20th Century Fox falls victim to a lot of bashing on this website especially. It's due to a number of things, on one hand they have produced around four or five crappy films at least. On the other hand, most of their films stray away from the comic book source material. On the other hand (apparently there's three) now that Marvel Studios is a big success it has become popular and "in" among fans on this site to hate Marvel films that aren't a part of their cinematic universe. Even so, Fox has had their ups and their downs as far as comic book movies go. Today I'm here to compare the various films they've made, and take a look at their worst and best. In order I will rate the Fox comic book films from their absolute worst to their good. Please keep in mind that I do not hate Fox, I hate multiple of their movies but some of them are good. Please of you are going to try to invite a flame war, or start trashing my article than please just don't comment.
Elektra
Elektra is a 2004 superhero film directed by Rob Bowman and starring Jennifer Garner. The film received generally negative reviews as well as poor box office performance. Well....well....well. Where do I start? Elektra sucked dick. Plain and simple, but why is the real question. For starters it's just a film that didn't need to be made. There was just no reason for it to exist. No one was asking for an Elektra spinoff. No one really cared to see what was going on. Daredevil did much better the year before, but it's not like it was Spider-Man or anything. Even though the director's cut of Daredevil is quite excellent, that's not the version originally released to the public. Quite frankly the theatrical cut of Daredevil just wasn't good enough to warrant a sequel or spinoff. Elektra herself was the weakest of the entire Daredevil movie so I don't see why they chose her to have a spinoff. Anyhow, the unnecessary existence of the film isn't its only issue. To he honest there is nothing memorable about the movie. The story was uneventful, the action was lame, the acting was mediocre and the film overall feels more like a non-film just a bunch of scenes stranded together. There is a director's cut of this movie as well, but unlike Daredevil it doesn't exactly save the movie. I suppose if you're really hankering for some Elektra (good god, that sounded wrong) than the director's cut is the way to go but it's still not really any good. Those early screenings that stated it was better than Spider-Man have got to be a joke. Spider-Man is like The Godfather compared to this garbage. There is just nothing even remotely interesting, memorable, or even good in Elektra. Elektra is hands down, by far the worst comic book movie Fox has ever released. And that's saying QUITE A BIT!
Rating: 3/10
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer is a 2007 sequel superhero film directed by Tim Story and starring Ioan Gruffud, Jessica Alba, Michael Chiklis, Chris Evans, Julian McMahon and Lawrence Fishburne. The film was met with negative reviews but very good box office performance. Let's face facts, Rise of the Silver Surfer was bad. And I mean really bad. Now I'm one of those few weirdos who actually likes Tim Story's original Fantastic Four movie. I don't try and make the film sound great because it's not but it is a decent film and it is a lot to me because it was a huge part of my childhood. But it's sequel on the other hand, is inferior in practically every way. Every way except one that is, being action. Which is pretty much the only thing this movie does well. Visuals is where Fox and Story got it right but overall it's no good. The Human Torch and Silver Surfer chase scene is excellent, easily the best part of the film. The Silver Surfer finale is cool to say the least. And Human Torch/Super Skrull thing vs Doctor Doom is pretty sick. But those are not enough to carry this travesty along. For one thing it's just way too short. The story tries, it sure does try to be great but it's rushed and feels incomplete. The "making a choice" had potential but it happened way too fast. Silver Surfer looked cool and Lawrence Fishburne is great but he lacks any character development. The subplot about all of them switching powers and finally Johnny becoming Super Skrull is crazy new levels of PIS. As aforementioned I actually liked the first Fantastic Four, but the only major problem I had with that movie is the portrayal of Doctor Doom. Lets be honest, it was indeed terrible. Doctor Doom isn't a pretty boy and I've never seen him being as hammy as the film made him. Julian McMahon just sucks. End of story. But why, why may I ask did these morons chose to bring him back for the sequel? He was the worst thing about the original film and this sequel doesn't help him any more. Last but most certainly not least, there is the topic of the Fantastic Four's most powerful villain being reduced to a space fart. Galactus is among Marvel's greatest villains and this movie ruined his character in the eyes of millions. Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver is not good, but I rate it higher than Elektra for a few reasons. For one thing this movie lasted in my memory at least more than five minutes, I like these characters better, and the action is superior. It's still not a good movie but better than Elektra.
Rating: 4/10
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
X-Men Origins: Wolverine is a 2009 superhero prequel directed by Gavin Hood and starring Hugh Jackman, Liev Schrieber, Ryan Reynolds, Lynn Collins, Danny Huston and Taylor Kitsch. X-Men Origins: Wolverine was with generally negative reviews as well as mediocre to poor box office performance. So what exactly went wrong here? Because the film sure seemed to have great potential, but I think a lot of that is lost in studio interference. I mean just watch the movie it seems to start out great but as the film progresses stuff begins to stop actually making sense as far as the plot and dialogue, etc. You begin to wonder how much the studio interfered, and hue many {frick}ing rewrites they had to get through to get this final product. One of the major problems of this film is overcrowding. Even Hugh Jackman himself said that it was "turning into X4." That's true because think of how many unneeded characters were shoehorned into this. Cyclops, Emma Frost, Deadpool, Gambit, Blob, Wraith, ALL had a part in the origins of WOLVERINE??? Please no, too many characters shoved in by the studio for no other reason than fanservice and potential spinoffs. CGI is another catastrophe in this case, what is odd is that generally through out the film the action and the special effects are top notch until it's Wolverine's claws which look absolutely terrible. The story makes no sense and is incredibly hard to follow. Too many characters and mutants are thrown into the mix with no development or even any relevance to the storyline. Many characters that are used are portrayed poorly. But none of those are the biggest problem with X-Men Origins: Wolverine. X-Men Origins: Wolverine's greatest sin is how it essentially ruined the character of Wolverine. Wolverine simply put, is a mystery. A puzzle slowly being put together, a mystery being unravelled. The previous X-Men trilogy did an excellent job at bringing this to life on the big screen. X-Men showed us the dark, mysterious side of the character. X-Men United gave us just enough insight into his past to get a basic idea of what he has been through. X-Men Origins: Wolverine now horribly overexposes what is hinted at in X-Men United and in my opinion that part of Wolverine's life is better left shrouded in mystery. Also in X-Men United it is hinted at by Stryker that Wolverine used to be some kind of a ferocious killer and a monster. But this film either retcons that, or just proves he was lying. Either way let's just agree that it sucked. There are a handful of redeeming qualities though, in a few places you can catch glimpses of how great this could have been. Like the war montage or the Team X fight...or Wolverine breaking free from Alkalai. Some of the action sequences are good and I love Schreiber but as a whole this movie is just not good, like at all. It's better than Elektra and Fantastic Four 2 because the action and acting is better.
Rating: 4.5/10
X-Men: The Last Stand
X-Men: The Last Stand is a 2006 superhero sequel directed by Brett Ratner and starring Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Famke Janssen, Kelsey Grammer, Ellen Page, Ian Mckellen and Rebecca Romijn. The movie was met with mixed reviews but great box office performance. Well, things are getting a little bit better. This is the first turning point of the list. This is where we get out of the horrid, unwatchably bad movies and into the mediocrity and/or guilty pleasure material. But before I get into that I have to address everything that was bad about X-Men: The Last Stand. For starters, Bryan Singer left to work on his dream job (Superman Returns) and really you can't blame him. Superman Returns is a really good movie but I can't help but wish he'd stuck around for X-Men: The Last Stand. Because from what I've heard, the stuff he had planned was pretty epic. Probably would have been the best of the trilogy. It was all a Dark Phoenix story and from the Phoenix scenes viewed in the movie it was going to be epic. But Singer left on his dream job and let X-Men: The Last Stand go to the dogs. Brett Ratner came in and they decided to merge the Gift storyline with the cure and the kid and combine it with Singer's planned Phoenix movie. Leaving the finished product a hot convoluted mess and a humongous cluster-{frick}. On top of all that Ratner elects to remove all of the character, heart and emotion of the first two X-Men films and replace it with funny jokes and non-stop action combine it with an incoherent story leaving the finished product as X-Men: The Last Stand. The movie is bad, that's an understatement. But even so, it is a guilty pleasure for me personally. I understand it's packed to the brim with underdeveloped characters. But at the core I like the ones used. My favorite X-Man is and always has been Wolverine, second place is a tie between Storm and Beast. I also love Xavier, Cyclops and Jean. But my three favorites were portrayed very well in this film. Storm takes the reins as the new leader of the X-Men, she's got a sexy new hair cut and has more badass fight scenes than ever before. Beast is finally in an X-Men film and he rocks his heart out, who woulda guessed that Kelsey Grammer could play a superhero but he's the perfect Beast. I wish he would've stuck around for the newer films even though Nick Hoult is good too. As for Wolverine, Hugh Jackman is as brilliant as always and even here we get some badass action from him. Angel's flying scenes were excellent. And the final battle was awesome, especially Iceman's part. Juggernaut vs Shadowcat was awesome and funny. Wolverine and Beast in battle was brilliant. The fight at Jean Grey's house and the death of Xavier scene was excellent. Overall I understand all of the internal problems with X-Men: The Last Stand but it's a guilty pleasure because of the action mostly.
Rating: 6/10
Fantastic Four
Fantastic Four is a 2005 superhero film directed by Tim Story and starring Ioan Gruffud, Jessica Alba, Michael Chiklis, Chris Evans and Julian McMahon. The movie was met with poor reviews but decent box office earnings. Well, as aforementioned. This movie isn't nearly as terrible as Fox haters like to pretend. But I wouldn't call it good, I suppose at best I'd call it decent but not "good". I don't think it's as bad as people say it is, but it isn't exactly great either. For starters I'm not really a huge fan of the Fantastic Four from comics or movies. I like the Thing, I like The Human Torch, and I like Doctor Doom. But I honestly have never cared much for the rest of the Fantastic Four-related characters. So I really base my liking the film on that criteria. The story is bland, but 90% of it is taken directly from the comics so I can't really complain there. Like I said before I really don't care about Invisible Woman or Mister Fantastic, but I thought both Ioan Gruffud and Jessica Alba did good enough but they aren't anything special. But Michael Chiklis and Chris Evans as The Thing and The Human Torch are brilliant. They were both the iconic, definitive versions of their characters and I also liked both of them visually. But it's Doctor Doom that keeps this film from being a true classic. Julian McMahon is a good actor but he's a terrible Doctor Doom. Doctor Doom isn't and should never be a pretty boy. Also not telling his iconic backstory is a borderline crime. Having him being on the ship when the radiation hits is just stupid. He's also just way too hammy to be the real Doctor Doom. I like some of the action in Fantastic Four, particularly Torch fighting the Missile and the climax was creative to say the least. I don't think Fantastic Four was all that great, but it has it's moments and it was among my favorites as a kid so I would consider it to somewhat of a guilty pleasure.
Rating: 6.5/10
X-Men
X-Men is a 2000 superhero film directed by Bryan Singer and starring Hugh Jackman, James Marsden, Famke Janssen, Ian Mckellen, Rebecca Romijn, Tyler Mane, Halle Berry and Patrick Stewart. The movie was met with glowing reviews and decent performance at the box office. Good god, finally we can cut the crap. We can finally move on to the films Fox has made that are actually good. This my friends is the next turning point of the list. This is where it changes from mediocre/guilty pleasure material to stuff that is of actual quality. If Spider-Man is to Marvel, what Superman: The Movie is to DC. Then X-Men is to Marvel, what Batman '89 is to DC. Think about it, Batman and Superman: The Movie maybe not be the best films by today's standards (neither are X-Men or Spider-Man) but they are revered because of their influence on the genre and because they are just classic. Superman and Batman are DC's most iconic characters, Batman '89 is dark, thematic and thought provoking. While Superman: The Movie is light, heroic and fun. Spider-Man and X-Men are Marvel's most iconic franchises. Spider-Man is light, heroic and fun while X-Men is dark, thematic and thought provoking. Of course Blade came before both of those and it is a great film but no one knew it was a Marvel movie and it wasn't really iconic of influential in any way. With all that said, X-Men is good for nostalgic value but it's still a pretty good film by today's standards. The story I thought was good enough, the special effects are outdated (it is fourteen years old y'know) but some of the action is good. Wolverine vs Mystique was awesome, and Wolverine vs Sabretooth atop the statue of liberty was pretty cool. But it's the themes of racism, intolerance, etc. that had never been brought up in a comic book film before that made X-Men so iconic. The acting is absolutely superb from every one involved. As a whole X-Men may not be the BEST, but it's a good watch even by today's standards.
Rating: 8/10
X-Men: First Class
X-Men: First Class is a 2011 superhero film directed by Matthew Vaughn and starring Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Nick Hoult, Kevin Bacon, Jennifer Lawrence and Lucas Till. X-Men: First Class seriously underperformed at the box office, however it was met with great reviews from critics. X-Men: First Class is a great film, because it was just a real pleasant surprise. I mean no one was expecting that much out of the film especially after the travesties X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine. First Class just didn't seem like it would be any good, especially with none of the iconic X-Men characters outside of the main two making an appearance. X-Men: First Class is really just a breath of fresh air after the last two X-fails. But it's also the same thing in a different way. This was the first truly light hearted X-Men movie, and the comic inspired suits as opposed to the leather made it a new take on a sagging franchise. There are many good things about X-Men: First Class. One thing it does very well is put it's focus on the relationships between the characters. The story itself takes a big seat here as opposed to action scenes. (which seem to be rather lacking I'm afraid) And it is quite good, I love the actors in their roles. Even though I still prefer the other versions in almost every case. It's a great prequel and one of the best Marvel movies to date. Sons fans have their issues with it because it strays quite far from the source material. But I'm one of those who feels when liberties are taken it is alright. It's sort of like an artistic license. Anyhow First Class is a beautiful bond style adventure packed with great acting and a well written story. X-Men: First Class is brilliant. Even though I'm excited for X-Men: Days of Future Past I actually would've preferred a Vaughn helmed sequel to First Class.
Rating: 8.5/10
Daredevil (Director's Cut)
Daredevil is a 2003 superhero film directed by Mark Steven Johnson, and starring Ben Affleck, Michael Clarke Duncan, Colin Farrell, Jennifer Garner and Jon Favreau. Daredevil was met with mediocre box office earnings and no hate but no love from critics. I personally feel that Daredevil is a film that was stripped of it's greatness by the studio. Because Mark Steven Johnson's original cut of the film was excellent. It would have gone down in history as a dark classic comic book film akin to a Blade or a Batman '89. But instead the studio decided to doctor it up for more mass appeal. Thank God they kept a copy of the original, because let's be honest the theatrical cut was not all that good. Perhaps it wasn't the atrocious shit-fest that people make it out to be but it wasn't really any good. Daredevil is my favorite Marvel character, so the theatrical cut is a true disappointment to me. With all that said, the director's cut of the film is one of my all time favorite comic book movies. The theatrical version seemed to have multiple plot holes regarding HOW anyone knew who Kingpin was and how they figured it out. This version explains it very well with the Coolio subplot, and the Lisa Tazio case. This version also has an excellent storyline both in the plot and in the character development. All of the characters in the film are well developed and Matt's main character arc is great. The story is about Daredevil, after his father died and he decided to take up arms to find justice. But he is forced to ask himself through out the course of the film. Is it justice he's actually seeking, or revenge for his father? Elektra helps him to learn the difference between vengeance and justice but also instills a love within Matt he hasn't felt since his father died. In the end he chooses justice over revenge as he allows Kingpin to live. The casting may not have been the best, but Affleck isn't bad at all. Jen Garner is OK, Michael Clarke Duncan is an amazing Kingpin and Colin Farrell makes for a pretty badass Bullseye. The action this time around you can actually see and it actually looks cool. I especially love the final fight against Kingpin. It was just so cool to me personally. Daredevil (Director's Cut) is one of my all time favorite films and I'm so glad I can watch this great movie as opposed to the mediocre crap Fox doctored up and released to the public.
Rating: 9/10
X2: X-Men United
X2: X-Men United is a 2003 superhero sequel film directed by Bryan Singer and starring Hugh Jackman, Ian Mckellen, Patrick Stewart, James Marsden, Famke Janssen, Alan Cumming, Halle Berry, Brian Cox and Kelly Hu. X2: X-Men United was met with decent box office earnings and glowing reviews. The first X-Men was a good start into the series, and returning director Bryan Singer takes it up quite a few notches in his sequel. Effectively delivering one of the best superhero films of our time. X2: X-Men United if not a masterpiece, it's pretty damn close to one. The story takes the main spotlight and it is quite excellent. It is a continuation of the story and themes featured in the first film only this time they are explored much deeper. There are multiple subplots all running at once and all given relatively equal credence to the plot. The first of which is Wolverine's, this is about as close to an origin movie as Wolverine ever should have gotten. In my opinion the details and specifics of Logan's past are better left in mystery as it helps the viewer to connect more to the character as he attempts to unravel the mystery of himself. Another one is the three way friendship between Rogue, Iceman and Pyro. We get to watch as the three of them become close friends but finally are forced to accept their differences and move separate ways. The third subplot is the one that features both Storm and Nightcrawler, as they both develop a friendly relationship (as opposed to a cliche love relationship) and together they learn about fear, anger and faith. Finally, the subplot featuring Jean Grey and Cyclops is a prevalent one as well. This one focuses around the machine that went off in the first film that somehow triggered an evolution in Jean's already mutant body. It managed to break the psychological barriers inside her mind. However this is unknown to her, all she knows is that she's changing and having violent urges within her. She brings these up with her boyfriend Cyclops and she learns who the good person inside of her is. In the end she proves who she really is by sacrificing herself to save her teammates. Finally all of these converge onto the main plot which features Magneto, Stryker and Xavier. Xavier built Cerebro to help him find mutants and protect them, but Stryker plans to use it to kill them all, Magneto plans to do the same thing but to all of humanity. The story and characters are the main reason this film is excellent. But throw in the great action pieces and what you've got is a damn near masterpiece. X2: X-Men United is the second best team up superhero movie behind Watchmen. It is great....
Rating: 9.5/10
The Wolverine
The Wolverine is a 2013 spinoff superhero film directed by James Mangold and starring Hugh Jackman, Famke Janssen, Tao Okamoto and Rilu Fukushima. The film was met with good earnings at the Box Office and mixed to good reviews for the most part. The Wolverine is my favorite film made by 20th Century Fox and the second best Marvel based comic book movie also it's obviously the best X-Men related movie. I'm sure the shoe-ins for the top spot among most fans are obviously X2: X-Men United and X-Men: First Class. But personally I argue that The Wolverine is their best yet. James Mangold manages to capture the heart and soul of the character in a way Singer, Ratner or Hood never could. Mangold captured the side of Logan that is ever living and deep down inside even wishes he could die. The story is also quite excellent as well, it tells of the time when Wolverine had compassion on his Japanese captor and chose to save his life from an atomic explosion. Years later, that same man is dying and is willing to give Logan his chance at death. Wolverine is forced to undergo much trauma as his powers slowly begin to wane. His abilities grow weaker while his warrior spirit only grows stronger with every passing minute. Wolverine has to re-examine himself and ask does he truly want to keep living his endless life? Or is it time to hang up the claws and join his love in the afterlife? In the end he is the one who learns the falsity of the statement "A life with no end can have no meaning." And he himself learns "It is the only one that can." I've heard some complain about the villain of the film, and also the climax fight. The villain(s) weren't anything special, but they were all three well developed. In the end all three of them served their importance to the plot and the story. Silver Samurai's suit was badass. The action is also nothing to scoff at here, as there is tons of it. The Wolverine is arguably the best pure action CBM Fox has ever made. Think about the fight at the funeral, the battle atop the train, the fight against Shingen, the ninja fight at the bottom of the tower and finally the climax against the mighty Silver Samurai. The Wolverine has a lot to offer any comic book, superhero or even action fan. But to the Wolverine fan, this movie is one of the best. The Wolverine is the best film that Fox has ever produced and is among the best comic book films ever made. The Wolverine is pure excellence...
Rating: 10/10
To close out this article, Fox has proven that they can really screw it up bad when it comes to these characters. They have had at least five (probably six counting the theatrical version of Daredevil) horrible failures at making comic book movies. But they've also proven that when they get the right people behind the wheel, and don't interfere. They can really pull their shit together and deliver some badass movies. As far as looking into the future goes, Days of Future Past is right around the corner. And even though I have my doubts, I still hope for the best. I would never wish ill upon a CBM, because CBMs are my home ground. There will never come a day when I hope for a CBM to fail and no REAL fan of comic book movies would hope for them to either. Apocalypse sounds like its going to be really cool, as far as Trank's Fantastic Four goes I hope for the best even though I personally feel that the F4 would thrive most at a different studio. Thanks for reading, and please express your opinion in the comments but I beg you to be civil!