When it comes to the world of film, the superhero genre has managed to truly deliver. While some might claim that there are too many superhero films in the world today, fans of the genre want more and more. The problem with doing this is that one has to find the right type of storyline that would be able to work.
For the DCEU and MCU, they’ve found the story-arcs they wanted to go with. While they have used a lot of very famous and top-tier stories, one thing is problematic. They have to consider what happens after they finish up the major stories they’re currently working on. For example, what happens after the MCU concludes the Infinity War storyline?
Will they go to Secret Wars? Even if they do, what happens after this? Where does the DCEU go both during and after they conclude their Justice League story involving Darkseid and the New Gods? A lot of people are baffled. Some expect the studios to come up with new storylines. However, they do not really have to do that.
In fact, the MCU and DCEU, as well as other comic book franchises, have the ability to go into some extremely impressive story-arcs. There are 20 such storylines among them all that, if done, could be absolutely incredible.
Here are the 20 best comic book stories that would make great movies:
Carnage Origins
The story of Carnage Origins follows the birth and rise of the villain known as Carnage. The character happens to be the spawn of the symbiote known as Venom. When Eddie Brock was in prison, he shared a cell with a man by the name of Cletus Kasady. Now, this man was one heck of an evil customer. Kasady is a serial killer who was incredibly dangerous and putting him in prison was a top priority.
Kasady is insane as well, making his threatening nature even more impactful. Marvel describes him as a sociopath mixed with a homicidal sadist. One could say he’s nice the best person to have over for dinner. When Venom recuses Eddie from prison, the symbiote accidentally leaves a bit of itself behind. This turns into what amounts to a child of Venom. Like Venom, it too needs a host.
Since Kasady was the nearest host, the symbiote took him. Keep in mind, symbiotes…especially the younger types, are only able to be what the host is internally. They do not give personality or anything really. They only bring out the inner-most thoughts and actions of their host. Kasady, of course, is an insane sociopathic madman who is likely worse internally. This leads to Carnage killing anyone he feels like.
When Venom killed or did anything, it was always for a purpose or reason. Usually, when the action was taken, it was to get Spider-Man’s attention or change something to his favor. Carnage just kills to kill. He literally is the embodiment of his name. In the comics, Spider-Man and Venom have to team up to stop Carnage due to the power he wields.
With Venom already being an established movie franchise, and with the fact that they’re bringing him in already for Venom 2…one would surmise that they’ll bring the character to screen in a big way. The question is, will they need Spider-Man to make this next movie or can Venom go at it alone? To top it off, could a Spider-Man film down the line simply use the character to properly tell this story?
The Killing Joke
The Killing Joke revolves around a Joker storyline that ranks as one of the greatest in history. While it shows a sick and twisted Joker that goes further than we’re used to seeing, the events of the story remained in canon for the mainstream universe for years after. The story gives us an inside look as to why Joker was before he became the insane clown we know today.
This gives us a bit of a connection to the homicidal maniac, and we see what leads him to become the man he is today. We feel for him, and we understand the tragedy that leads to his issue of the time. We see the past but a very clear present as well. We’re given a story of the past that shows Joker had a family. A wife and child, in fact.
He could not provide for them, but his wife is encouraging and tells him they’ll figure something out. He then decides to help with a heist, but sadly…the next day, she dies. A random short in a baby bottle heater caused a fire of sorts, killing her. When he tried to get out of the heist after, they would not let him back out. They even said, if he tries, he’d join her.
They needed the best fall guy ever. They needed someone to wear the infamous Red Hood outfit. Joker had worked at a chemical plant next to the place being robbed by them. So he knew the area well. Suddenly as they attempt to get things done, a new vigilante has arrived….that man? Batman. He did fear Batman at this point, so much so he went into the chemical plant but sadly fell into some chems below. It bleaches his skin white and turns his hair green.
He knew afterward, once Batman knew this….he could make him just like him. All it took was “one bad day.” Batman, like The Joker, was one bad day away from being an evil maniac that Joker could see as an equal. So he hatched a plan to give him this bad day. While The Joker does not truly know Barbara Gordan is Batgirl, he does know she is related to the Police Commissioner and knows she has some connection to Batman.
He tracks down her residence and breaks through. He shoots Barbara in the stomach and, due to her father being present, knocks him out. Joker then proceeds to rape Barbara and leaves her for dead. He then kidnaps Commissioner Gordan and forces him to deal with horrible issues, then takes him on a carnival ride.
It is here where Jim is forced to look at pictures Joker took of his daughter. The things he did to her, forcing Jim to see every single image of the pain and torture he put her through. While Barbara is in a hospital, Batman knows where to find Jim. He tracked him down to a carnival area where The Joker is waiting with Gordan in a cage. Joker and Batman proceed to brawl, yet Batman refuses to kill him.
Jim has not gone insane as Joker hoped and he could not even turn Batman mad. Nothing has worked. Gordan said to bring Joker in by the book and he plans to do just that. Joker and Batman then stop the fighting with Joker telling a joke, funny enough. The two men laugh and then suddenly, the story ends. It is likely the darkest or among the darkest Batman stories ever. It needs an R-Rated feature film – something more than that animated film that released a couple years ago.
Marvel’s Original Sin
The Watcher has seen it all, and he has experienced it all. He knows what it, what was, and what could be. He manages to see all things in all universes, but the problem is that he has seen too much. At least, that is what we’re led to believe. The Watcher is killed, and no one knows why. The decision by Marvel’s heroes is that they need to find out who did it, but they might not find who is behind it all.
To top it off, the assassin stole the eye of The Watcher and has been exposing secrets of several Marvel characters. He or she has to be stopped so the secrets of the universe are not exposed.
The storyline gives us some compelling story-telling that leads us down a rabbit hole that we thought we’d never enter. It turns out, Nick Fury killed The Watcher. The reason for The Watcher dying was by no means personal to Fury. In fact, he did not even want to do it. It seems The Watcher forced his hand. The reasons for why both men ended up even talking, and why The Watcher somehow wanted to die are clearly what makes Original Sin so amazing.
To not give too much away about the storyline (so you’ll go read it soon), Nick Fury somehow has not aged in a long time to the surprise of many. He has died several times only to come back and it is confirmed he has no superpower to aide him. How is he able to do this? Why is The Watcher so critical to the story-arc? The Original Sin storyline tells us. It’s a great story, and a movie on it could be incredible.
Batman: Hush
What if there was a man like Batman in seemingly every way but had everything reversed as a child and eventual adult? This is not hard to imagine, as the Batman: Hush storyline offers just that. A childhood friend of Bruce Wayne, Tommy Elliot marveled at the life that Bruce had. However, he absolutely hated him for it.
Elliot grew up in a wealthy family like Wayne, but the stark difference between the two came to home life. While they made sure Tommy was well-educated, his father beat him continuously. Being horribly abused, he hoped his mother would come to his defense. Rather, she stayed submissive and allowed it to happen without as much as a word. Fed up with this, he cut the brake line to his parent’s car. This led to a crash that would kill Elliot’s father.
However, his mother survived after she was rushed to the hospital and put into emergency surgery with none other than Dr. Thomas Wayne. He saves her, making Elliot very angry. After Bruce’s parents are killed, Elliot hated him more. He inherited a family fortune the same Elliot attempted to do. One day Thomas meets a woman named Peyton Riley who he begins to date, all while his mother with cancer never approves of the relationship.
Eventually recovered from her cancer, she cuts Elliot out of the family will. This leaves him with nothing. Furious, he smothers his mother with a pillow while Peyton kills the family lawyer and destroys the new will. This leaves him with a fortune to his name. This takes us to a point when a now slightly insane Riddler discovers Bruce Wayne is Batman and attempts to sell the secrets to Tommy for a huge cash payoff.
When Elliot realizes the criminal background of The Riddler, he instead hatches a plan for them to kill Bruce Wayne as he’s still bitter of his old friend. He adopts the name Hush and proceeds to put together a way to take Bruce Wayne and Batman down. This is obviously made for a big film.
We know there’s a Batman: Hush animated film on the way, but we want something more formidable.
Marvel’s Enemy of the State
Marvel’s Enemy of the State storyline revolves around Wolverine. In the story, he is captured by infamous Marvel groups Hydra and The Hand, as well as the mutant death cult known as the Dawn of the White Light. They brainwash Wolverine, which ultimately makes him their pawn to do with as they wish. Imagine that, a guy as rabid and as deadly as Wolverine…and you’re now his enemy.
It’s an insane proposition to even consider fighting the man, and now he’s brainwashed and on the side of the bad guys. During the story, he carves right through the Marvel Universe….especially the X-Men. This story gives us a Wolverine we rarely see. He does not hold back or try to not kill. Instead, he cuts loose and goes full force the likes of which only the old school Wolverine would do.
This gives us a peek at how crazy a villain Wolverine could have been, had he started out that way. Eventually, Logan does break out of the brainwashing issue and has no problem turning his sights to the groups that did him wrong. This story could be brilliant if used in the right way. We know all about the stories that FOX used involving the X-Men and Wolverine.
A proper Old Man Logan might be nice, and while the other storylines are great…Enemy of the State steps out on its own. Due to Disney now getting close to fully having 20th Century FOX and all that comes with it, their Marvel Universe will be nearly complete. They could turn Wolverine evil with Enemy of State on day one, and give us a cool look at a storyline we have not seen adapted to film or animated genre yet.
If they could get Hugh Jackman in to even play the character once more, that would make things even more epic. While Jackman may have claimed he was done playing the character after Logan concluded, Disney has no problem paying stupid amounts of money for stuff. Heck, they paid over $60 Billion just for the 20th Century FOX studio. You think a number Jackman has is too high for them?
Sinestro Corps War
This is likely the newest story in DC Entertainment but one that the team might need to look into doing right away. The story follows Sinestro after his defeat at the hands of Green Lantern in his new Rebirth series. Believing he is better than all of this, he decides to start his own Lantern Corps.
Though known for his yellow ring from the Yellow Lantern Corps, he feels he can do it better and decides to recruit people to join his team. He finds anyone he feels can push fear into anyone they come across. Along with this core of people behind him, he attacks the Green Lantern Corps by bringing the fight to them. He even manages to defeat a number of the Lanterns.
He even manages to trap the first Green Lantern, and a favorite for some, Kyle Raynor. He then infects Kyle with Parallax, a beacon of Yellow Lantern power. He then manages to resurrect the Anti-Monitor, which on his own could defeat most any hero or team…and has proven this several times. This cannot stand, as they’re coming to not only take Earth but end any Lantern in their way.
For the first time in the mainline universe, the Guardians of the Universe give clearance to the remaining Green Lanterns to use lethal force to end this threat once and for all. This either ends with several dead Green Lanterns, Sinestro Corps members, or both. This eventually must come down to Green Lantern vs Sinestro, and it does.
Ultimately, Sinestro feels that if he can come off as a hero to some but make others fear him in a reign…it’ll allow him to stand out above them all. The question is, will heroes allow Sinestro to rise with his team behind him? The Sinestro Corps War in movie form will show us the result.
Kraven’s Last Hunt
Known to be a tremendous Spider-Man villain, Kraven the Hunter has always fared well against Spidey. However, he cannot ever seem to defeat him or kill him. It makes him angry each time and with this story, we see a fed-up Kraven that is tired of the losses. He hatches a plan to end Spider-Man, with he himself going as far as to make sure he’s in the casket when it’s put into the ground.
Kraven tracks down Spider-Man and seemingly shoots him in the head, killing him. He then buries the man himself and takes his Spider-Man costume. He puts it on and begins to experience life as Spider-Man himself, taking on bad guys at every turn. All of this is done to prove, at least to him, that he can do it all better.
One of his key acts is capturing Vermin, which Captain America had to help Spider-Man do beforehand. Kraven doing it on his own was clearly notable. We find out later that Kraven does not kill Spider-Man at all, but instead hits him with a powerful tranquilizer that put Spidey to sleep for 2 weeks. When Spider-Man comes to, he tracks down Kraven but the Hunter does not put up a fight. He feels he made his point and has no need to battle it out.
Kraven releases Vermin, who assumes the same Spider-Man was the one who captured and beat him down. He nearly ends Spidey until Kraven interferes, stopping the death. Kraven then lets Vermin go, telling Spider-Man he can chase after him but his hunting days have come to a close. Spider-Man then goes after Vermin while Kraven goes to his home.
It is there that he lays out all the evidence police will need to know he was Spider-Man for a given period of time. It shows the burial of Spidey, his presence in the uniform, etc. He even gives photographic proof of the incident. He then commits suicide via rifle. The police discover Kraven and the evidence to the close of the story. Hard to argue how cool this story would be.
In fact, Complex.com even has it as #5 on their list of the 25 Best Spider-Man Stories of All-Time.
DC’s Final Crisis
You’ll often hear people describe characters or the DC universe in a few forms: Pre-Crisis and Post-Crisis. Why is that? One of the most groundbreaking DC storyline in history, at least for a time, was DC’s Final Crisis. What made the storyline so unique and so impressive? Truly it takes understanding the characters and how the universe was working at the time to properly give this illustration.
The multiverse issues were clear and problematic to fans. The best possible way to change this would be a story that could alter it all in one, major swoop. Grant Morrison was tasked with this tall order, and it turned out to be absolutely stunning. The biggest thing to keep in mind is that before all of this, the multiverse was not common knowledge for everyone on Earth-Prime. Only a few truly knew, and that was reserved for the major superheroes and Gods.
The Final Crisis gives us an interesting situation where The New Gods are in a fight in Heaven, of sorts, with the New Genesis. This eventually leads to Darkseid getting his hands on the anti-life machine. He and the rest of the New Gods suddenly are sent to Earth and take over Earthly bodies where Darkseid now hatches a plan to take over the multiverse.
The story gives us a really compelling twist every time we flip the page. One of the primary reasons being that Barry Allen, who ran seemingly out of time to take the universe in the Infinite Crisis storyline, is alive. He has been trying to outrun Death, better known as the Black Racer. He has been inside what is known as the Beyond that operates out of space and time.
Wally West finds his friend and mentor as he is running to the past to find a bullet used on Orion that Darkseid shot into the past to kill him. The heroes have to find a way to stop Darkseid, and they have to find a way to fix what he has damaged.
The entire multiverse flows through the leader of the New Gods. Killing him by normal means will end life as we know it on all worlds. How will the heroes manage? Isn’t that what a movie could tell us?
Marvel’s Annihilation
Marvel’s Annihilation storyline involves a ton of cosmic heavy-hitters and would clearly be a different take from the average story-arcs we’re used to seeing. In the story, the villain known as Annihilus leads an invasion from the Negative Zone to the normal universe in a plan to kill all known life within it. In this run, the Nova Corps are completely destroyed.
This does not settle well with Richard Rider, better known as Nova. He decides to put a team together to take down Annihilus. He finds some pretty big hitters, some of which are technically enemies of each other. However, with the universe at risk…no rivalry can truly be held for the time being.
Silver Surfer, Drax the Destroyer, Ronan the Accuser, Super-Skrull, and Phyla-Vell team with Nova to find and eliminate Annihilus (the Guardians of the Galaxy help later). With their combined effort, in theory, they’ll have enough to take down the deadly being. The only real problem with this being a film is that we have not set up all the characters just yet. Nova, for example, has yet to be brought to the MCU.
However, most if not all of these characters will be seen in the future. That means we could see the story come together within a few years. Due to the popularity of the comic series with Marvel Comics fans, it would be smart to bring this to the table. The only real thing to worry about is how big a budget it will need. With all the cosmic characters, that’ll take some serious cash. At least we all know Disney is loaded!
Watchmen
For some time, DC Comics has owned the rights to the Watchmen series. However, we’ve so far only seen one movie involving them years ago. The problem is that it never actually connected to the DC Universe at large. In fact, it had no affiliation at all and seemed to exist in its own place.
However, this did make sense as DC Comics itself never truly gave us a connection to them beforehand. That all changed with DC: Rebirth, which was the official reset of DC’s Comic Book format, ending the New 52 that had been in play for the last number of years beforehand. It was critically panned, and people wanted it to be changed, so DC Entertainment did just that.
This all connects right back to the Watchmen, interestingly.
At the tail-end of the Watchmen’s first movie, we hear one of the characters of the series known as Dr. Manhattan say he’s going to create. No one really thinks much about this, honestly. He is a lonely man, and he cannot truly connect to anyone as no one is on the same level intellectually or in power. Manhattan is certainly powerful, and his powers are quite unique.
He has precognition and the ability to manipulate Atomic material, Size, and Density. However, he also has the ability to manipulate temporal and historical material too, as well as travel between dimensions. In essence, he could create his own universe without anyone actually knowing it. This, everyone, is how the New 52 came to be.
It happens to be the entire creation of one, Doctor Manhattan.
It is discovered in the official launch of the Rebirth series, with the Watchmen now fully connected to the DC Entertainment system. If by chance we were to use them how Rebirth launched them and have a way to create a possible place where they could exist in DC, it would be amazing.
However, an incredible way to reset DC due to its current issues with stars possibly leaving like Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill. While Flashpoint can always change things too, it eventually goes mostly back into place. If a Watchmen movie connects to DC’s movie world and we’re given a point where both Batman and Superman are changed, all due to Doctor Manhattan, it could be epic.
Keep in mind, his world was found out about and the main timeline takes things back to the way they once were. That means relationships like Superman/Lois Lane and Green Lantern/Black Canary are now the canon relationships when they were not in the New 52. Introducing them into their own standalone film where we’re able to loop them into other movie realities, then end it all with a reset when Manhattan is found out could be amazing.
X-Men: Schism
Cyclops seems to be the new leader of the X-Men with Professor X passing to the great beyond. Scott Summers was always the field leader of the team and had the Charles Xavier vision for mutants just as the man himself did. Wolverine knew this and followed Cyclops as the X-Men leader. While Cyclops and Wolverine are technically friends, they are not always in agreement. In Schism, we see this multiplied by 1,000.
The X-Men: Schism seems to be the time period when the two finally fight out their anger. The design of the storyline truly is an X-Men Civil War. The sides are clear. You’re either on the side of Cyclops or Wolverine. But how did all of this get started? Why are the two men at odds?
The storyline comes after House of M and the Messiah Complex storylines. X-Men are cut down in large number at this point, so new ones need to come about. Marvel wanted to do it slowly, which is why they decided to start strong with Hope Summers being born. The story would focus on the 5 Lights or the 5 Mutants born after House of M/Messiah Complex. As well as an evil genius child without powers known as Kade. Hope, of course, serves a huge role in the series.
To Wolverine, these are kids and do not need to be in the field while Cyclops feels otherwise. The split is truly Wolverine’s ideology versus Cyclops’ ideology. Wolverine does not want the young mutants to be child soldiers, as he saw this in the various wars he took part in over hundreds of years. Cyclops called them X-Men, and Wolverine was furious.
Eventually, this leads to a rift still in place within Marvel Comics to this day. A movie regarding all of this would be epic!
Batman: Court of Owls
In the Batman: Court of Owls, Batman has to face off with evil on two fronts. He must do so not just as Batman, but as Bruce Wayne himself. The Court of Owls are a mysterious yet powerful group within the DC Universe. The members are often those of wealthy background and usually have some level of influence. The members could be related to an Illuminati type of thing.
In this story, they have realized who Bruce Wayne is and what he is trying to do to better Gotham. They know any change he does will affect them, so they wish him to die. They send an assassin of theirs known usually as a Talon. These are usually deceased individuals the Owls have gotten their hands on from the past. They have a substance that reanimates them, and then simply put them back to sleep when they are not in use.
Batman realizes after the original attack he is able to escape as Bruce Wayne, his grandfather Alan Wayne had a fear of Owls and always said they were out to get him. Thinking nothing of it from the past, he realized it could make sense. So he finds all buildings Alan had a connection to, with one 13th Floor building in Wayne Tower including a hideout for the Court of Owls.
If this had one, what if others did too. Each did, ending with an eventual run-in with another assassin. This time, Batman is caught off guard and taken to a place known as The Labyrinth. He is here for weeks, unable to escape. The Bat-Family search high and low for him but are unable to find him. Batman knows he needs food and water, but the only water source is an Owl Fountain and he knows he should not drink this.
He is hallucinating, unable to know reality from the issues in his brain from lack of much-needed resources. Just when he’s at his weakest, the Court says they’re about to make him a trophy…a huge honor they’ve only given twice before. See, the Court of Owls has been around a long time. They’ve been in hiding for a while, but they have remained in existence…right under the nose of the Dark Knight. Pulling all the triggers in the city possibly.
Batman says to the Owls, “you moved the camera.” Thinking it to be an insulting response, the assassin stabs him literally in the back and straight through. But Batman had a plan. He took a portion of the camera out, knowing it could be useful in an explosion of the fountain. He gets out, weakened. But Alfred is alerted and gets him away. The Court sees a near-dead Talon and decides to finish him off. They have plenty more just like him, of course.
Upon arriving at the cave, Batman sees the assassin. But he’s alerted by Nightwing that the man is very very dead. Nightwing then tells Batman something he did not know. The assassin Batman dealt with at this point was the great-grandfather of Dick Grayson. It was assumed that, had Bruce Wayne not saved him after his parents were killed, he could have become the next Talon/Assassin for the Court of Owls too.
Knowing where they were located, Batman could go back. The Owls were prepared for this. Now pissed off and unafraid to live in the light when they’ve been in the dark for so long, the Court wants to take over. That is why they decided to unleash all the dead-like warriors they have at their disposal upon Gotham. It is up to Batman to stop them. A live-action movie using this would be amazing!
Don’t believe us about how good Court of Owls is? CBR gives you 16 reasons why Court of Owls is even better than Batman vs. Robin.
Avengers: Under Siege
The Avengers: Under Siege storyline is one that most are surprised the MCU has yet to go with just yet. There is ultimately no reason they haven’t, to be fair. Led by Baron Zemo, the newly formed Masters of Evil decide they wanted to end the Avengers. Zemo is joined on the team by Black Knight, Enchantress, Executioner, Melter, Radioactive Man, and Wonder Man.
At least, these are the main bad guys. In the Under Siege story-arc, Zemo commands a list of more than a dozen members to the team. The reason why it is called Under Siege is due in part to the fact that the Masters of Evil actually win and overwhelm the Avengers in their defeat. They do not end their lives but come close a few times.
The MCU has already established a number of villains that can all exist and come together and be similar to what DC did with the Legion of Doom. It is often one main villain that seems to take on the Avengers, X-Men, or other famous teams in Marvel.
However, with the established people in play like Zemo, Killmonger, Loki, Purple Man, and others that could all be alive still…it could be simple to do this storyline. That means that Under Siege could happen and become pretty impressive. Obviously, the Avengers find a way to get back into the fight and beat the Masters of Evil. However, this is likely their most famous loss beyond Infinity Gauntlet and Secret Wars.
Yet just like all of those, the good guys win by the end. The MCU could easily find a way to extend things out over a series of movies that give us a number of impressive films.
Flashpoint
While we have seen this story used in an animated movie as well as The Flash television show on The CW, it has not made its way into a live-action film. The reason it is so crucial to bringing into the DCEU is likely due to its importance to the entire world itself. Flashpoint is a period in history when Barry Allen is absolutely devastated with life. He wants to go back to a time when he had his entire family together, his original one.
The story of Barry Allen starts with an origin that most would find to be as sad as it can be. Two figures are twisting around his home at high speeds and Barry is taken out of the home while his mother stays behind. She is killed, and no one believes Barry when he tells the authorities what happens. Who would? Plus, he’s a child.
His father gets the blame and is taken to prison for the murder of his wife and Barry’s mom. Barry knows he is innocent and spends his life trying to find a way to prove it. He gets into college and becomes a CSI to eventually do just that. But before he can, he is hit by lighting on the night of a particle accelerator explosion that gives him meta-human abilities.
None of this happens in Flashpoint as Flash saves his mother before her death. He never becomes The Flash and has both his parents. Yet the threats to the world are worsened as he caused several rifts beyond his own. Bruce Wayne was accidentally shot instead of his parents. Thomas Wayne is now Batman instead. Cyborg works for the government and Superman landed in Metropolis instead of a field and has been kept under red sunlight.
Atlantis and The Amazons go to war with each other as well, and the world goes into what becomes a third World War that ultimately would end life as we know it. So, Flash has to stop it all and somehow get things back to normal. How can this not be cool for a movie?
World War Hulk
The Incredible Hulk has become too dangerous for his own good or the Earth’s. Marvel’s Illuminati decides it might be best to send Hulk far away to allow him to find a new home and keep the Earth safe. Hulk had no say in this, and to be fair he was only in a bad state due to an issue out of his control. The fact remains however, he does end up going elsewhere. It is here that he finds a new life for himself.
He ends up having a wife and a child, with a race of people worshipping him as a King. Before he can get too comfortable, the ship that took him to this world has exploded. It kills several of his people including his family. Planet Hulk now seeing horror was not good for the Earth. Hulk feels that the people who sent him deserve to die for what they have done, as he feels they rigged the plane to explode and kill him….but instead it takes who he loves.
He heads to Earth as angry as he’s ever been. By this point, Hulk has reached an apex of strength level that he’s never been to before. Upon landing, he goes after everyone who wronged him. This begins with every man or woman from the Illuminati. Everyone from the universe tries to stop Hulk but he’s getting more and angrier.
Since Hulk’s true strength comes from his anger, and considering his anger only continues to grow…his power grows with it. More and more he is able to break through things. He defeats any and all in his way, including some of the most powerful characters in Marvel like Dr. Strange, Charles Xavier, and many more. It takes the God-like Sentry to end up stopping him enough to contain him.
A story based around this, where Hulk is the technical villain, who has a reason to be angry, would be amazing in movie form.
Blackest Night
What happens when you bring in a lantern corps that feed on the dead and seems almost impossible to stop? It becomes almost impossible to stop them. In the storyline, villains by the name of Black Hand and Nekron get their hands on some Black Lantern rings. We’re alerted to the fact that these men are raising the dead. But, how?
Interestingly, Black Hand finds Bruce Wayne’s grave as he’s supposed to be dead. He uses his skull to seemingly charge the Black Lantern Power Battery. Suddenly, most all the fallen Lanterns see rings go their grave to revive them. Hal Jordan and The Flash investigate Bruce’s grave only to be attacked by Black Lantern Martian Manhunter.
Hawkman and Hawkgirl get into a fight with the Lanterns, are killed, and then they too join the Black Lanterns. Deadman is the first to realize this major issue and that the heroes are not who they normally are. He finds out pretty easily, as his old body is now alive and functioning as a Black Lantern while he is still dead and free as a spirit.
He then rushes to try and warn the others. Finding out quicker than most about this, the entire Lantern Corps from Green to Yellow, Red, etc. all put their differences aside. They must end the Black Lanterns, for this is a threat none want to remain. Keep in mind too, all dead heroes are open for taking. Superman and Aquaman prime among them, and even Batman.
However, the Batman they think they have is not the real man. Rather, an animated clone that Batman put in play. He is alive and he’s within the Black Lantern ranks blending in to help find and stop the entire thing. However, he has to avoid alerting the others of this for some time. This is easier said than done.
Overall, slain heroes and Lanterns from across the universe are back from the dead all seeking to take over at the request of Nekron and Black Hand. It is technically a Green Lantern story as Hal Jordan has to find a way to save the day. However, Batman plays a huge role too. Once the DCEU re-establishes Green Lantern in their movie universe, Black Night could be a great story to use.
Kang War/Death of Kang
One of the best yet most complicated Marvel villains in history is known as Kang the Conqueror. Kang is known for his ability to be all over space and time. To understand Kang, we first have to explain how is able to do what he is able to do. Kang was born in a very distant future where time travel has been invented, yet was forbidden to do. The reason? It could mess up a lot of the present. So Kang violated the law to use time to his advantage.
Marvel has an interesting concept of how time works. To most, if you were to, say, go back time and kill baby Adolph Hitler…you would not have a rising to power version of him. However, that does not mean something else does not occur. It changes the present you go back to. In Marvel, this form of linear time does not exist. Instead, they have something known as Branch Time.
So, if you went back in time to kill Hitler, this creates a different universe where Hitler no longer exists. Yet the present on this other universe remains intact as if you never went back in time. Effectively, this is how Kang operates. Kang Prime sits at the far-off end of time, as he feeds off what all the other Kangs are doing. Due to the fact that he is from the future, he can go back in time in all these various universes and take them over using future weapons and technology.
He also remains in stock of weapons and wealth as he forces certain universes or worlds to do only these actions for him. This allows him more weapons and wealth over time, which allows all the Kangs to properly exist. Suddenly, he finds out the Avengers from all across time are attempting to stop him. Due to the time, though linear to them, is multiversal for Kang.
As the different times and forms of Avengers are slowly killing the plans Kang has. This causes an issue. The first encounter with Kang made Vision think, he had to be born at some time. So if we go take the first Kang and place him somewhere else…he never grows up to become the various other Kang types. It makes sense, but due to this form of time usage by Marvel…it takes a while for it to set.
This forces Kang to feel he can only avoid the problem if he goes back in time before each Avenger grows up, and kills them as babies. This removes the Avengers from the table and puts them in Limbo, which is beyond space and time. The only hero left standing is Hercules, as no one truly knows when he was born apparently. The Avengers cannot leave Limbo, or they’ll cease to exist in the current timeline, for they were killed. Therefore, their current form no longer exists.
Hercules is given an artifact that allows him to remain stuck to the time period and have others with him. This allows the Avengers to come out and take on all the Kangs from space and time. They’re able to win if only by outlasting the issue. They figure the best way to end Kang is not to end him as a child. Rather, the baby has not become anything yet.
They have to kill off the stockpiles he has that allows him to continue conquering. Effectively, this works and ultimately kills off all the Kang versions across the universe and technically restores most of the timelines. Including the deaths of the Avengers not happening. Only the baby survives, and it is no longer connected to the reality it once was. It’s an insanely incredible story built for movie form.
DC’s Tower of Babel
DC’s Tower of Babel was adapted by Warner Bros. Entertainment into an animated film partly. They called is Justice League: Doom, but the storyline was quite similar. While both stories in live-action could be awesome, the original might be best.
In an attempt to take control of the world yet again, Ra’s al Ghul has decided he can do this by a clearly impressive concept. He wants to make the world his own, so he decided to mess with the systems of the world as well as the people. He’d offer a way to fix it or find a way to use the beacon yet again to make them brainless zombies he could rule.
Ra’s sends some sort of beacon out that manages to do this to people by messing up their brain. They cannot understand words or numbers and it’s all jumbled up for them as a severe bout of dyslexia it seems. Realizing he could be found out, he knows he has to stop the Justice League…but how can he? With Batman being prepared for all things, he finds out that the Dark Knight has contingency plans in case any member of the league gets out of hand.
Ra’s uses these plans to neutralize various members. His team freezes Plastic Man and makes Aquaman afraid of or feel allergic to water. He places a microchip in Wonder Woman’s head that makes her feel like she’s fighting something or someone. This is meant to tire her out or make her brain fry. Martian Manhunter is hit with a rocket of sorts that contains microbes that set him ablaze. Wally West, The Flash, is hit with a piece of tech that puts him into numerous epileptic seizures at the speed of light. This puts continuous, and terrible spasms to his muscles.
Kyle Raynor, the Green Lantern in this, is made blind. Finally, Superman is taken down by red kryptonite. It overloads his system with solar absorption, causing him to experience horrific pain. It even mutates him, which is absolutely insane. Batman tries to stop all of this via communication set, but he’s unable to. He then tells them HE is the one who is responsible, as it’s his plans that have been used. Though he is not behind them being executed.
Batman sees his parents’ caskets missing and tracks down Ra’s al Ghul, knowing he made this happen. Ra’s then threats Batman that he’ll drop the caskets in the Lazarus Pit. While this is intriguing to some, as Bruce Wayne will see his dead parents once more, the Pit is known to alter a person’s mind. It’s an inner struggle that Batman has to get past in order to stop Ra’s. Now Batman has to find a way to stop Ra’s and save the Justice League from the plans he invented to neutralize them. It’s obviously an incredible story.
House of M
Marvel’s House of M storyline was built by Marvel as a way to correct one clear issue. There are too many mutants and the X-Men are not where they need to be. We need to do something to fix everything, but what could they do? The X-Men vs The Avengers seems like the best possible ideology.
The story is compelling as it revolves around Scarlet Witch who has been through a lot as of late. The love of her life, Vision, was taken from her. She created a reality to herself where she had children who were like her husband, taken from her. This sends her on a horrible road of sorrow. This reality of Scarlet’s is getting out of control, and it could cause some bigger issues.
Scarlet’s powers are literally made for this. She can bend reality to do whatever she feels, and it puts her on a level of power that surpasses most every mutant in existence. So, when she creates this and loses control over her emotion and abilities, it affects the world. Her reality is now bleeding over into the real one, giving people the reality they wished they had mostly.
Magneto gets to be in a top controlling position, Ms. Marvel is the most popular superhero, and many mutants are beloved instead of hated. Wolverine is one of the few who begins to spot the problem and they have to figure it out. Eventually, people realize what is happening, but things still have to be stopped. The Avengers consider the possibility that it might be best to kill the Scarlet Witch.
She is both a mutant and an Avenger, so the X-Men clearly are affiliated here. They do not want her to die but rather, they want to try to stop her. Yet no one seems to be able to do this, which causes a small Civil War between the Avengers at the time and the X-Men. Eventually, this ends with Scarlet Witch being found and told to put an end to all of this.
The fighting and bloodshed are all her fault, and she starts to see it all unfolding around her. Wanda’s friends and family know the reality isn’t real by now. They are fighting, and she is truly the only one that can put it all to an end. She stops it all, but in a very controversial way.
She then speaks the words “no more mutants.” Effectively, this ended nearly 90% of the mutant population. People were either killed or made powerless, with only a few surviving it. House of M is not only a compelling storyline, but it could make for one heck of a movie.
DC’s Injustice
What happens when you make a God-like being fall victim to emotion just another man? The Joker was curious himself. Superman finds out one night that Louis is pregnant with his child. Elated with the news, he could not be happier with his life. An emergency alert that causes Lois Lane as a journalist as well as cameraman Jimmy Olsen to the scene. Superman decides to go on patrol himself and meets up with Batman.
The Dark Knight concludes quite fast that Louis is pregnant due to the grin on Superman’s face. Superman then asks Batman if he’d be the Godfather to his child, which Batman humbly feels he can do. Later on, Superman has not heard a thing from Louis and goes to check on her. There he finds a dead Jimmy Olsen with Lane missing, and next to Jimmy’s body is a Joker card.
Superman realizes that Louis has been taken by The Joker and the Justice League offer to help find her. They eventually are able to find out that Scarecrow’s fear gas has been taken and a small portion of kryptonite. Along with this, it is found out that Joker has hidden a bomb in Metropolis. The League searches for the bomb while Superman goes in search of Lane.
The Joker and Harley Quinn are then found by Superman, looking like they were about to harm Louis. Joker then hits Superman with some of Scarecrow’s fear toxin, which Superman blows through as he’s immune to this due to his Kryptonite DNA.
Suddenly Doomsday comes out and attacks. Realizing he needs to get this animal away, he flys Doomsday into space and tells the League where Joker is. They capture him and Joker laughs and says nothing will matter soon. Interestingly, Joker has put something on Louis following the beat of her heart. When it goes off, Metropolis will explode.
The realization kicks in. This fear gas Superman was hit with was laced with Kryptonite, making him vulnerable to it. He saw Doomsday when it was really Lois Lane that ran toward him. Lois was taken into space…killing her, with Metropolis blowing up. Superman loses his city, his beloved, and his future child all within seconds. Superman soon after would find Joker at a prison, in front of the League he then executes The Joker right there.
This starts off a chain reaction to a dictator Superman, and a massive DC Civil War that is STILL going on to this day in its own special universe. This story could be absolutely amazing on film, no doubt.
