Let’s not debate facts here: We’re living in the golden age of superhero cinema. Marvel, DC, Image, don’t matter, every few months we get another. Regardless of the stories told over the last 20 years on the big screen, are there stories you’re just clamoring to see in live action? Me too…

Any lover these comic book universes naturally has an affinity for a storyline or two. Some have been loosely adapted for the big screen. Some faithfully adapted. Some adapted…but with disastrous results. What we’ll be doing here (note: I’ll be doing here, and you’ll be silently judging me at home, work, or in the stall on an “extended lunch break”) is listing storylines that have YET to be told in the form of a cinematic adventure. Did we get a live action Civil War? Sort of. A film version of The Death of Gwen Stacy? Uhhh, kinda? The Phoenix Saga? For f—s sake, I suppose? But they’ve all been adapted to varying degrees of success, therefore they are prohibited from being a part of this highly contested list. Shall we start? Yes? Louder….okay, yes, that’s what I thought, let’s start.

Top 10 Storylines that NEED to be Adapted in to Full Length Films Oh My God Could This Title BE Any Longer You’re Right I Said That in Chandler Bing’s (from FRIENDS) Voice

10. Sinestro Corps War

One connective thread you’ll see throughout this article is that a lot would need to happen in these respective cinematic universes before these dream movies could become a reality. But I’m alllll about dreams, baby, so give me a Sinestro Corps War movie!… Okay, so, sure this is PROBABLY where 2011’s Green Lantern was headed if it had launched the DC movie universe, or at least warranted a sequel. And I’m pretty sure that the DCEU’s Green Lantern Corps movie isn’t slated until 2020. Then there’d need to be a sequel, right? Wait, would we need Sinestro to start as a Green Lantern and then turn into a Yellow Lantern, or would this be a universe where Hal Jordan has been the GL in sector 2814 for some time, and Sinestro is ALREADY a Yellow Lantern? Ugh, screw it. Sinestro Corps War movie in 2035!

9. Maximum Carnage

Let’s first start with why a Maximum Carnage film could be a possibility:

Venom is not only introducing the MCU (kind of. not really. ugh, I don’t know) to the Eddie Brock version (sort of. not really. ugh, I don’t know), but the man known as Cletus Kasady, who will be played by Woody Harrelson. Who is this homicidal maniac with the name of a backwoods supporting character from True Detective Season 1 ? The original human form of the evil incarnate, Carnage.

? The original human form of the evil incarnate, Carnage. It looks as if Brock’s Venom is going to take a smidgen from the Flash Thompson version, Agent Venom, and be much more of an anti-hero than an actual villain. He’s going to need a Big Bad moving forward, a colossal force of nature that a team up with Spider-Man might be an only option.

What a way to combine the so-called Sony Spider-Verse with the mainstream MCU, with Tom Holland’s Spidey being the bridge between the two.

Let’s now get into why this will never happen:

Disney

Sony

$$$$$$$$$$

8. Superman: Red Son

Imagine a world in which Superman’s spacecraft never crash landed in a corn field in Smallville, Kansas, but instead plummeted into a Ukranian farm at the height of power for the Soviet Union? What if America’s “Beacon of Hope,” had been born and raised in a communist state across the world at the height of the Cold War? Superman: Red Son explores these questions and more, in what is one of the greatest Superman tales ever told. I have long maintained that Henry Cavill is the perfect cinematic Superman AND that DC should step away from their connected universe and start making “one shots” based on the countless legendary stories they have in their back catalog. Red Son would be the perfect graphic novel to adapt into cinematic form, and Cavill would no doubt crush his turn as Communist Superman. OH! And the story includes Batman, Wonder Woman, and Lex Luthor creating an evil American Superman clone. Sign. Me. Up.

7. The Mutant Massacre (The Marauders)

The story of a group of mutants being slaughtered in cold blood by other mutants is nootttt the easiest film to get the “green light” on, but I maintain The Mutant Massacre is a story that needs to be told for a variety of reasons. 1- it’s an essential back story for the mutant known as Gambit, and in order to…… what’s that? You’re kidding. They still plan on making that Channing Tatum version? Let’s be honest with ourselves (and each other), that movie is never getting made, and once the mutant population changes hands and can be introduced into the MCU, we know for damn sure Disney isn’t touching a storyline like this. Ya know what? Just introduce Gambit into the Marvel landscape as part of an X-Men team that looks identical to the 1992 cartoon (except for Jubilee. She’s not needed.) and I’ll be happy.

6. Nemesis

This is the sole non-Marvel/DC property on the list, but oh good lord, it’s a good one. Have you ever watched a movie or read a book, and at the end of it thought, “oh my god…I’m not going to be able to sleep tonight…or for the next month.” That’s how I felt upon finishing Mark Millar’s groundbreaking (and by groundbreaking, I mean utterly f—ed up) 4 episode arc for Icon Comics. The tagline for the story was, “What if Batman was the Joker?” and while that might peak your interest, it doesn’t even come close to preparing the reader for what’s to come. With the success of R-rated superhero flicks like Deadpool and Logan, the landscape is primed for a Nemesis movie, and last I checked, Warner Bros. still owns the film rights for this graphic (strong emphasis on that word) novel.

5. Secret Invasion/See Wakanda & Die

Yes, this is on the list, and yes, I want to see this on the big screen, but in order to do it right, you risk pissing off a relatively large portion of your paying audience. Imagine revealing that many of the characters your fans have fallen in love with are, in fact, shape-shifting aliens intent on world domination that had been infiltrating the superhero community for years. Yeah, that would be a bold ass move by Marvel Studios. Granted, they’d probably just take pieces of the actual comic book story, change a bunch of details, shortcut plot points, then still use Secret Invasion in the title, but ya know what? I’d STILL take that movie!

Also, if you adapt Secret Invasion, by extension you have the chance to adapt the Black Panther classic (my personal favorite) See Wakanda and Die, in which T’Challa takes on all comers (alien and superhuman alike) while defending Wakanda from the Skrull invasion. Sound awesome? Let’s put it like this. Do you remember the scene in Captain America where Black Panther essentially takes on Cap and Bucky at the same time? Yeah, it would be that x100, on steroids and cocaine.

4. Kraven’s Last Hunt

While I fully expect to see Kraven at some point as part of the Sony/Marvel/Disney/whoever Spider-verse they’re building, the odds of getting Kraven’s Last Hunt told are slim, as the tone of Spider-Man: Homecoming is not at all dark in tone. But this story, in which Kraven successfully defeats Spider-man, nearly kills him, takes on his persona, and ends with a VERY dark twist, would be a feast for the eyes, and a tug on the heartstrings, on the big screen. Kraven has always been one of my favorite Spidey-baddies, a spectacularly underrated villain, and a story like this could be one hell of a way to end the proposed Spider-Man MCU trilogy.

3. Wonder Woman: the Hiketeia

As I stated before, I believe that DC should scrap their interconnected universe and produce “Elseworld” one shot films based on their terrific stable of legendary characters and the incredible stories that have been told about them. Hiketeia would be the ULTIMATE Wonder Woman one-off movie. The Hiketeia is everything fans have come to love about Diana of Themyscira. A young woman needs Wonder Woman’s protection, and Diana vows to protect her from, among other things, the god d— Batman! Imagine witnessing Gal Gadot’s Diana battling Jake Gyllenhaal’s Ben Affleck’s Bruce over the fate of a young girl. Awh, man. Did I just propose another Batman V Somebody ….. movie? I’m the worst, I apologize.

2. The Long Halloween

Making these DC Elseworld films would require previous knowledge from the viewers of at LEAST who the primary (secondary, and possibly tertiary ) characters in the mythos are. This would be necessary for most of these stories, but specifically in adapting the Batman classic, The Long Halloween. Long considered one of the Dark Knight’s (and DC in general’s) most impressive tales, the story sees Bruce Wayne acting as World’s Greatest Detective while navigating a mystery in which Catwoman, Calendar Man, Solomon Grundy, The Riddler, Scarecrow, Mad Hatter, Poison Ivy, the Joker, AND Harvey Dent’s Two-Face are all involved. MUCH prior knowledge would be needed, and this movie would probably be 6 1/2 hours long, but imagine Jake Gyllenhaal’s Ben Affleck’s Jon Hamm’s Batman navigating this Rogue’s Gallery. And I’m there for it, guys. I’m there for it.

1. Secret Wars

There’s a very specific reason this arc is in the coveted number 1 spot. That reason being, this film adaptation could be one of TWO, you read that correctly, TWO, storylines. Let’s discuss. The first is based around the Secret Wars storyline from the 80’s that was more than likely created in order to sell more toys (and it worked, I owned the s— out of these figures…whatever that means.) Overseen by an alien being known as the Beyonder, all of Earth’s (and the Cosmos’) mightiest heroes-and villains-were pitted against each other, in a battle of champions for the amusement of this mystical being. There’s a twist thrown in at the end, but the main take away from this story is that Spidey gets a cool new black suit (an alien symbiote for those not in “the know”) and you get to witness “dream matchups” throughout the arc. This would be cool, but would make little sense within the landscape and climate of the current Marvel Cinematic Universe.

So we go with scenario 2, the Secret Wars event from 2015, in which due to several circumstances I won’t get into here (go read the actual arc, you Cliff Notes loving fools!), world’s within Marvel’s multiverse are colliding and destroying one another. When the Ultimate Universe begins to converge with the 616 Universe (the standard Marvel continuity), the heroes and villains from each world (many of whom are doppelgangers of one another) must battle it out to see who survives at the end of the day in a combined Universe known as “Marvel Prime-World to end all Worlds!”…………. so I made that last name part up, but still, the circumstances make this an ideal story to tell in a live-action cinematic adventure. And this is why…

While I’m of the mindset that the best thing to do if the Fox/Disney deal for a cagillion dollars is approved, is to reboot the X-Men, Fantastic Four, and every character you bring into the MCU fold. BUT, if the men and women making wayyyyy more than I do at Disney/Marvel decide they want to keep the cast decided upon by the brass at Fox, well then there’s no better way to combine these universes than in a Secret Wars style Avengers film.

There you have it, folks. A definitive list of something I doubt anyone was actually asking for. You’re welcome.

Lou Mattiuzzo is a full time teacher, full time husband, full time father & full time superhero enthusiast. If you care about any of the mindless stuff he writes, please give him a follow on Twitter

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