5 Great Movies That You Probably Didn't Know Were Based On Comics

If anyone tells you that comic book movies only consist of folks in capes and costumes flying around the screen, you are absolutely permitted to give a well-deserved eye roll in response. Hollywood has shown on multiple occasions that there really is more to comic book movies than dark knights, wall-crawlers, and rag-tag teams that are some kind of suicide squad.

Believe it or not, some of the best comic book movies we've been given have been ones hiding in plain sight, and we've got five favorites that you should absolutely watch if you've not seen them already. From assassins to father-and-son road trips to top-secret organizations with their own theme tune, we've got a great little watchlist of movies that made no effort to show the world their true origin stories.

The ones that came off the shelf and had a life of their own already, and thanks to some great direction and incredible performances, found a new one onscreen. To start things off, we're going to recommend a gangster movie that coincidentally starred a young Superman in his first role, who had a hero of his own in the form of Tom Hanks.

Sometimes there's nothing better than seeing a well-known actor go against type, allowing them to linger in an environment that we're not used to seeing them in. That's what we got with Tom Hanks when he took on the role of a cold-blooded killer with a conscience in the Sam Mendes movie, "Road to Perdition." Based on the comic book by writer Max Allan Collins, the 2002 film casts Hanks as Michael O'Sullivan, the enforcer of an Irish crime family in the 1930s, and his job sees him go on the run from his employers with his only remaining son, Michael O'Sullivan Jr. (Tyler Hoechlin) in tow.

An unconventional road trip movie with a father-and-son, "Road To Perdition" runs on the incredible chemistry between Hanks and Hoechlin, who would go on to become The CW's Superman. Hot on their heels is Jude Law in one of his most chilling roles as a hired gun, as well as a young Daniel Craig before he got a license to kill.

The film also has the honor of featuring what would be Paul Newman's final role as the heartbroken mob boss forced to turn on his favorite employee, making it more than worth a watch. Standout elements include incredible cinematography by Conrad L. Hall, who turns a rain-soaked shootout into a thing of beauty, and a haunting score by Thomas Newman. In the list of well-respected gangster movies, "Road To Perdition" doesn't get mentioned enough.

Viggo Mortensen has worked in four of David Cronenberg's films, but it was in this comic book adaptation from 2005 that their partnership got into full swing. "A History of Violence" takes from the pages of John Wagner and J.C. Spink's 1997 graphic novel, which sees a mild-mannered coffee shop owner, Tom McKenna (Mortensen), turn into a local hero when he saves the day during a stick-up.

Unfortunately, not only does it raise suspicions within his own family, but Tom's actions, which saw him quickly neutralize two thugs, also lead to more villains visiting his town and bringing secrets of the past along with them. At that point, adapting the works of Wagner might've been deemed a risk, given that his last comic creation that reached the screen was the shockingly bad but stupidly entertaining "Judge Dredd" starring Sylvester Stallone.

Thankfully, "A History of Violence" endured, no thanks to powerhouse performances from the superbly chilled Mortensen, his concerned wife, Maria Bello, and the ghosts of his past appearing in the form of Ed Harris as a menacing figure, Carl Fogarty, and William Hurt as Richie Cusack, who, even after only appearing in less than nine minutes of the film, earned an Oscar nomination for his performance.

Will Smith dominated the '90s with movies like "Independence Day" (which almost got military backing) and the timeless techno thriller, "Enemy of the State." However, in the case of his multi-million-dollar alien-monitoring movie, "Men in Black," things might've been very different had it stuck to its source material.

The 1997 movie, which also starred Tommy Lee Jones, Vincent D'Onofrio, and Linda Fiorentino, was adapted from a comic book series created by writer Lowell Cunningham and artist Sandy Carruthers in 1990. It wasn't nearly as lighthearted and funny as director Barry Sonnenfield and writer Ed Solomon made it out to be.

Instead of the chalk and cheese partnership between J (Smith) and K (Tommy Lee Jones), the original comic had a much darker tone, which had the MIB brutally killing instead of neuralizing humans that knew too much and being a far more controlling organization than one that was supposedly, as the movie's tagline stated, "protecting the earth from the scum of the universe." Additionally, J is forced to join the Men in Black, rather than doing so of his own choosing. Had it stuck to this route, perhaps the movie adaptation might not have gone as far as two sequels and a spinoff, and instead would have suffered the same fate as the very short-lived comic book series that makes the Men in Black a group to be feared rather than to make a music video with.

Before he dominated the Oscars in 2019, director Boon Jong-Ho squeezed an incredible batch of stars onto a bullet train at the end of the world and gave us one of the greatest sci-fi movies in recent years. "Snowpiercer" was adapted from the French graphic novel "Le Transperceneige" by Jacques Lob, Benjamin Legrand and Jean-Marc Rochette.

Set in a distant future in which the world has entered a new Ice Age and the last remains of humanity are hunkered together, classism, like the train's engine, hasn't worn down. At the back of the train, living in squalor is Chris Evans' Curtis, who leads a rebellion to push to the front of the train and take the social ladder off the tracks one and for all.

Bong's first film with an English-speaking cast still feels like one of his most overlooked, even if it might have caught more attention after TNT adapted the story into a TV series. Even so, it's another incredible, fleshed-out world the director creates, filled with brilliant characters to love or loathe. What makes it even more impressive is that he does so in a tight, compact environment where each carriage leads to a wilder, more varied one than the last. Like "Parasite" and "Mickey 17," Snowpiercer holds a mirror up to society, only at sub-zero temperatures. If you've missed this train before, now is the perfect time to climb aboard.

Of all the entries on this list, "Wanted" might be the comic book farthest removed from the film that adapted it. Directed by Timur Bekmambetov, the 2008 movie saw James McAvoy as a worn-down desk jockey who's introduced to a secret society that his long-lost father was a member of. From there, he's trained by The Fraternity to become a lethal killer, until, after discovering a conspiracy, he turns his back on the group that has made him a living weapon.

Released the same year as "Iron Man" and his game-changing antics, "Wanted" might not have felt like it had a superhero edge, but that's because of how much the movie chooses not to pull from the pages of the source material. Rather than "The Matrix" style story we ended up with, the original "Wanted" story by Mark Millar, was set in a universe where super-powered heroes and villains were real, and, following a world-changing battle, the bad guys won.

Perhaps even wilder than the original tale was that the character designs were based on real Hollywood actors who didn't end up in the movie. McAvoy's Wesley looked like Eminem, Angelina Jolie's Fox was modeled on Halle Berry, and Wesley's father was none other than "Men in Black" star Tommy Lee Jones. While there might be another timeline in which that movie actually happened, there's no denying that the one we got is action-packed fun worth going back to.