By combining literary stories with the imagination of artists, comics have become a generator of ideas that have inspired a number of science fiction film directors. However, most people primarily associate them with the colorful costumes of DC and Marvel superheroes. To correct this unfortunate misunderstanding, we’ve compiled 10 great sci-fi movies that are based on comics or graphic novels and don’t contain any mention of superheroes.
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Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets
Year of release: 2017
Director: Luc Besson
IMDb rating: 6.4
Based on the comic book: Valerian and Laureline (Dargaud)
From its premiere back in 1967 to the release of the last installment in 2010, the «Valerian and Laureline» comic book series by writer Pierre Christin and artist Jean-Claude Mezier has created an epic sci-fi universe that has had a significant impact on the genre as a whole. So if you have associations with «Star Wars» while watching it, it’s not because «Valerian is similar to them, but rather because Lucas borrowed a lot from Mézières.
The storyline of all the issues focuses on the brave space-time agent Valerian and his attractive girlfriend Laureline, who travel through time and space to protect the interests of the Galaxy. The author of the cult «Leon» Luc Besson has been dreaming of bringing their adventures to film since he was 10 years old and fell in love with Laureline.
So it’s no surprise that the director invested in his «swan song» to the fullest. With a budget of $180 million, «Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets» became the most expensive French film of all time, introducing us to over a hundred different alien species and visually impressing with almost every frame.
The space station «Alpha» plays a special role in the film. In 2029, all the countries of the Earth are represented on board. In 2135, the first alien ship docks with it. And 400 years later, «Alpha» travels to a neighboring galaxy and becomes home to more than 30 million inhabitants from 2326 races («Babylon 5» smokes nervously nearby) who live, work and share experiences within its walls. So when an unknown enemy establishes a center in the heart of the station and begins to threaten its very existence, Valerian and Laureline immediately go to the rescue.
Dredd
Year of release: 2012
Director: Pete Travis
IMDb rating: 7.1
Based on the comic book: Judge Dredd (Fleetway Publications)
By all accounts, the 2012 film by Karl Urban is not only more violent, but also closer to the original Judge Dredd comic book, which was first published in 1977 by British writer John Wagner and artist Carlos Esquierra. So sorry fans of Sly and the nostalgic 1995 movie, today we’re going to focus on the remake.
In the story, Judge Dredd — «street judge» in the dystopian city of Megacity, which after a nuclear war covered most of the east coast of North America and has a population of over 800 million people. The streets of the gigantic metropolis are overrun by armed gangs, so the Judges are authorized to immediately arrest, convict and execute criminals.
Veteran judge Dredd is assigned to evaluate a candidate who has telepathic powers. But when called to the scene of a triple murder in Madeline’s 200-story skyscraper, the partners are ambushed. The local crime queen Ma-Ma blocks the building with nuclear explosion-proof shutters and puts the police on the hunt.
In the film, we are transported to the year 2057, where the creation of androids that are virtually indistinguishable from humans and the technology to control them remotely has dramatically changed the lives of most of the world’s inhabitants. Initially, the technology’s convenience was appreciated by the military, police, and other dangerous professions. Later, it was used by everyone who has physical disabilities or is ashamed of their bodies. Later, it became indecent to come to work in your own imperfect body.
Nowadays, wired surrogate owners lie in their homes for hours at a time while their mechanical doubles do their work. The film’s protagonist, FBI agent Tom Greer (Bruce Willis), is faced with a mysterious case where the murder of surrogates inexplicably leads to the death of their operators and gradually comes to the conclusion that it’s time to return to the real world. It is noteworthy that the ending of the story in the comic is more gloomy. Greer’s wife cannot accept the loss of her surrogate and commits suicide.
Men in Black
Year of release: 1997
Director: Barry Sonnenfeld
IMDb rating: 7.3
Based on the comic book: Men in Black (Malibu Comics)
While some things like the names of the characters and the general concept in Barry Sonnenfeld’s sci-fi comedy remain the same, «Men in Black» hasn’t borrowed much from the original comic book, which was written by Lovell Cunningham and illustrated by Sandy Carruthers.
In the movie, Jay and Kay control the arrival and regulate the life of aliens on Earth. But in the comics, the black-suited heroes, like Mulder and Scully, deal with the entire spectrum of paranormal phenomena, from aliens to zombies, werewolves, and vampires. In addition, the comic book is much more violent: unwanted human witnesses are killed instead of having their memories erased.
AVP: Alien vs. Predator
Year of release: 2004
Director: Paul W. S. Anderson
IMDb rating: 5.7
Based on the comic book: Aliens vs. Predator (Dark Horse)
Although neither Ridley Scott’s cult film «Alien» nor the 1987 sci-fi action movie «Predator» are based on comics, the idea of bringing these super-killers together was first conceived by comic book writers Randy Stradley and Chris Warner. It was later turned into a video game series and only in 2004 was it transformed into the crossover «Alien vs Predator».
The film uses the Alien vs. Predator comic book series by Dark Horse, Aztec mythology and paleocontact theories popularized by the Swiss author of pseudo-scientific books Erich von Deniken. Despite some controversial moments, it became a precursor to major crossovers and opened up the potential of shared cinematic universes to the audience.
Oblivion
Year of release: 2013
Director: Joseph Kosinski
IMDb rating: 7.0
Based on the comic book: Oblivion (Radical Studio)
Director of the films «Tron: Tron: Legacy» (2010) and «Top Gun: Maverick» (2022) Joseph Kosinski is a truly talented man. When he has no interesting comics to adapt, he simply… creates them. That’s what happened during the 2007 writers’ strike, when Kosinski started writing a story about an ordinary guy fighting an alien invasion.
The illustrations were created by digital artist Andre Wallin, and at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con festival, the trial version of the Oblivion comic book caught the interest of producers. The comic book was never published, but it became the basis for the sci-fi action movie «The World of Oblivion», in which aliens manipulate the memory of Jack Harper, call sign Technician-49, forcing him to work for them.
Timecop
Year of release: 1994
Director: Peter Hyams
IMDb rating: 5.9
Based on the comic book: Timecop (Dark Horse Comics)
In 1992, Mike Richardson, Mark Verheyden, and Ron Randall created the three-part story «Time Cop: A Man Out of Time», which was published in the Dark Horse Comics anthology the same year. Already in September 1994, the comic book was used as the basis for the sci-fi action movie «Time Patrol» starring Van Damme.
Although the movie and the comic book share the same character, Time Control Commission operative Max Walker, their plots are very different. In the movie, Van Damme’s character tries to bring to justice a fraudulent politician who finances his presidential campaign through time travel. And in the comic book, Walker pursues a criminal who, together with a killer robot, travels back to 1933 to rob a South African mine where a huge diamond has been found.
Snowpiercer
Year of release: 2013
Director: Pong Joon-ho
IMDb rating: 7.1
Based on the comic book: Le Transperceneige (Casterman)
The plot of the film takes place in a huge non-stop train, where all the survivors of a terrible climate catastrophe have taken refuge. The cars of this train are clearly divided by social hierarchy. And we witness the disadvantaged workers at the tail end of the train making their way to the privileged cars at the front, learning along the way about the lies and intrigues that maintain the system of inequality.
The director drew inspiration from the French graphic novel «Le Transperceneige» by Jacques Lob and Jean-Marc Rochette. Its first volume has the same basic premise as the movie, but focuses more on the soldiers who are pursuing the rebels. The next three parts take place on a different train — Snowpiercer Two — and present an alternative view of this post-apocalyptic world.
Barbarella
Year of release: 1968
Director: Roger Vadim
IMDb rating: 5.9
Based on the comic book: Barbarella (V Magazine, Dynamite Entertainment)
After Flash Gordon paved the way for comic book heroes to enter space, numerous followers followed in his footsteps. One of them was the adventurer and heroine of the galaxy Barbarella, drawn by Jean-Claude Forest. In Roger Vadim’s sci-fi movie of the same name, she travels to strange worlds to protect humanity from an evil scientist and his destructive invention, the positron beam.
After its release, «Barbarella» became a psychedelic reflection of the counterculture movement and still remains a model of 1960s style. But perhaps very soon we will see a new version of her adventures. After all, Edgar Wright, the director of the cult comedy «Zombie Named Shaun», is already working on a reboot, starring the charming star of «Euphoria», Sidney Sweeney.
Hardware
Year of release: 1990
Director: Richard Stanley
IMDb rating: 5.9
Based on the comic book: «SHOK!» / Judge Dredd Annual 1981 (Fleetway Publications)
«Tin Man» — is a sci-fi horror movie that combines elements of post-apocalypse and cyberpunk. The plot tells the story of a world after a nuclear war, in which people have left radiation-poisoned New York City, and dangerous military mechanisms are still rusting in the deserts around it.
One of these artifacts, the head of the experimental combat robot MARK 13, is bought by a former soldier «Tough Mo» Baxter for his girlfriend Jill. The girl creates metal sculptures and uses the gift as part of her installation. But the self-repairing MARK 13 assembles a new body from scrap materials and begins to fulfill its program: to reduce the human population.
Despite the absence of any special plot developments, the film does not let go of your attention for a second. And the excitement of the confrontation between the girl and the robot is complemented by the pleasure of stylish visual effects and a special atompunk aesthetic, in which primitive lamp monitors border on perfect robots and artificial intelligence.
If this combination is to your liking, watch the sci-fi thriller «Virus». It’s also based on a comic book and introduces a whole army of deadly robots that create themselves from various junk aboard an abandoned science ship.
It is also interesting that «Hardware» is the only film of its kind whose authors agreed to recognize the existence of a hand-drawn source only after a court order. 10 years before Hardware’s release, an identical story called «SHOK!» appeared in the weekly comic anthology magazine 2000 AD. It was only mentioned in the credits in later releases of the movie.
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