Top 10 Comic Book Movie Moments - #8-7

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. 

#8 – The death of The Joker (Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker (2000))
The inclusion of a scene from this movie and not from Mask of the Phantasm speaks to the difference between a great moment and a great movie; while Phantasm is probably a perfect Batman film, it’s not reducible to a single great scene.  Return of the Joker, though, is; I was never fully on-board with the Batman Beyond concept, even with Kevin Conroy voicing an elderly Bruce Wayne as he mentors the new Dark Knight.  But the film does something audacious in the middle – it gives an epilogue to Batman: The Animated Series by killing The Joker.  In the midst of this too-hip sci-fi near-future comes a startlingly moving flashback detailing The Joker’s last, most horrible plan.  His attempts to break Robin’s psyche are terrifying, rendered in the iconic Dini/Timmverse style with Mark Hamill’s note-perfect Joker voice in top form.  It’s a moment that captures the darkness of the Batman mythos, proving why The Joker is the ideal counterpoint to his caped adversary, and it concludes in a poetic way, leaving viewers exclaiming, “Of course that’s how The Joker would die.”

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#7 – Erik becomes Frankenstein’s monster (X-Men: First Class (2011))
Easily the best feature of X-Men: First Class was the credible acting lent by a talented cast, led by James McAvoy as a young Charles Xavier.  But the biggest surprise to mainstream moviegoers was the awe-inspiring performance of Michael Fassbender as the man who would be Magneto.  The film’s greatest sequences are his, which only makes the absence of an X-Men Origins: Magneto movie more tragic.  Blending downbeat pathos with tangible rage, Fassbender gave us a Magneto whose transformation from innocent Holocaust victim to genocidal gentleman never seemed forced or implausible.  His standout moment comes when he travels to Argentina in search of the man who murdered his mother; interrogating two Germans who let slip their identity, Erik confesses to them what he’s become as well:  “Let’s just say I’m Frankenstein’s monster.”  It’s impossible not to understand his fury at this moment, but it’s also impossible to see him as anything beyond the villain he’ll become.  Fassbender, along with director Matthew Vaughn, delivers what might be the definitive statement on Magneto.

(Sorry, couldn't find a video clip that wasn't dubbed in Spanish or subtitled in Hungarian - since they speak German, the subtitles count here.)

Come back tomorrow for Moments #6-5!