Top 10 Comic Book Movie Moments - #4-3

We continue with this week’s Top 10:  “The Top 10 Greatest Comic Book Movie Moments.”  A few words of definition:  First, this is not a list of the Top 10 Greatest Comic Book Movies, so you may find your favorites wholly unrepresented on this list.  Instead, what I’m cataloging this week are the scenes that encapsulate what a comic book movie ought to be.  These scenes can fall under one (or more) of three categories:  scenes that translate the experience of reading a comic, scenes that adapt the source material in a brilliantly original way, or scenes that use the language of film to do something that comics can’t (or simply haven’t) done.  Finally, the list is subjective; if I only chose iconic moments, the list would seem predictable, but in sharing my opinions I hope to spark a bit of debate. 

#4 – Hugh Jackman as Wolverine (2000-present)
This is a bit of a cop-out, to be fair.  It’s impossible to distill Hugh Jackman’s work as the most famous X-Man into a single scene (his cameo in First Class, though, might do it), but it’s equally unfair to leave him off the list entirely.  Casting an Australian actor who’s most frequently seen in Broadway musicals as the Canadian scrapper (born James Logan) is a casting choice that shouldn’t have worked.  But audiences everywhere agreed that Wolverine was one of the best characters of the franchise, such that he got his own prequel after the series was generally agreed to have tanked.  Jackman nails the snarl and berserker rage of his animalistic character, but Jackman’s Logan has a sensitive side that makes him a complex and fascinating figure, as when he shepherds Anna Paquin’s Rogue through the trilogy.  The promise of more Wolverine prequels ought not trouble fans, since the character is in able hands – and claws.

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#3 – Meet Tony Stark (Iron Man (2008))
Iron Man was the “other” superhero movie in the summer of 2008, and it had a lot of ground to make up to get audiences as enthused as they were for The Dark Knight.  But within five minutes, I was sold.  Why?  Simple:  the performance of Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark in the back of the Humvee as is riveting and as effective an introduction as any film I’ve seen.  In fact, his performance is so good, so entertaining, that the comic books seem almost lifeless by comparison.  With a semi-improvisational conversation between Stark and a few Marines, we know everything we need to know about the future Iron Man:  fast-talking, womanizing, alcohol-swilling, and easily the most purely entertaining superhero on the screen these days.  The film so successfully introduces Stark here and carries that momentum through the film – after a brilliant jump moment that works every time I see Iron Man with someone new to it – that I daresay we wouldn’t have The Avengers if Iron Man hadn’t worked so well.



(I know, I know, it's not the first scene, but I couldn't find it.)

Come back tomorrow for the epic conclusion: Moments #2-1!