Comicbook Movies of the Millennium: 2008

 John Hancock (Will Smith) is the world’s only superhero, only he isn’t what you would expect in a superhero. He doesn’t wear colorful spandex, he doesn’t have a Fortress of Solitude, and truthfully, he is something of an A-Hole. Hancock, you see, is a something of a mean drunk. He has been around for awhile, but no one seems to know much about him, and now he has migrated to Los Angeles where he remains in a constant surly stupor, and occasionally (reluctantly) catches criminals. In fact, he has all but become the butt of jokes due to his alcoholism and clumsiness. Needless to say, he has also become the most hated man in LA. Even though he’s saved numerous lives, he also destroyed quite a bit of property, costing the city millions whenever he flies into action. However, when he saves the life of Public Relations expert Ray Embrey (Jason Bateman) from an oncoming train, the executive is so thankful that he offers to restore Hancock's image as a true superhero. Yet, when he brings Hancock home for dinner and introduces him to his son Aaron (Jae Head), who is a big fan, and to his wife, Mary (Charlize Theron) everything is not quite as copacetic as he would have hoped. For some mysterious reason Mary doesn’t takes an instant dislike to Hancock and doesn’t him anywhere near her or her family.  Originally an Image comic by writer Mark Millar and illustrator J. G. Jones, the film version was almost a completely different animal than what appeared in the Image comic (Truthfully, we enjoyed the comicbook concept far better than the film, which — to us — read like a badly-conceived comic. Regardless, in the film, a young man Wesley (James McAvoy) discovers that his long estranged father is not only an assassin working for some ancient order of assassins, but (apparently) out to kill him. However, when his father is murdered, Wesley is recruited into his father’s old organization and trained by a man named Sloan (Morgan Freeman ) to follow in his dad’s footsteps. The assassin who is sent out to recruit and train him is a lovely hottie named Fox (Angelina Jolie). Only nothing is quite what it seems, and everything winds up, well, different. Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is a cool exec with a heart of steel, as Iron Man, all jets ablaze, He’s fighting and smiting with repulsor rays! Yep, that’s Marvel’s playboy superhero who also happens to be an engineering genius. Staying true to his comicbook origins, while in Afghanistan demonstrating a new missile for the U.S. military, Tony’s caravan is attacked and Tony is wounded and captured. Realizing who they have, his captors want him to assemble a missile for them, however instead he creates an armored suit and a means to prevent his own death from the shrapnel that was embedded there from the explosion. He then utilizes the armored suit to escape, and return to the U.S. where he announces that Stark Enterprises will cease making weapons. The he begins working on an updated armored suit only to discover that his trusted, and most-senior, Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges)— a man who worked with Stark’s father —is the one that betrayed him and has been selling Stark weapons to the insurgents. Stark then uses the new suit to return to Afghanistan in order to destroy the arms and then to stop Stane from misusing his research. View the list »
Not one of the films we will be reviewing.

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In 2008 we had eight comicbook-based films, this time around three were based on Marvel characters (Iron Man, Punisher, and Hulk), one on a DC character (Batman), one from Dark Horse (Hellboy), and one from Image (Wanted), the seventh film was based on the classic Will Eisner character, The Spirit, and the eighth being a character created out of whole cloth (Hancock). Of the films that we got to see this year, three were sequels (Hulk, Batman, & Hellboy), two were new (Iron Man, & Spirit), Punisher: War Zone was something of (second) reboot, while Wanted was merely based on a comic, but ultimately spun in a very different direction than the comic itself. Also, both Hulk and Spirit received critical drubbings, while both Iron Man and The Dark Knight were massive critical successes.

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Perhaps one of the most ingenious marketing ploys begun by Marvel, starting with Iron Man, is the Easter Egg “teasers” grafted onto the tail-end of their Avenger-franchise films heralding the next stage in the upcoming massive Avengers team-up. This tactic proved to continue to build hype, as well as a most amazing buzz in the fan community as each film was released.

Once again, the criteria that we are using throughout this series on comicbook movies, is films that either started off in comics, are clearly influenced by comicbooks and/or comicbook superheroes, or have an appreciable amount of their history connected to comicbooks. Films that we are not discussing include anything that appeared on TV (either live action or animated Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow, Batman: Gotham Knight, Justice League: The New Frontier), theatrically-released films that were strictly animated, or films that may have had been adapted in comics, but were best known from another medium (i.e.; Star Trek, Star Wars), nor are we considering films that were released direct to video or DVD.

Earlier articles in this series can be found via the links below:

Comicbook Movies of the Millennium: 2007

Comicbook Movies of the Millennium: 2006

Comicbook Movies of the Millennium: 2005

Comicbook Movies of the Millennium: 2004

Comicbook Movies of the Millennium: 2003

Comicbook Movies of the Millennium: 2002

Comicbook Movies of the Millennium: 2001

Comicbook Movies of the Millennium: 2000

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Robert J. Sodaro has been reviewing comicbooks for some 30 years. During that time, his reviews and articles have appeared in numerous print publications, as well as on the web. Subscribe to receive regular comicbook articles and reviews.

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  •  Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is a cool exec with a heart of steel, as Iron Man, all jets ablaze, He’s fighting and smiting with repulsor rays! Yep, that’s Marvel’s playboy superhero who also happens to be an engineering genius. Staying true to his comicbook origins, while in Afghanistan demonstrating a new missile for the U.S. military, Tony’s caravan is attacked and Tony is wounded and captured. Realizing who they have, his captors want him to assemble a missile for them, however instead he creates an armored suit and a means to prevent his own death from the shrapnel that was embedded there from the explosion. He then utilizes the armored suit to escape, and return to the U.S. where he announces that Stark Enterprises will cease making weapons. The he begins working on an updated armored suit only to discover that his trusted, and most-senior, Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges)— a man who worked with Stark’s father —is the one that betrayed him and has been selling Stark weapons to the insurgents. Stark then uses the new suit to return to Afghanistan in order to destroy the arms and then to stop Stane from misusing his research. 
  •  Originally an Image comic by writer Mark Millar and illustrator J. G. Jones, the film version was almost a completely different animal than what appeared in the Image comic (Truthfully, we enjoyed the comicbook concept far better than the film, which — to us — read like a badly-conceived comic. Regardless, in the film, a young man Wesley (James McAvoy) discovers that his long estranged father is not only an assassin working for some ancient order of assassins, but (apparently) out to kill him. However, when his father is murdered, Wesley is recruited into his father’s old organization and trained by a man named Sloan (Morgan Freeman ) to follow in his dad’s footsteps. The assassin who is sent out to recruit and train him is a lovely hottie named Fox (Angelina Jolie). Only nothing is quite what it seems, and everything winds up, well, different.
  •  John Hancock (Will Smith) is the world’s only superhero, only he isn’t what you would expect in a superhero. He doesn’t wear colorful spandex, he doesn’t have a Fortress of Solitude, and truthfully, he is something of an A-Hole. Hancock, you see, is a something of a mean drunk. He has been around for awhile, but no one seems to know much about him, and now he has migrated to Los Angeles where he remains in a constant surly stupor, and occasionally (reluctantly) catches criminals. In fact, he has all but become the butt of jokes due to his alcoholism and clumsiness. Needless to say, he has also become the most hated man in LA. Even though he’s saved numerous lives, he also destroyed quite a bit of property, costing the city millions whenever he flies into action. However, when he saves the life of Public Relations expert Ray Embrey (Jason Bateman) from an oncoming train, the executive is so thankful that he offers to restore Hancock's image as a true superhero. Yet, when he brings Hancock home for dinner and introduces him to his son Aaron (Jae Head), who is a big fan, and to his wife, Mary (Charlize Theron) everything is not quite as copacetic as he would have hoped. For some mysterious reason Mary doesn’t takes an instant dislike to Hancock and doesn’t him anywhere near her or her family. 
  • In this sequel to the 2004 adventure of the demon superhero, he is pitted against an evil elf who breaks an ancient pact between humans and other-worldly creatures, as he declares a jihad against humanity. So now the elf is on a mission to release The Golden Army, a deadly group of fighting machines that can destroy the entire human race. With Hell on Earth about to erupt, Hellboy (Ron Perlman) and his crew of misfits set out to defeat the evil prince before his Golden Army can destroy humanity’s existence.
  • As good as this film was, it was both marred, and propelled into the stratosphere by the untimely post-production death of co-star Heath Ledger, whose iconic performance helped make the film what it became. In this tale, Batman (Christian Bale) has raised the stakes in his war on the criminal element. With the help of Lieutenant Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman) and rising star District Attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), Batman attempts to dismantle the remaining criminal organizations that have been plague Gotham. The partnership proves effective, but soon they find themselves prey to a reign of chaos unleashed by a rising criminal mastermind known to the terrified citizens of Gotham as The Joker. Added into this combustible mix, a horrific accident turnd Dent into the psychotic criminal, Two-Face.
  • This sideways “sort of” reboot of 2003’s first launch spins the brutish character closer to his comicbook roots, while not entirely eliminating the initial story’s arc. Depicting the events after the Gamma Bomb,  this film relates the story of how Dr Bruce Banner (Edward Norton), seeks a cure to his unique condition. While in South America, and on the run from military, Banner comes close to a cure. However, he winds up getting captured, but not until after the emergence of a new creature; The Abomination (Tim Roth).
  • With the third incarnation of Frank Castle (This time Ray Stevenson) — the ex-military man whose family was killed by criminals, turning him into the self-styled vigilante “The Punisher” he goes after an entire mob family. He tracks a mobster named Russoti (Dominic West) and tosses him into a vat used for crushing bottles. Frank turns on the crusher figuring it would take care of Russoti only it doesn’t. Russoti survives to become Jigsaw. Now Russoti is looking to extract revenge on Frank and now the shooting begins in earnest. 
  • When a Rookie cop named Denny Colt (Gabriel Macht) returns from the beyond as the masked man, The Spirit he becomes transformed into a true blue hero whose mission is to fight against the bad forces from the shadows of Central City. Meanwhile a criminal The Octopus (Samuel L. Jackson) who kills anyone unfortunate enough to see his face has other plans for the city. Octopus has decided he’s going to wipe out the entire city. Realizing that this is a very bad idea, The Spirit tracks this cold hearted killer to the city’s rundown warehouses, across the damp catacombs, to the windswept waterfront — all the while facing a bevy of beautiful women who either want to seduce, love or kill the masked crusader. Written and directed by Frank Miller off (creator) Will Eisner’s classic comic book series, the film really didn’t do as well as hoped due mostly to first-time director Miller’s eclectic vision of the piece.
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Robert J. (“Bob”) Sodaro is an American born writer, editor, and digital graphic production artist. Sodaro was born in Norwalk, CT and is best known for writing for numerous publications in the comicbook industry press during the ‘80s & ‘90s. He is currently the Vice President of Media Relations...

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