Best Cinematic Comic Adaptation Tournament: And the Winner Is...

No surprises, right?

Captain America: The Winter Soldier never really had a serious challenge from any of the films it faced. We can all speculate what might've happened if Tim Burton's Batman hadn't ridden a wave of (misplaced) BvS: Dawn of Justice excitement to a win over Akira, but I'm personally not going to quibble with this result.

And now we all wait for another month to see if Captain America: Civil War can top its predecessor, or will be a huge disappointment like Avengers: Age of Ultron.

The tournament rounds are here, here, here, here, here, and here if you want to see how the voting went down.

What do you think we should do for next year's March Madness tournament? Never too early to start planning...

Best Cinematic Comic Adaptation Tournament Final

I have a theory.

To me, there is no question that Akira is a better movie than Tim Burton's Batman. But there was a big spike in voting over the weekend — the weekend Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice opened nationwide — and the DC/International poll received over twice as many total votes as the Marvel/Indie poll. I think our readers were looking back at an earlier time, and fondly. A time when nobody believed superhero movies could work. A time when no one thought the four-color, pulpy adventures of people in capes and tall boots could be taken seriously or told in a serious way. A time when somebody with a clear, outsider vision could prove to the world it was ok to like comic books and believe in heroes.

Probably more than anything else, Tim Burton's Batman paved the way for the cinematic universe we all currently inhabit. And so for that reason, maybe it does belong in the final. And look, it was probably always going to end in Marvel vs. DC, anyway. So have at it, kids.


Previous rounds here, here, here, here, and here.

Best Cinematic Comic Adaptation Tournament (Final Four)

By virtue of what I will assume was a generational divide, Jack Nicholson's Joker dropped Heath Ledger's Joker into a vat of Smilex to make it into the Final Four, and NoaF staff-favorite Dredd got a faceful of ugly from Hellboy and has gone to the great ink and pencil cubicle in the sky. No surprise that Captain America: The Winter Soldier is still riding high, nor that the atomic-powered Akira has made it to the big stadium.

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In the tournament to establish the Best Comic Book Movie Ever, I give you your Final Four.

Previous rounds here, here, here, and here.

Best Cinematic Comic Adaptation Tournament (Round 3)

And then there were eight. Or, seven really, since there are two Batmen (Batmans?) at this table.

I have to admit personally I'm very happy Hellboy has made it this far and fist-smashed Kick-Ass into the pavement. And handily. But we had some nailbiters, just like the last round. Nausicaa only just squeaked Ghost in the Shell, and Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy apparently had a dance-off, which left Iron Man et al. going for shawarma and Star Lord et al. advancing to the next round. With the exception of the Indie/Imprint Region, everything else has gone all-chalk so far.

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Next stop, the Final Four. We know Batman's going to be giving a Japanese cartoon character the stare-down, but the other half of the bracket is murkier. Will NoaF favorite Dredd overcome poor viewership and overcome a hellspawn only to get a faceful of vibranium? Time -- and your votes -- will tell.

Previous rounds here, here, and here.

Marvel Region

Batman (DC) Region

Indie/Imprint Region

International Region

Best Cinematic Comic Adaptation Tournament (Round 2)

My fellow nerds, in this time of contention and uncertainty, I want to assure you that YOUR VOTE MATTERS!

While there weren't a ton of surprises in Round 1 — a couple of 5-seeds over four-seeds, but no major upsets, despite Scott Pilgrim's best efforts — I can tell you that three votes prevented an All-Batman DC round. V for Vendetta defeated Batman Begins by two votes, and the Man of Steel held off the Dark Knight by only a single vote in the battle of franchise sequels (Batman Returns vs. Superman II).

While the campaigns go back to their war rooms for new talking points or the teams go back to their benches so the coach can draw up a new play, depending on which direction you want to take this metaphor in an election year, Round 2 begins.

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Staff-favorite Dredd barely held off the spirit of Brandon Lee to make it to this round. Can it power through? Which funny Marvel movie is the better-suited to square off against either Cap or a team of mutants? Kick-Ass looks vulnerable. Can Red drop the fist on it? And our International Region is now fully subtitled, but not fully animated. Can the one standing live-action movie make it to the next round? These questions and more...or, actually, really just these questions...will be answered next Monday.

Previous rounds here and here.

Marvel Region

DC Region

Indie/Imprint Region

International Region

Best Cinematic Comic Adaptation Tournament (Round 1)

The field is set, thanks to everyone who participated in the play-in round voting.

Are there any upsets waiting to happen? How many Batmen are too many Batmen? Have any of the box office bombs made enough fans since to bump a bigger hit?

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To recap: We invited all 13 of our writers to nominate their favorite big-screen comics adaptations in the Marvel, DC, Indie or Imprint, and International Regions. For the International Region, our requirement was that the source material originate outside of the U.S., even if the adaptation did not. From there, based on a point system built on the number of mentions for each movie and literally hundreds of emails between the team, we narrowed down the field. In the end, we got the field set and seeded based on everybody's input, and the public voting in the play-in round set the final spot in each Region.

Vote as many times as you like, and spread the word. Argue with everyone! We will post the final results of Round 1 and open Round 2 for voting next Monday.

Marvel Region

DC Region

Indie/Imprint Region

International Region