Comic book movies cost millions of dollars to make these days and that comes down to a number of factors. These include the fact that actor salaries are ridiculously high (Robert Downey, Jr. earned $40 million for Avengers: Age of Ultron alone, for example), sets have to be built, locations have to be rented out and, of course, CGI imagery has to be created by special effects wizards.
The latter has already been seen in action many times, with the likes of the Hulk, Abomination and the Chitauri being heavily CGI-based, and there will be many more to come (Doomsday, Apocalypse and Surtur, for example).
With the quality of CGI improving all the time, it’s fun to wonder just how awesome certain comic book characters might look on screen. Lots would obviously look great, but some would stand out in particular. So, without mentioning any who have already appeared in movies or who are definitely confirmed to appear in the future, here are ten comic book characters who’d look awesome with big-budget movie CGI…
Carnage
Given how popular a villain Carnage is, it’s definitely something of a surprise that he hasn’t yet been seen in a Spider-Man movie – though that will hopefully be rectified now that the character is part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The likes of the Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, Venom, Sandman, Lizard, Electro and Rhino were all depicted on screen across the two Sony Spider-Man franchises – and it’s about time the villain also known as Cletus Kasady got his chance.
A symbiote-empowered character, Carnage would look absolutely awesome utilising modern CGI technology. He is a terrifying-looking creation who is a striking red colour. The character essentially possesses the same powers as Venom, only on a greater level, and has the ability to reshape parts of his body into blades and tools. Seeing his red tendrils forming into weapons would be awesome and we’d definitely like to see him in live action soon.
Scream
Another Spider-Man villain, Scream is also another character who would look great with the effects created by modern CGI in a blockbuster movie.
Her real name is Donna Diego and she is yet another character who is empowered by a symbiote, just like Venom and Carnage are – but she has some very different powers that would be visually stunning if she was to appear on screen in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
While she does have the usual powers of a symbiote-based villain, she also has the ability to camouflage herself by mimicking things like clothing and backgrounds and, most impressively as far as how it would look using CGI is concerned, she has prehensile hair that she can use to wrap or entangle her enemies – it would look cool as hell in live action. Here’s hoping that Marvel Studios decide to use the character in a future Spider-Man movie!
Atrocitus
Atrocitus is a DC character and the leader of the rage-fueled Red Lantern Corps. A native of the planet Ryut, he is a hulking, monstrous humanoid – and he would look awesome if he was given the CGI treatment in a live action movie.
Red Lanterns wear red rings in the same way Green Lanterns wear green rings, but the rings are powered by anger as opposed to willpower. Given that a Green Lantern Corps movie is scheduled for 2020, there’s every chance that Atrocitus – a powerful magic user who forged the red rings – and the Red Lantern Corps could be introduced eventually too.
The red armour would look awesome on screen, but the cool special effects would come from the rage-tainted blood – which spews out of the mouths of all Red Lanterns as a side-effect of them wearing a red ring, as the rings they wear effectively replace their hearts. Other than that, they generally possess the same powers as Green Lanterns – and it would be great to see them introduced to the DC Extended Universe.
Darkseid
It’s fairly obvious that Darkseid will appear on screen in the DC Extended Universe at some point (assuming the forthcoming movies are successful enough to justify the franchise continuing, that is, which is by no means a certainty, incidentally) but, given that he hasn’t been confirmed yet, he meets the criteria for this list.
The Lord of Apokolips has appeared in live action before – in season ten of television’s Smallville – but on a TV budget he really didn’t look that great.
in the DCEU, with a movie budget, he could look spectacular. He is a tremendously powerful, monstrous-looking being with huge muscles, frightening facial features and bulky armour – and his Omega Beams would look awesome too. He’d be an intimidating and formidable foe for the likes of Henry Cavill’s Superman, Ben Affleck’s Batman, Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman and the rest of their live action Justice League allies.
Dormammu
Like Darkseid before him, Dormammu is strongly expected to appear on screen in a live action movie – in his case, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as a villain of both Doctor Strange and the wider universe – but he isn’t confirmed, so he meets the criteria for this list.
The incredibly powerful member of the Faltine race would look truly epic utilising the CGI available to movie-makers today and you have to assume he will make an appearance in the MCU sooner rather than later.
He is one of the most powerful sorcerers in Marvel comic books and is a huge physical specimen who wears a grand mystical cloak and, most impressively, has an enormous flaming head. He could be made to look absolutely terrifying and could undoubtedly transcend from being introduced as a mere Doctor Strange villain to becoming the new big-bad of the franchise, after the inevitable demise of Thanos in the much-anticipated Avengers: Infinity War movies.
Shuma-Gorath
Shuma-Gorath is much more of an abstract entity than the other characters on this list, but the fact that he’d look awesome if he was generated using CGI is pretty hard to deny.
He is the most prominent member and leader of a group of other-dimensional beings known as the “Many-Angled Ones” in Marvel’s comic books. They are four undying other-dimensional beings that are very Lovecraftian in appearance – and that would look awesome in a Marvel movie. Shuma-Gorath can warp the very reality around him and he is constantly trying to return to Earth after being banished to his home dimension, with the likes of Doctor Strange – who Shuma-Gorath, as a mystical entity, is strongly associated with and often comes into conflict with – attempting to prevent that from happening.
Can you imagine the likes of Doctor Strange, Iron Man, Thor, Hulk and other live action MCU heroes fighting against a huge tentacled monster with a massive eye? It would look cool as hell!
Dazzler
It was actually announced that Dazzler AKA Alison “Ali” Blaire was set to appear in 2014’s X-Men: Days of Future Past, in which she would be played by none other than Lady Gaga, but it was revealed to be nothing more than an April Fool’s prank.
While that was a massive relief (Lady Gaga, really?!), the fact is it would be really cool to see Dazzler in a movie, because she’d look absolutely awesome with CGI special effects.
A character strongly associated with the X-Men, Dazzler is a mutant whose powers are both sound-based and light-based. She has the ability to convert sound into light beams of various forms and intensity, which she can use to make solid light constructs, blind or disorientate opponents, create a light pulse of several thousand watts in strength, concentrate light into a laser-like beam and even create force fields made of light. When she isn’t controlling light, her body emits it naturally. She would look so cool on screen.
Red Hulk
Red Hulk is, of course, actually General Thaddeus E. “Thunderbolt” Ross – a character who has appeared in movies before – but he has never transformed into his big, red, powerful alter-ego on screen.
Ross was revealed as the initially mysterious Red Hulk back in 2008 (the brute had appeared in several issues before the reveal) and was created specifically as an intelligent, tactically astute adversary to the more well-known and long-established green Hulk. He went on to be a member of the Avengers.
He would look awesome with modern CGI special effects. He would basically be a red version of the Hulk that we already know, but with heat and flames emitting from him. Instead of getting strong when he’s angry, this version gets hotter (to the point he can turn sand into glass) and he can absorb various types of energy to increase his strength. A green versus red battle on the big screen would also be awesome to see.
Annihilus
Annihilus is a villain who could realistically turn up in a movie as a foe of anyone from the Avengers to the Fantastic Four or the Guardians of the Galaxy to the X-Men – essentially, what we’re saying is he’s a guy who really gets around.
A member of the Arthrosian species from the planet Arthros – which is in Sector 17A of the Negative Zone – Annihilus lords over an army, with his powers that include superhuman strength and durability, flight and control over molecules. He wields the powerful Cosmic Control Rod.
He could appear as the lead villain in a movie adaptation of the Annihilation Wave arc, which would be awesome and could feature loads of heroes, and he’d look great doing it. He basically looks like an alien in armour that resembles a cross between Ultron and the Green Goblin – imagine how cool that would look using modern CGI.
The Engineer
The Engineer is Angela “Angie” Spica – a member of the superhero teams known as The Authority and Stormwatch in the Wildstorm universe. Wildstorm is a subsidiary of DC and, therefore, she could appear in the DCEU or a standalone Wildstorm movie universe.
With modern CGI, she would look awesome in a live action production. She essentially has the same abilities as the T-1000 – the liquid metal Terminator played by Robert Patrick in Terminator 2 – but she’s far more powerful and is made of nanotechnology rather than liquid metal.
She can fly, she can use the nanotechnology within her to create anything she can imagine – whether that be guns, computers or any other type of machinery – she can create duplicates of herself, she can create energy force fields and electrical storms, she spread viruses, she can grow new organs, she can time travel and she can perform many other feats which seem to be bound only by her imagination and ingenuity. She would be awesome in live action.
What do you think? Would these characters look great using modern movie CGI to create them? Which other characters would benefit greatly from such technology? Have your say below!
