The Eleventh Annual Mutant Awards: 2008

Batman & Robin

Comic books and graphic novels are downright sacred to many a geek in the world, and Lord have mercy on the movie studio that takes a beloved print franchise and scat all over it, as we saw with this category. Pitchforks will be yanked from hay bales, torches bought, and the crowd will march on Hollywood with the fury of a thousand emoticons.

Sure, it might be something as minor as failing to transfer the brilliance of a sleeper comic hit to the big screen (Daredevil 5.3% or Elektra 10.5%). It could be hitting a brick wall of stupendeous misunderstanding of the source material (Captain America 3.1% or The Punisher 3.1%). Filmmakers sometimes even spinoff movies from popular cinematic franchises without even consulting the comic book format (Supergirl 5.7%). And then there's when gobs of money and talent and Big Names are thrown into a project that not only fails, but it takes our souls down with them (LXG 22.8% or Howard the Duck 11.8%).

But according to our viewers, the most egregious sin that ever was born in the comic book pages and turned into an abomination on screen was Batman & Robin (36%). This was a movie that was so mishandled, so over-the-top, so moronic that it temporarily sterilized anyone who saw it. One of the most beloved superheroes of all time was reduced to sporting an anotomically-correct suit, ice skating in the middle of battle, dealing with whiny subordinates, and playing opposite of groan-worthy villains who spouted lines that would've been embarassing in the old 1960's campy Batman series. Even Hollywood agreed, and put the lucrative Batman franchise on hold for eight long years, finally rebooting it so that Bats could regain his dignity.

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