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RANKED WORST to FIRST: The Six Comic Book Movies of 2016

By Kainan Seth

Since the debut of Superman back in 1938, superheroes have played a major role in American culture over the years. Now, 2016 has been a full meal when it comes to comic book movies. With the newest trend being crossover universes, we see plenty of that reflected this year. While some weren’t the best, others contend to be the greatest comic book movies of all time. Below are the six superhero films of 2016 ranked worst to first.

LAST PLACE: Suicide Squad

Although Suicide Squad has made around $750 million, this visual production is last on the list for a number of reasons. While the new takes on most of the characters were well received, everything else about the film wasn’t.

 

The story line was not at all what was advertised during the promotional campaign, and the messy combination of elements from the comics were taken out of context. The outcome was what would’ve happened if Guardians of the Galaxy and Fruit Ninja were blended into a protein shake, and nobody likes the taste of protein drinks.

 

To be entirely honest, this film was the most forgettable. While Will Smith and Margot Robbie may have stolen the show, we are left wondering if Jared Leto’s Joker was the original villain. It seems his antics on set may have left the film worse off.

Unfortunately, the newest installment of the X-Men franchise took a huge loss on this list. Making an average $550 million, X-Men: Apocalypse is at the near-bottom of the list due to inaccuracies and confusion throughout the script and the entire franchise as a whole.

 

Although the character development was done well, specifically for Magneto, the adaptation from the X-Men comic book series was weak in the portrayals of the villain Apocalypse, who ended up looking like an off-brand Bible-Man villain from Dollar General.

 

X-Men: Apocalypse is nothing more than a re-scripted reboot of the original X-Men movie that first aired on the big screen back in 2000. Ever since X-Men Origins: Wolverine flopped at the theaters back in 2009, Fox Studios has been trying to recover those absent funds. Without Marvel Studios’ extensive handle on storylines and Disney’s funding, the X-Men franchise has a long way to go to jump to the top of any ranked list.

FIFTH PLACE: X-Men: Apocalypse

This superhero civil war slash team up has received mixed reviews since its release back in March. While this film has generated revenue $875 million, this film had some of the same problems that occurred in Suicide Squad, which makes sense with them being produced by the same film company, Warner Bros. Studios. While critics praised the film debut of Ben Affleck as Batman and Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, the stone-faced Henry Cavill as Superman went down the drain along with Jesse Eisenberg’s portrayal as a childish Lex Luthor. This isn’t the best superhero rivalry of the year though.

FOURTH PLACE: Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice

THIRD PLACE: Captain America: Civil War

Generating a whopping $1.2 billion, Captain America: Civil War is hands down one of the best superhero films to date. However, this film received a silver medal due to its rushed production, and is not the best film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as many have claimed. That accolade would have to go to Marvel’s the Avengers, but that’s another story.

 

Civil War features the MCU debut of many fan favorite characters, including Black Panther, Spider-Man, and Aunt May, and these characters were very well received. Even though the script was not the best, the film had great character development, beautiful cinematography, and well-choreographed fight scenes.

 

Now, this film would have done better as the third Avengers movie rather than Captain America’s final solo film. The Civil War aspect was basic sibling rivalry between a few main characters and a villain, rather than the mass scale fighting between 90 percent of the Avengers teams seen in the original run of the Marvel: Civil War comic book series back in 2006 and 2007. It may not have been the wisest decision, but most certainly was a successful one.

SECOND PLACE: Deadpool

Grossing a sheer $761 million, the X-Men franchise was deemed safe after the introduction of every Marvel fan’s favorite anti-villain, Deadpool. This film blurred the lines of what actually defined a comic book movie, mainly due to the main character constantly addressing the audience in the second person by breaking the fourth wall.

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While this movie was almost accurate, this film isn’t at the top of the list due to the level of vulgarity it produced. When reading the Deadpool comics, one does not experience as many loads of, excuse my French but, “cow pies” as in the movie. While the portrayals, fight scenes, and lightened humor were spot on, the extreme level of verbal and sexual toxicity is what placed this film in second place.

First PLACE: Doctor Strange

Doctor Strange is the newest film on the list, and not just based on the date of its release, but also because on this film being the introduction of the Sorcerer Supreme. With the types of scenes that have never been produced before, the mysterious yet sympathetic character development, and the straight from the comic book series, this movie is legendary, and exceeded my expectations beyond any others. “The accuracy of [the movie] in reference to the comics was uncanny. There weren’t that many errors as with the other movies this year.” says Cohen McCain, a DBU freshman, who went back and looked at the comics to see just how much director Scott Derrickson got correct.

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Minus a certain life-altering surgery that our main character would’ve needed to perform and some changes in regards to the timeline of the MCU, this film was spot on. It’s evident that this film is going down as a top ten contender: only two weeks after it’s release on November 4, 2016, the movie has made over $503 million worldwide. Disney and Marvel Studios will be receiving a hefty Christmas gift in revenue generated by Doctor Strange and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. 12/5/16

*Note: All numerical data was finalized November 27, 2016

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