Top 10 Comic Book Movies of the 80s and 90s

While it is nowhere near as good as the 1990 live action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, The Secret of the Ooze is still a lot of fun and I would argue more in line with the attitude of the cartoon series. Those Jim Henson Creature Shop suits still look fantastic and the addition of Toka and Rhazar was awesome.

The silliness may be a bit much for some people, but I think it adds to the charm of the movie, plus how many other movies have Vanilla Ice and wrestling legend Kevin Nash in them? I feel that this one has become more appreciated in recent years and that is great to see. I just have one more thing to say and that is “Go ninja, go ninja, go!”

As I was a teenager in the 1990s, there was no way I could leave The Crow off my top 10 comic book movies of the 80s and 90s list! The story follows Eric Draven, a rock star who was murdered and then comes back as The Crow seeking revenge.

Of course, the tragic death of Brandon Lee – the only son of the legendary Bruce Lee – as a result of an accident on the set is what this movie is most remembered for. Yet, this holds up and is still a fantastic-looking movie with a dark gothic style. While the sequels were not good and I could not be any less interested in the upcoming reboot, 1994’s The Crow is still a fantastic movie and one I have seen many times.

I actually played the Darkman video game (which sucks by the way) in 1991 before I saw the movie!  That was what made me want to rent this when I saw it in my local video store as a kid. Anyway, this was brought to us by Sam Raimi, the same Sam Raimi who would go on to bring Spider-Man to the big screen over a decade later.

Darkman is one of those movies that I feel a lot of people have forgotten about. It stars Liam Neeson as Darkman, who looks to take down an evil killer and put right something that went wrong. It is honestly fun stuff and as a kid, I just ate this up! Seeing Darkman chase down those who turned him into what he has become is great stuff. Some fun trivia: Sam Raimi wanted to make a comic book movie, but could not get the rights. So instead, he created Darkman, who would then actually go on to get a few comic books made after him.

Before I started putting together this top 10 comic book movies of the ’80s and ’90s list, Spawn was a shoo-in and it was going to be high on my list. However, I watched this again recently and while I had fun with it, it is a movie that has not aged gracefully at all.

Bringing Tod McFarlane’s dark anti-hero to life was never going to be easy in 1997 and the practical effects in Spawn hold up, but those CGI scenes are rather rough. I like Spawn as a character and while the animated TV series and the comic books are so much better than this, this movie was a huge part of my teenage years so there was no way I could leave it off my list. It would be interesting to hear someone’s thoughts on Spawn who did not see it when it came out in the 90s! I got my son to watch it and he laughed so hard at some of the CGI, so hard it made me feel bad!

The first of many Batman appearances on my list is the first Michael Keaton Batman movie. Back in 1989 this movie was a massive deal, and while Batman was a popular character thanks to the comic books and of course the 1966 series, it was this Tim Burton movie that really saw the character explode into more mainstream popularity.

Going for dark and gloomy rather than bright and campy like the TV series, Batman is such a great comic book movie and one that truly did make many studios want to start grabbing up the rights to comic book characters. Jack Nicholson is a riot as The Joker and he and Michael Keaton have great chemistry. This is a movie that I feel holds up really well and it also led to us getting that epic video game on the NES! When I was a kid, every kid at school loved this movie and I would wager it created many lifelong Batman fans.

I had to have Batman Returns higher on my list of the top 10 comic book movies of the 80s and 90s because I simply enjoy this one more. I wouldn’t argue with anyone who says they prefer Batman 89 though. Batman Returns feels more like a “comic book movie”.

Tim Burton once again has that same classic gothic-looking Gotham City, but this one has more action, more characters, and just has more going on in general. Batman has to go up against The Penguin, Catwoman, and evil businessman Max Shrek. This is such a fun movie and not only is this a great superhero movie and a great Batman movie, Batman Returns is also a Christmas movie and it is on my watch list each and every December. Also, Batman Returns would be very well treated in the world of video games with the Super Nintendo getting an amazing adaptation. The Sega CD would also get a very impressive take on Batman Returns!

Remember in the intro how I said there were some movies on this list that I felt was responsible for the Marvel Cinematic Universe we have today? Blade is the movie I was thinking of most! Blade was a massive hit when it was released in 1998 and it showed that comic book movies did not have to be just for kids.

It was dark, bloody, violent, and even a bit sexual too. Wesley Snipes as Blade has to go down as some of the best comic book movie casting of all time. To this day, Blade looks like Wesley Snipes! This is a great action movie and one that I feel is still just as much fun today. I will admit that I do slightly prefer Blade II, but this is still a great time. Also, I honestly feel that without Blade, we may not have gotten that first X-Men movie in 2000, Spider-Man in 2002, and then of course the superhero movies that we now have to this day. Blade is responsible for movie studios treating comic books with far more respect.

Set in the same universe as the amazing Batman: The Animated Series, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm is one of the best Batman movies ever made. This was a movie that made me want to get a laserdisc player back in the day!

The film takes place after the first season of the show and sees a strange new player show up in Gotham that is killing the various crime bosses. Add to this an old flame and The Joker showing up again and Batman well and truly has his work cut out for him. This movie has amazing animation that feels a real step up from the animated series and the voice cast is sublime, to this day, Kevin Conroy and Mark Hammill are my Batman and Joker. If for some reason you have never watched this as you think it is just for kids, please check this out as you really are missing out by not watching this!

Another back-to-back showing for the Bat on my top 10 comic book movies of the 80s and 90s list – and I know for a fact some people will be screaming at the screen louder than Killer Croc because I have this above all the other Batman movies. I don’t care, I love Batman Forever!

Yes, I loved the dark and serious tone of the two Tim Burton movies, but Batman Forever is just so much fun and I have always felt that Val Kilmer is so underrated as Bruce Wayne and Batman. Being a huge Jim Carrey fan, I get such a kick out of his over-the-top portrayal as The Riddler. This movie also gave us Two-Face and Robin as well so it is packed with stuff going on. I can certainly appreciate how this is not for everyone, but if I am in the mood for some fun and want to watch a Batman movie, 99 times out of 100, it will be Batman Forever that I fire up.

I truly believe that 1990’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is the best comic book movie of the 80s and ’90s. Rather than basing this movie on the animated series, they based it on the comic books. This is darker, grittier, and more violent than the animated series. To this day, these Jim Henson suits look amazing and when you watch this, you do have to appreciate and respect how everything you are seeing is in front of the camera.

There is an actual actor inside those suits, doing those impressive things. I loved Casey Jones, I loved The Shredder, and I had a huge crush on this version of April O’Neal. Parents who were dragged to see this by their kids in 1990 were lucky that this was such a great movie as even they had a great time. I remember my dad being very impressed with this and saying it was so much better than he thought it would be. The Turtles are still going strong to this day, but their 1990 movie will always be one of my favorite things in the entire franchise. I watched this recently and was amazed that it was not just nostalgia, this movie holds up so well!