Comic book movies are the talk of the town these days. That's old news. Ever since Spider-Man blew up the world in 2002, comic films have taken over Hollywood. As trends do, eventually superhero movies became stale, culminating in reboots, box office misery, and disgruntled fanboys. Well, a new breed of comic book movie is on the horizon, and its name is Kick-Ass.
Kick-Ass adapts the hit Mark Millar and John Romita Jr comic book that asks the question: what would superheroes be like in today's real world, with no superpowers aside from being internet savvy? The buzz around the movie is huge (check out our Kick-Ass coverage so far: John Romita Jr. Talks Kick-Ass and Kick-Ass: Creating the Comic, Making the Movie Review).
Gearing up for the film's April 16th release, we decided to take a look at the most kick-ass comic book films of all time, selecting the films with the highest ratio of entertainment and, well, ass kicking.
10. Sin City
Between Marv pummeling faces to make his way to Elijah Wood, Bruce Willis shooting guns, and Miho chopping chumps up like sausages, Sin City delivers its fair share of bloody goodness. I'll give the film credit for starting the new visual style of comic book films we've had to endure, from the good (300) to the utterly terrible (The Spirit), but its true purpose was served in the amount of blood shed in two hours time.
8. Batman Beyond: The Return of the Joker
7. Blankman
6. Batman: The Movie
5. The Rocketeer
The Rocketeer is one of the best times to be found in comic book films, because it mixes so many different things so well, all adding up to one bad ass movie. Gangsters with tommy guns, Nazis with lugers, rocket packs, Howard Hughes and the allure of classic Hollywood are a prime mixture for ass kicking. Plus, you've got a snarky wisecracking lead hero that makes taking a punch look like fun.
4. The Punisher
3. The Dark Knight
Sure, Batman cracks plenty of skulls in The Dark Knight. I'm more concerned with the movie kicking the ass of the box office and every other movie of 2008. Over a billion worldwide? And based on a comic book? Christ.
2. 300
It doesn't get much more brutal than 300. Heads flying off in slow motion, ridiculous sex scenes, limbs snapped every which way and blood in the gallons. I'll admit to being severely disappointed that the Nine Inch Nails song "Just Like You Imagined" that was in the amazing trailer didn't appear in the film itself, director Zack Snyder made up for it by creating an R-rated action movie that isn't afraid to pour on the violence.
1. The Crow
