From comic book to big screen
The roots of “Barbarella,” “Barb Wire” and more.
Batman and Captain America both started in comic books before ending up on the big screen, but so did Elisabeth Moss’ character in the new crime drama “The Kitchen.” Here are movies you might not know were adapted from comics and graphic novels:
“Barbarella” (1968): Jane Fonda plays the title astronaut assigned to keep Earth safe in the 41st century by tracking down the evil inventor of a laser-powered weapon of mass destruction.
“The Crow” (1994): The movie’s dark, gothic title hero (the late Brandon Lee) is a rock star resurrected from the dead to avenge the rape and murder of his fiancee.
“The Mask” (1994): Stanley Ipkiss (Jim Carrey) is a normal bank clerk until a mystical wooden mask turns him into a cartoonish, zoot-suited hero.
“Timecop” (1994): Jean-Claude Van Damme stars as a time-traveling federal agent from the future who goes back in time to investigate a shady senator (Ron Silver).
“Barb Wire” (1996): Pamela Anderson stars as the futuristic nightclub owner, bounty hunter and leather-clad butt-kicker who does her thing amid a second Civil War.
“Men in Black” (1997): Agent J (Will Smith) is the hotshot rookie and K (Tommy Lee Jones) is the crafty veteran in a secret government agency keeping Earth safe from alien threats.
“Virus” (1999): Jamie Lee Curtis is part of a ship’s crew that battles a villainous alien out to turn them – and humanity in general – into cyborg slaves.
“From Hell” (2001): Heather Graham plays a London prostitute at the time of the Jack the Ripper murders and Johnny Depp is the Whitechapel cop investigating the gruesome killngs in the thriller.
“Ghost World” (2001): Scarlett Johansson and Thora Birch play teenage outsiders who get into coming-of-age shenanigans after their high school graduation in the black comedy.
“Josie and the Pussycats” (2001): Archie Comics’ resident girl group came alive on screen courtesy of Rosario Dawson, Rachel Leigh Cook and Tara Reid.
“Road to Perdition” (2002): Tom Hanks stars as a Mob enforcer who goes on a quest of vengeance to kill the gangster responsible for murdering their family.
“Constantine” (2005): Keanu Reeves is the hard-drinking, cancer-ridden supernatural detective who goes to hell and back to save a woman.
“A History of Violence” (2005): Viggo Mortensen (with Maria Bello) plays an owner of a small-town diner whose life gets complicated after he kills a pair of robbers and is hailed as a hero.
“V for Vendetta” (2005): Evie (Natalie Portman) is embroiled in the anarchic mission of masked British freedom fighter V (Hugo Weaving).
“The Fountain” (2006): Hugh Jackman plays a conquistador, a scientist and a space traveler in Darren Aronofsky’s trippy fantasy film featuring three interwoven love stories.
“Wanted” (2008): Angelina Jolie is a world-class killer who recruits an office worker into a secret society of international assassins called the Fraternity.
“Surrogates” (2009): Bruce Willis plays an FBI agent in a world where humans never leave their homes and instead interact with society via androids.
“Whiteout” (2009): The snowbound action flick stars Kate Beckinsale as a U.S. Marshal who investigates a dead guy found in Antarctica and tries to survive a murderer on the loose.
“The Losers” (2010): Zoe Saldana,
Chris Evans, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Columbus Short, Idris Elba and Oscar Jaenada star as a squad that tries to take down a corrupt government official.
“Red” (2010): John Malkovich, Morgan Freeman and Bruce Willis are retired CIA operatives who are pulled back into the spy game when they’re targeted by an assassination squad.
“Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” (2010): Canadian slacker Scott (Michael Cera) falls in love with a cool American girl, but to truly win her heart he has to defeat her seven evil exes in combat.
“The Adventures of Tintin” (2011): Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson bring to life the sleuthing heroes from the Belgian comic series, young journalist Tintin (voiced by Jamie Bell) and his loyal dog, Snowy.
“Cowboys & Aliens” (2011): Daniel Craig is a stranger with no memory of his past, but he does have a neat gauntlet that shoots lasers, which is helpful in a battle between New Mexico cowboys and invading aliens.
“Oblivion” (2013): Set in 2077 on an Earth devastated by an alien war, repairman Jack Harper (Tom Cruise) gets ready to head to a space colony when he meets a mysterious woman (Olga Kurylenko) and needs to save mankind.
“R.I.P.D.” (2013): Jeff Bridges and Ryan Reynolds star as cops in the afterlife whose mission is to find and take care of souls who don’t want to move on to the hereafter.
“Snowpiercer” (2013): John Hurt and Chris Evans star as post-apocalyptic survivors on a train carrying what’s left of humanity where the lower-class folks in the back spark a revolution against the elites at the front of the vehicle.
“2 Guns” (2013): Denzel Washington’s DEA agent and Mark Wahlberg’s Navy SEAL go on the lam when they’re exposed as undercover agents in a Mexican drug cartel in the action comedy.
“I, Frankenstein” (2014): Adam (Aaron Eckhart), aka Frankenstein’s monster, lives with gargoyles in a cathedral and keeps demons from taking over the world in the sci-fi/horror action flick.
“Kingsman: The Secret Service” (2014): Suave English superspy Harry (Colin Firth) helps struggling youngster Eggsy (Taron Egerton) turn his life around – and add some cool secretagent swag to his wardrobe.
“Atomic Blonde” (2017): Charlize Theron stars as an MI6 operative tasked to seek out a list of double agents on the eve of the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall.
“The Death of Stalin” (2017): Armando Iannucci’s satire stars Jason Isaacs as Georgy Zhukov, the general of the Soviet army during the political tumult and fight for power after Joseph Stalin’s death.
“Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets” (2017): The iconic French sci-fi comic gets the big-screen treatment with space heroes – and lovebirds – Valerian (Dane DeHaan) and Laureline (Cara Delevingne).
“The Kitchen” (2019): Tiffany Haddish, Melissa McCarthy and Elisabeth Moss star as Mob wives who take over the Hell’s Kitchen underworld when their spouses are jailed.