Live-action movie adaptations of DC Comics characters, like any other strain of cinema, has their ups and downs. They can’t all be The Dark Knight, The Suicide Squad, or Christopher Reeve’s first two Superman movies. Inevitably, clunkers will emerge. Within those creative misfires are titles that absolutely wasted characters that are fixtures of classic Justice League comics. These superhero comics were famous for exhibiting so much imagination and engaging creativity. On the silver screen, though, characters associated with those comics were realized with minimal flair or fun.
Given the lasting influence Justice League comics have on the wider pop culture, it’s a crying shame these incarnations of famous DC characters happened. Five Justice League fixtures were particularly ruined by various live-action DC Comics movies. That’s what happens, though, when not every movie can be as good as Shazam! or Wonder Woman.
One of the founding members of the Justice League in the comics, Barry Allen/The Flash had such rich potential as a movie character. The first live-action cinema incarnation of the character, played by Ezra Miller, was instead a tragic boondoggle. Deciding to make this incarnation of Allen super cheeky and obnoxious (as a reflection of him being the youngest Justice League member) didn’t work at all in execution. All the exciting visual and heightened storytelling possibilities associated with his powerset were also never exploited in his various DC Extended Universe appearances. Instead, films like Justice League and The Flash ended up giving this Justice League mainstay a rudimentary execution.
A constant Justice League threat with her fellow Injustice League comrades, Wonder Woman baddie Barbara Minerva/Cheetah could’ve been something special on the silver screen. Instead, Wonder Woman 1984‘s incarnation of Minerva/Cheetah was a baffling disaster. Keeping the character in her human form for the entire runtime, save for one climactic scene, was already a mammoth mistake. A misdirected Kristen Wiig (excellent casting for the part on paper) made it hard to engage with Minerva as either a campy threat or a genuinely engaging character. There was just no fun with this iteration of Cheetah, which is not something she’s lacking in the Justice League comics.
After terrorizing the Justice League in the New 52 comics, New Gods fixture Steppenwolf became the first solo Justice League movie baddie in 2017. Whichever Justice League cut you watch, Steppenwolf is realized with none of his vibrantly colorful attire from most of his comic incarnations. Throwing away all those rich visual possibilities is already a tremendous crime. Steppenwolf’s generic character design and personality is also a far cry from the richly bombastic external appearances and impulses of Steppenwolf in the comics. This was a character who used to leave a profound impression even when he was a “yes-man” for Darkseid. In Justice League, Steppenwolf’s potential was wasted in favor of subdued colors and lots of growling.
Green Lantern 2011
Barry Allen’s Flash wasn’t the only founding Justice League member to get poorly represented on-screen. Back in June 2011, Hal Jordan/Green Lantern infamously jumped onto the silver screen with the Green Lantern solo movie. The feature was absolutely terrible in many respects, but its dismally unimaginative vision of Jordan was especially frustrating. Eschewing all the fun cosmic possibilities of the Green Lantern mythos in favor of Earthbound tedium was similarly inexcusable. It’s no wonder Ryan Reynolds refuses to stop mocking Green Lantern, especially since it utterly ruined a critical member of the Justice League comics.
Going down a darker direction for the DC Extended Universe version of Clark Kent/Superman wasn’t a bad idea conceptually, especially as a way to differentiate this version of the character from past Supermen in pop culture. However, the various appearances of Henry Cavill’s Superman that began with 2013’s Man of Steel still utterly ruined the character for a multitude of reasons that go beyond the color schemes of the movies he inhabited. For one thing, the surface-level approach to Superman’s mythos was gravely disappointing. All the fun bizarre nooks and crannies of his lore were left unexplored.
More gravely, this version of Superman was always going to have a problem thanks to the casting of Cavill. This actor just wasn’t compelling playing Superman and didn’t exhibit much charisma that kept your eyes glued to him. It was simply impossible for Cavill to communicate warm humanity or even some other new darker aura exclusive to the DCEU’s vision of the DC hero. The off-putting textures of Cavill’s various Superman costumes reflect how this iteration of the character was a disaster in even the tiniest respects. Props to Zack Snyder and crew for trying something new with such a familiar character. However, Cavill’s take on Superman ruined a staple of Justice League comics in too many ways to count.
Live-action movie adaptations of DC Comics characters, like any other strain of cinema, has their ups and downs. They can’t all be The Dark Knight, The Suicide Squad, or Christopher Reeve’s first two Superman movies. Inevitably, clunkers will emerge. Within those creative misfires are titles that absolutely wasted characters that are fixtures of classic Justice Read More