New Nerd Talk!!! Where some of the Nerds here at SWN answer questions from you, the fans, about Nerd culture … this week we answer the question “What was the one change in a comic movie that really pissed you off?” Warning !!! All the of post below will contain spoilers. Also check out our last Christmas Nerd Talk HERE where we talk about our favorite Christmas movies. Make sure to Subscribe to our YouTube channel HERE, we should have some video Nerd Talks coming soon and we will continue to do our video toy reviews. Thanks for reading and if you got a question to ask the Nerds you can email us at Snarfkris@somewhatnerdy.com.
Derf
Hmm, a change that was made in a comic movie that really pissed me off? Well, I can think of plenty but I think I will focus my anger on Bane from the Dark Knight Rises. I am not a fan of the look for Bane nor the voice. When I think Bane, I think of the masked villain who was able to put the Batman down. We all remember the day that Bane broke the Bat. So when I first saw what Bane was going to look like in the film I was pissed. I realize that they want to make the characters more modern to appeal to the younger crowd, but I feel they went backwards with that approach. I understand that the comic look to Bane was “attempted” in the Batman and Robin film from the ’90’s but we all know how well that film did, LoL.
But let’s say I can handle the new look, the next thing that pissed me off from the Dark Knight Rises was Bane’s voice. I mean, when I think Bane, I think of a voice that would send chills down your spine and not remind you of your childhood when you used to speak in a fan. I am sure there will be some who disagree with my critique of the Bane character as seen in the Dark Knight Rises, but that is my opinion. And there you have, the one comic change in a movie that pissed me off!
Billiam
Wow, where to begin. There’s just so much. I mean, wow. I could talk about the Schumacher Batman movies. I could talk about Superman Returns. Green Lantern was terrible. The Dark Knight trilogy had a Ra’s al Ghul that sucked and a Robin who wasn’t Robin. Spider-Man 3, the whole movie. X-men Origins. I could talk about any of those. But no, I’m not going to talk about any of those. Instead, I will go with something I had pushed out of my mind, something I had been blissfully ignorant to until Lego Marvel made all other video games irrelevant.
Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer. This movie proves that even a good cast can’t save bad writing. But again, this isn’t a review. I’m supposed to tell you what change pissed me off. Well, spoiler alert, I’m going to give away the ending to a movie that came out 8 years ago.
Galactus is a planet eating bad ass. The Milky Way is just a big lunch buffet for him. So what did Tim Story (director) and his writers do? They made him into a giant space fart. That’s right, one of the most feared villains in the whole universe was turned into a cloud. Tim Story claimed that he didn’t want to show Galactus because of the possibility of a Silver Surfer movie, at the time, and he didn’t want them to be stuck with his vision. Which is complete bull. Hollywood has no bones about retconning everything from actors to design choices. The Galactus from the Lego Marvel game was way more awesome than the one from this big budget film.
This:
Not This:
Raz
Just a warning to you all this post will contain spoilers, so if you haven’t watched “Iron Man 3” yet then don’t read this. When I first heard the reports that Sir Ben Kingsley was to play the ‘Mandarin’ in “Iron Man 3” I was ecstatic, he is a seriously amazing actor and my expectations for him were high. The film wasn’t too bad and all was going well until we find out that ‘Mandarin’ is actually Trevor Slattery, a drug addict alcoholic actor who is actually just a custom made terrorist used as a face. They turned a badass villain into a joke and it completely ruined the film for me, it was one change from comic to film that seriously pissed me off.
Snarfkris
For real??? Look at that image above … who looked at that and said “Yeah, that looks like it could work.” Deadpool in the Wolverine: Origins movie pisses me off. The movie was bad enough without this “Deadpool” but this was the cherry on top of a craptastic cake. Deadpool basically writes himself … funny crazy start-ass guy that can’t die. Blow him up a few times, make him say something funny, he shoots some people and boom you got Deadpool in your movie. So yeah why was the first thing they did in the movie was sew his mouth shut and give him those Baraka blade things AND shoot lasers out of his eyes.
This is why for years I have said … movie companies should hire comic book fans to work for these movies. Now I’m not saying I know how to shoot a movie or anything, I’m just saying if a comic Nerd was sitting next to the guys making the movie and every time something dumb like this pops up … the comic Nerd runs over there and hits said people with a comic, then proceeds to show them the right, less dumb way to make something work. Without this in place we have gotten “Baraka”Pool, Scary Giant Cloud Thing Galactus, Trevor “Mandarin” Slattery, two giant waste of times’ Ghost Rider, Halle Berry’s “Catwoman,” “Godzilla” Hulk and “I’m the Juggernaut, bitch.” So write your local politician, travesties like this need to stop … or you know stop giving money to dumb people.
Ben
There’s been a lot of little deviations in comic book movies over time. There’s been a good amount of not so minor changes as well. Then there’s the ones that seem to really get us nerds whipped into a frenzy . One that stands out for me as a change I couldn’t stand would be the Mandarin in Iron Man 3. Originally the Mandarin was of Chinese/English decent and was direct relation to Ghenghis Khan. He was raised by an aunt who resented her government and he grew to as well for a few different reasons. After discovering the ancient remains of a dragon who was really an alien (Marvel is kinda like Chariots of the Gods isn’t it?) and raiding it’s spaceship the Mandarin is able to harness the alien technology and the ten rings he found on board to make himself a force that even armies were trumped by. He then takes control of the Valley of Spirits where he found the dragon and goes on a hellbent mission of world control. This, to me, is perfectly relevant in today’s day in age. The fact that he was Chinese represents some of the tensions between current day China and the USA. The fact that he conquers a small, practically uncivilized region and rules it as a tyrant is very similar to a lot of third world countries histories or current situations.
So going into Ironman 3 I was very excited to see the Mandarin as he’s one of my personal favorite Marvel villains and I thought they could do a lot of cool things with him while bringing the character to life on film. Even after seeing that Ben Kingsley was the actor they cast and he looked less than Chinese in the costume I was still optimistic that he would do incredibly well and, really, he did. Playing that role as it was written Kingsley was as incredible as ever the problem wasn’t with him it was with the design of the character. (SPOILERS AHEAD) They changed Mandarin from a man with the power of the alien dragons to a sniveling, drug addict, coward and I resented it. Honestly I think it was a bit of a cop out so the film didn’t get vilified in China or even banned over there. When the movie started out and it showed one of “Mandarin’s” terrorist threat videos . I saw that Kingsley was less than Chinese and I was still with it. That was fine with me I actually thought it was cool he had this kind of Bin Laden thing going on it was a shade edgy and gritty. Then comes the plot twist. The Mandarin isn’t an all powerful anything. He’s nothing more than a puppet. Why? Why would they do this to arguably Ironman’s most formidable foe, the character that is basically Tony’s arch-enemy? Come on Marvel! Why? Even the changes in Bane’s character in Dark Knight Rises weren’t anywhere near as much of a mockery of the original character. At least Bane was still a beast in that movie. One capable of defeating Batman in a single fight. Maybe Marvel’s reasoning was different than my political assumptions. Maybe they just wanted to shake it up a bit. Either way I feel they missed the mark on it big time and that is why it is my least favorite change in a comic movie to date.
Critter
Comic book movies are a tricky bunch. On the one hand, it’s really awesome that some of your favorite characters from print are getting adapted to appear in real life…well real-ish. It is still a movie after all. But on the other hand, you may have some knob director going, “You know what we should do with this character(s)? Completely change ‘em and everything that their fans knew and love about them! No way that could back fire!” (Michael Bay, I have my eye on you and the Ninja Turtles’ movie. Don’t be a fart knocker and ruin something I’ve enjoyed my entire life.)
That being said, the thing that pissed me off the most when a movie made a change to a comic character for the worse was in “Wolverine: Origins.” They took the Merc with the Mouth, and took away his mouth. Just a dumb move. How the hell is Deadpool supposed to spout off his quirky one liners, vague movie references, and hilarious childish insults if his mouth is sewn shut. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I still think Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool was pretty decent casting, you know with him being a wise ass and Canadian and all. But to just take away the thing he is revered for in the comics is just cruel. And I hate to say this, but in a fight between Wolverine and Deapool, I’m cheering for Deadpool. Sorry all you Wolverine fans.
Oh and the medley of superpowers they gave him in the movie was pretty stupid too.
