The 10 Best Comic Book Movies No One Talks About, Ranked

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Few things come close to topping comic book movies as a pop culture phenomenon. In fact, Hollywood has been adapting films from comic books like "Superman" or newspaper strips like "Peanuts" for far longer than you think — "Skippy," believed to be the first full-length feature based on a comic character, was released in 1931.

Nearly a century later, comic book movies are breaking box office records and spawning successful sequels, but the truth is that there are so many comic book movies now – including some you didn't realize were based on comic books – that many of them have been forgotten.

In assembling this list of the best comic book movies no one talks about, we looked for hidden gems and future cult classics, but most of all, shining examples of the sheer scope of the comic medium. While some of these films feature superheroes, you'll also find ace reporters and super spies, as well as horror stories and crime capers. Some of these comic book films were ahead of their time, unjustly ignored upon release, or simply faded from memory over the years, but they all deserve to be seen.

• Cast: Billy Zane, Kristy Swanson, Treat Williams
  
• Director: Simon Wincer
• Rating: PG
• Runtime: 100 minutes
• Where to watch: Hoopla, Pluto TV

Imagine a mysterious masked man, a superhero who has dedicated his life to fighting crime through feats of skill and cunning rather than superpowers. Operating out of a cave, he battles villains and femme fatales, all while maintaining his secret identity as the city's most eligible bachelor. No, not Batman — The Phantom, the King Features Syndicate comic strip hero who predates the Caped Crusader by three years, debuting in 1936.

"The Phantom" was one of several 1990s films aiming to replicate the success of Tim Burton's "Batman" (which changed superhero movies forever) by pulling heroes from pulp magazines and comic books. The film's failure at the box office is deeply unfortunate, because as legendary film critic Roger Ebert noted in his contemporary review, "The Phantom" is "smashingly entertaining."

Billy Zane wears the character of The Phantom (and his skintight purple costume) like a glove; he's Kit Walker, the latest in a long family line of masked avengers who protect the world from evildoers. It's 1938, and Kit must stop corrupt businessman Xander Drax (Treat Williams) and his army of female air pirates (led by the always beguiling Catherine Zeta Jones) from collecting the all-powerful Skulls of Touganda. Despite its status as a comic book movie, however, "The Phantom" is more in line with "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" (with which it shares a screenwriter) and 1999's "The Mummy" than any film starring the Dark Knight.

• Cast: Brooke Shields, Timothy Dalton, Diana Scarwid
• Director: Robert Ellis Miller
• Rating: PG
• Runtime: 93 minutes
• Where to watch: The Roku Channel, Tubi

"Brenda Starr" is a movie that takes a newspaper comic strip — one that ran as few as three panels per day — and swirls it into a brand new universe. "Brenda Starr, Reporter" launched in 1940 for the Chicago Tribune Syndicate. Created by Dalia Messick (under the pen name "Dale Messick"), it features Brenda Starr, a fearless reporter with flamethrower-red hair. At the height of her fame, she starred in comic books and a 1945 theatrical serial, but when 1989's "Brenda Starr" opens, she's ready to walk out of her own comic strip.

Mike Randall (Tony Peck), the current "Brenda Starr, Reporter" artist, vents his frustration with the strip, only for Brenda (Brooke Shields) to disappear from the page. Mike draws himself into the comic to win Brenda back, entering a cartoon world of 1940s gangsters and international intrigue. As for Brenda, she and her glamorous Bob Mackie-designed costumes search for a secret formula in the Amazon jungle alongside the dashing Basil St. John (Timothy Dalton).

Filmed in 1986 but shelved for years, "Brenda Starr" and its over-the-top, high camp sensibility deserve to be reclaimed by a cult audience. As for star Brooke Shields, in a 2012 AV Club interview, she remarked that she still "loved" the movie. "['Brenda Starr'] was really fun, and I thought it was unique. And I loved playing that character. She's still one of my favorites."

• Cast: Monica Vitti, Terence Stamp, Dirk Bogarde
  
• Director: Joseph Losey
• Rating: Not rated
• Runtime: 120 minutes
• Where to watch: Available on DVD and Blu-ray

Jane Fonda's "Barbarella" may be the fabulous, far-out queen of 1960s comic book movies, but "Modesty Blaise" is the crown princess. Originating in a 1963 British comic strip written by Peter O'Donnell and artist Jim Holdaway, Modesty Blaise is a coolly confident secret agent with a criminal past. Accompanied by her right-hand man Willie Garvin, Modesty participates in racy, exotic, Bond-esque capers for the British Secret Service.

But to keep with the James Bond comparisons, if the comic strip Modesty Blaise is "Dr. No," then the 1966 film "Modesty Blaise" is more like "Octopussy." Directed by Joseph Losey, "Modesty Blaise" embraces the intoxicating outlandishness of the blooming "Eurospy" film craze and teeters on the steep cliff of self-parody.

"Modesty Blaise" can't be considered a faithful adaptation of the comic strip — star Monica Vitti dons Modesty's trademark dark hair and catsuit only briefly — but it is most certainly an enjoyable one. Terence Stamp (years away from playing General Zod) lights up the screen as Willie Garvin, and Dirk Bogarde makes a delicious meal out of Gabriel, Modesty's silver-haired nemesis. With its frenetic, fourth wall-shattering editing (Modesty picks up and reads her own comic in the paper; when Gabriel comments on her hairstyle, it suddenly changes mid-scene), "Modesty Blaise" foreshadows the knowing winks in "Deadpool" and "She-Hulk: Attorney at Law."

• Cast: Billy Crudup, Jackie Earle Haley, Patrick Wilson
• Director: Zack Snyder
• Rating: Unrated
• Runtime: 186 minutes
• Where to watch: Available on DVD and Blu-ray

Yes, we're talking about the Snyder Cut — no, not that Snyder Cut, the "Watchmen" Director's Cut. One of the most hotly anticipated superhero movies of the 2000s, "Watchmen" was based on Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' legendary 12-issue miniseries, which was long thought to be unfilmable due to its dense, decades-spanning plot.

In an alternate 1985, costumed superheroes have changed the course of history. When a retired "mask" known as the Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) is brutally murdered, the vigilante Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley) suspects a conspiracy to kill all current and former costumed heroes, including his former partner Nite Owl (Patrick Wilson) and the godlike Dr. Manhattan (Billy Crudup). But what they uncover could destroy the world — or save it.

Maximalist "300" director Zack Snyder was a provocative choice to film "Watchmen," but his passion for the material is evident in every frame. He delivered three different cuts of the movie: a 163-minute theatrical cut, a longer Director's Cut, and an "Ultimate Cut" that included the "Black Freighter" animated story. The "Watchmen" Director's Cut is the superior version, fleshing out the elaborate story and its cast of complex and deeply flawed "heroes." Overshadowed by the HBO "Watchmen" sequel tv series and a two-part animated film, the "Watchmen" Director's Cut is better than you remember and worth the watch.

• Cast: Ralph Richardson, Joan Collins, Peter Cushing
• Director: Freddie Francis
• Rating: PG
• Runtime: 93 minutes
• Where to watch: Plex, The Roku Channel

In the 1950s, EC Comics lit up newsstands with eye-grabbing (or rather, eye-gouging) titles like "Weird Science" and "Tales from the Crypt." Subversive, sadistic, and surprisingly sophisticated, "Tales from the Crypt" features the decrepit Cryptkeeper narrating tales of terror that usually end with an ironic twist. A moral panic about horror comics traumatizing children and a censorious Comics Code led to EC cancelling its horror books by the mid-'50s, seemingly closing the Crypt forever.

"Tales from the Crypt" inspired a hit HBO live-action series in the 1990s that spawned two feature films and even a Saturday morning cartoon. However, for the very first adaptation of the series, look no further than the 1972 horror film "Tales from the Crypt" from Britain's Amicus Productions.

In this frightfully faithful adaptation of five EC Comics stories, a group of strangers are trapped in an enormous crypt, where the mysterious Cryptkeeper (Ralph Richardson) predicts how they will all die. Each story is dripping with irony, as well as blood. A homicidal housewife (Joan Collins) has a violent encounter with "Santa Claus" on Christmas Eve, while the abusive superintendent of a home for the blind (Nigel Patrick) is trapped in a dark maze by his vengeful residents. Grimly funny and deliciously horrifying, "Tales from the Crypt" unfolds like an ultra-deluxe 3-D annual of the original comic series.

• Cast: Pamela Anderson, Udo Kier, Temuera Morrison
• Director: David Hogan
• Rating: R
• Runtime: 98 minutes
• Where to Watch: Prime Video

In the wake of Pamela Anderson's career resurgence and her critically-acclaimed performances in "The Last Showgirl" and "The Naked Gun," her first major motion picture — 1996's splashy shoot-'em-up "Barb Wire" — is overdue for reappraisal.

Based on the Dark Horse Comics series, "Barb Wire" takes place in the dystopian future of 2017. Barbara "Barb Wire" Kopetski (Anderson) is a nightclub owner and bounty hunter in Steel Harbor, the only free city in an America torn apart by civil war. In walks her ex, Axel Hood (Temuera Morrison), who needs Barb's help in getting his wife Cora (Victoria Rowell), a scientist with knowledge of a new government bioweapon, across the Canadian border. 

If that plot sounds familiar, you're right. "Barb Wire" is a gender-swapped, heavy metal riff on "Casablanca" – the most romantic film of all time – with Pamela Anderson in the Humphrey Bogart role. It's an audacious choice, elevating a typical action flick into something more playful and memorable. After all, Humphrey Bogart never blew up fascists while wearing stilettos and a tight black corset. Despite the Razzies naming her as the year's "Worst New Star," Pamela Anderson fully embraces her role. She holds her own against scene-chewing character actors Udo Kier and Clint Howard, and her classic Barb Wire look has been referenced by stars Cardi B, Kendall Jenner, and "RuPaul's Drag Race" winner Sasha Colby.

• Cast: John Phillip Law, Marisa Mell, Michel Piccoli
• Director: Mario Bava
• Rating: PG-13
• Runtime: 100 minutes
• Where to watch: Kanopy

Inspired by the Italian fumetti neri ("black comics") antihero encased in full-body black leather, "Danger: Diabolik" is a surprisingly colorful and gaudy affair. Thanks to the direction of Mario Bava, the grandfather of Italy's giallo ("yellow") horror films, "Danger: Diabolik" is a pulpy, psychedelic masterpiece following the adventures of Diabolik (John Phillip Law), an amoral thief who — joined by his beautiful blonde lover, Eva (Marisa Mell) — steals from the rich to give to himself.

Pursued by the dogged but hapless Detective Ginko (Michel Piccoli), Diabolik and Eva galivant across Europe robbing banks and raiding chateaus (in one memorable scene, they make love on a revolving bed atop a pile of their ill-gotten gains). Brisk, bold, and featuring intense eyebrow-acting from Law, "Danger: Diabolik" is an incredibly immersive film, one that boasts a score from legendary composer Ennio Morricone and production design from future "Alien" and "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" visual effects legend Carlo Rambaldi.

"Danger: Diabolik" has gained some pop culture notoriety over the decades, directly inspiring the Beastie Boys' "Body Movin'" music video and serving as a flamboyant farewell to "Mystery Science Theater 3000" as the featured film in the 1999 series finale. But the film is also an antidote for anyone sick of the asexual costumed do-gooders of the Marvel Cinematic Universe: The crackling chemistry between Diabolik and Eva alone makes "Danger: Diabolik" a wickedly sensual treat.

• Cast: Billy Campbell, Jennifer Connelly, Alan Arkin
• Director: Joe Johnston
• Rating: PG
• Runtime: 108 minutes
• Where to watch: Disney+

Created by illustrator and "Raiders of the Lost Ark" storyboard artist Dave Stevens, "The Rocketeer" comic series is an exquisitely drawn mélange of 1930s "Commando Cody" serials, Bettie Page pin-ups, and Rondo Hatton B-movies. Perhaps no other comic character since Superman has felt as destined to fly onto the big screen as The Rocketeer.

The 1990 film "The Rocketeer" takes place in a glamorous reimagining of 1938 Los Angeles. While war rages in Europe, all-American stunt pilot Cliff Secord (Billy Campbell) and his mentor Peevy (Alan Arkin) discover a mysterious jet pack. When Cliff dons the jetpack to save a pilot during an airshow, he becomes the sensational "Rocketeer." But the mob soon comes calling for the stolen jetpack, endangering not only Cliff but also his aspiring actress girlfriend, Jenny (Jennifer Connelly).

While the film version "The Rocketeer" tones down the sensuality of the comics to score a family-friendly PG rating, it captures the adventurous spirit of Dave Stevens' creation. In his review for Rolling Stone, critic Peter Travers marveled that "The Rocketeer" has "the kind of movie magic that we don't see much anymore — the kind that charms us, rather than bullying us, into suspending disbelief." The film was a box office bomb, but in 2011, director Joe Johnston's vision of an idealistic World War II-era superhero would be vindicated when he helmed "Captain America: The First Avenger."

• Cast: Warren Beatty, Madonna, Al Pacino
• Director: Warren Beatty
• Rating: PG
• Runtime: 105 minutes
• Where to watch: Prime Video

While many comic book movies try to ground their larger-than-life characters in reality and make them three-dimensional — think of the live-action X-Men trading "yellow spandex" for black leather — "Dick Tracy" is deliberately, enthusiastically two-dimensional. Police detective Dick Tracy (Warren Beatty) wears his canary-yellow overcoat and fedora with pride, and why not? He lives inside a comic strip.

A longtime passion project for director and star Warren Beatty, 1990's "Dick Tracy" is a breathtakingly literal adaptation of Chester Gould's 1930s comic strips. In this seven-color world of good vs. evil, Tracy takes on mob boss "Big Boy" Caprice (Al Pacino) and his grotesque goons Flattop (William Forsythe) and Mumbles (Dustin Hoffman) while trying to evade the advances of Big Boy's reluctant moll, the nightclub singer Breathless Mahoney (Madonna, singing several songs written for the film by Steven Sondheim).

"Dick Tracy" is not a film one watches for, say, character development — there's never any doubt that Tracy will remain loyal to his pure, angelic paramour, Tess Trueheart (Glenne Headly) — but it is an incredibly immersive and amusing film. Unfortunately, "Dick Tracy" made less money than everyone expected, stymying any sequels (though Beatty has "reprised" the role for two bizarre television specials). However, it won big at the Academy Awards, taking home Oscars for best song, best makeup, and best art direction. Tracy always gets his man — even little gold ones.

• Cast: Lori Petty, Naomi Watts, Malcolm McDowell
• Director: Rachel Talalay
• Rating: R
• Runtime: 104 minutes
• Where to watch: Hoopla, Pluto TV, The Roku Channel

"Tank Girl" isn't post-apocalyptic so much as pop-apocalyptic – if the credits pairing Devo's "Girl U Want" with Jamie Hewlett's original comic art hasn't already clued us in, our heroine (Lori Petty) first appears riding a water buffalo through the wasteland with a blonde buzzcut and a mask decorated with mutilated Troll dolls. The year is 2033, the Water & Power corporation controls Earth's water, and mutated kangaroo men called the Rippers menace Australia's outback.

Enter Tank Girl, aka Rebecca Buck. When W&P destroys her commune and takes her prisoner, the irrepressibly rebellious Rebecca breaks free with a stolen tank alongside her new bestie, the brilliant but timid Jet Girl (Naomi Watts). Joining forces with the Rippers, Tank Girl and Jet Girl plan to destroy W&P and its leader Kesslee (Malcolm McDowell) once and for all — but not without a few flashy animated sequences and Cole Porter sing-alongs first.

"Tank Girl" is a Riot Grrrl zine come to life, bringing a spiky feminist sensibility to comic book movies that has never been duplicated. The movie pulses with a killer soundtrack assembled by Courtney Love, and Stan Winston's astounding makeup effects bring the Rippers (one unforgettably played by Ice-T) to hopping, face-shredding life. Overlooked when it rolled into theaters in 1995, "Tank Girl" deserves more than just a cult following – it belongs in the comic book movie canon.