls. The post-apocalyptic *Snowpiercer* is quite a bit different from the *Captain America* films, but Evans does rally people to his cause in both role. And like the Marvel movies, *Snowpiercer* has comic book roots; the graphic novel by Jacques Lob and Jean-Marc Rochette was originally published in France in 1982.©Weinstein Company/Courtesy Everett Collection

**Ghost World** **(2001)**
**Rotten Tomatoes:** 92%
**Based On:** *Ghost World* (Fantagraphics Books)
Originally published in chapter form in issues of Daniel Clowes' series *Eightball*, *Ghost World* broke out on its own as a cult classic graphic novel (and ultimately a cult classic feature film). The film stars Thora Birch and a pre-*Avengers* Scarlett Johansson as Enid and Rebecca, a pair of sardonic teens face life after graduating high school. As is true with many adaptations, *Ghost World* the motion picture is a bit of a departure from the *Ghost World* comic, but it's one that resonated with a new audience.©MGM/Courtesy Everett Collection

**Hercules** **(2014)**
**Rotten Tomatoes:** 60%
**Based On:** *Hercules: The Thracian Wars* (Radical Comics)
It will probably come as a surprise to learn that Dwayne Johnson's *Hercules* movie isn't just, you know, based on the ancient Hercules myth. Nope, the 2014 fantasy film from director Brett Ratner is based on a specific Hercules comic story by writer Steve Moore and artist Admira Wijaya. This time around, Hercules is a mercenary hired to defend Thrace from a warlord.©Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection

**Oblivion** **(2013)**
**Rotten Tomatoes:** 53%
**Based On:** *Oblivion* (Radical Comics, unpublished)
In addition to *Hercules*, Radical Comics also landed a big screen adaptation of another one of their series-one that was never actually published. This 2013 Tom Cruise sci-fi film actually began life as a graphic novel, but the still unfinished work skipped the whole publication step and jumped straight to being a major motion picture. Since comics are essentially storyboards, filmmaker Joseph Kosinski admitted that he wanted to sell *Oblivion* as a comic first just so he could develop imagery to better sell to movie studios.©Universal/Courtesy Everett Collection

**Cowboys & Aliens** (**2011)**
**Rotten Tomatoes:** 43%
**Based On:** *Cowboys & Aliens* (Platinum Studios Comics)
Surprise-a movie starring cowboys and aliens was a comic book! They're not superheroes, but cowboys and aliens have been in the DNA of comics since their creation almost 80 years ago. Created by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg, writers Fred Van Lente and Andrew Foley and artists Dennis Calero and Luciano Lima turned this genre mash-up idea into a graphic novel in 2006. The film, which stars Daniel Craig as an amnesiac cowboy and Harrison Ford as a cattle baron, didn't attract an audience despite it's all-star cast and bonkers title and premise.©Universal/Courtesy Everett Collection

**From Hell** **(2001)**
**Rotten Tomatoes:** 57%
**Based On:** *From Hell* (Top Shelf Productions)
Johnny Depp stayed within his creepy comfort zone when he starred as police inspector Frederick Abberline in this true(ish) story about the hysteria surrounding the Jack the Ripper murders in the late 1880s. The horror/mystery, which also stars Heather Graham as a London prostitute, was adapted from Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell's epic collection of graphic novels that were originally published between 1989 and 1996. While the comic was well-regarded (it won several Eisner Awards, a.k.a. the comic Oscars), reception to the adaptation was mixed.©20thCentFox/Courtesy Everett Collection

**The Smurfs** **(2011)**
**Rotten Tomatoes:** 22%
**Based On:** *Les Schtroumpfs* (Dupuis)
Before the Smurfs were a Saturday morning cartoon, they were originally featured in a number of cartoon strips created by Belgian cartoonist Peyo. The little blue guys became a big success in Europe in the '60s and '70s, and they eventually found their way to America in the '80s. Their popularity as a Hanna-Barbera cartoon ultimately led to 2011's *The Smurfs*, a live-action movie starring CGI Smurfs and a very real Neil Patrick Harris.©Columbia Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection

**The Diary of a Teenage Girl** **(2015)**
**Rotten Tomatoes:** 93%
**Based On:** *The Diary of a Teenage Girl: An Account in Words and Pictures* (North Atlantic Books)
Phoebe Gloeckner's original graphic novel was praised upon its release in 2002 for its inventive mixture of prose and illustrations, putting it somewhere in-between a novel and a graphic novel. The semi-autobiographical work chronicles the sexual awakening of Minnie Goetz, a 15-year-old living in San Francisco in 1976. The film adaptation features Bel Powley as Minnie, Kristen Wiig as her mother, and Alexander Skarsgard as her mother's boyfriend (who Minnie hooks up with).Everett Collection

**Timecop** **(1994)**
**Rotten Tomatoes:** 43%
**Based On:** *Timecop* (Dark Horse Comics)
If the superhero boom had happened 20 years earlier, you just know Jean-Claude Van Damme would have been the first in line to play a number of caped crimefighters. There's probably an alternate universe where Van Damme starred as Wolverine in a misguided '80s X-Men film. Instead, Van Damme got to star in a comic book movie in the '90s, when superheroes were mostly relegated to the printed page. That movie was *Timecop*, a sci-fi cop movie based on the 1992 Dark Horse Comics story by Mike Richardson, Mark Verheiden, and Ron Randall.Everett Collection

**Blue is the Warmest Colour** **(2013)**
**Rotten Tomatoes:** 91%
**Based On:** *Le bleu est une couleur chaude* (Glénat)
Before it was a critically acclaimed French erotic drama, *Blue is the Warmest Colour* was a graphic novel by Julie Maroh. Originally published in 2010, the graphic novel found its way to the big screen when director and screenwriter Abdellatif Kechiche happened upon it and realized he could marry his original screenplay with Maroh's work. Because of this melding of ideas, there are a number of differences between the comic and the film, but both versions of the story focus on the love between two women.©IFC Films/Courtesy Everett Collection

**The Losers** **(2010)**
**Rotten Tomatoes:** 49%
**Based On:** *The Losers* (DC Comics/Vertigo)
Unlike many of the other entries on this list, Andy Diggle and Jock's *The Losers* ran in serialized form for 32 issues, spanning from 2003 to 2006. Loosely adapted from a classic war comic published by DC in the '70s, the updated *Losers* comic focuses on a group of left-for-dead C.I.A. agents that regroup in order to bring the pain to the former handlers. The film, which hit theaters four years after the comic ended, stars a who's who of superhero stars: Zoe Saldana (Gamora), Chris Evans (Captain America), Idris Elba (Heimdall), and Jeffrey Dean Morgan (the Comedian).©Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection

**Surrogates** **(2009)**
**Rotten Tomatoes:** 39%
**Based On:** *The Surrogates* (Top Shelf Productions)
Bruce Willis brought another comic to life in 2009's *Surrogates*, a sci-fi thriller set in the year 2025. In this version of the future, humanity stays at home while their artificial surrogates go out and experience life for them. The original *Surrogates* comic was published as a limited series in 2005, written by Robert Venditti and illustrated by Brett Weldele. While the film has yet to spawn a sequel, a follow-up mini-series (*The Surrogates:* *Flesh and Bone*) was published by Top Shelf Productions in 2009.©Walt Disney Co./Courtesy Everett Collection

Where to Stream:

Road to Perdition

Comics are a medium like film or TV, and the content produced in comic book form is just as varied. Of course, comics are most known for being the home of superheroes like Batman, Wonder Woman, Spider-Man, and all the other brightly colored and/or grimly heroic crimefighters that have taken over theaters and screens over the last decade. But just because movies like Wonder Woman and Spider-Man: Homecoming are dominating the box office this year doesn’t mean that other films based on comics aren’t also angling for some attention. In fact, 2017 could be a big year for comic book movies that don’t star superheroes.

There are two big comic book movies coming out in July, and you might not know that since they don’t feature super-powered characters or take place in a cinematic universe. Those two movies are Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (opening July 21) and Atomic Blonde (opening July 28). Both the wildly sci-fi Valerian and the sexy/thrilling Atomic Blonde are based on comics. Valerian is based on the French comic series Valérian by writer Pierre Christin and artist Jean-Claude Mézières, and it’s been running off and on since 1967. Atomic Blonde was originally published by Oni Press in 2012 as a graphic novel titled The Coldest City; writer Antony Johnston and artist Sam Hart created the tale that now stars a relentlessly ass-kicking Charlize Theron.

But Valerian and Atomic Blonde are far from the first comic book movies to fly under your radar. Studios have been looking to the printed page for material for a long time now, and odds are you’ve seen a few comic book movies without even knowing it. You can browse a list of 20 such movies in the slideshow above. How many have you seen, and how many of them are you now going to read?

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20 Comic Book Movies That Don’t Star Superheroes

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