My top 5 Best & Worst Blu Ray Covers (Superhero Edition)

Lets face it we love superhero films. From Batman Returns to The Avengers there has been many comic book based films released in the last 30 years and since the Blu Ray craze has increased we have seen many of these beloved (and not so beloved) films re-released onto Blu Ray format.

After looking through my vast Blu Ray collection I noticed some comic book based Blu Rays has some amazing covers, others though are awful. This got me thinking which comic book based blockbusters have memorable Blu Ray covers, be it because they are amazing or because they are completely tragic. Covers and posters for films can sometimes make a movie that is awesome (I’m looking at you Dark Knight Rises) look cheap and some very bad movies look great. Shall we start with the top 5 worst covers then.

  

5: Dark Knight Rises: Standard Edition

Lets face it Dark Knight Rises was a great film, It’s up their as one of my top Batman films, but this front cover is so boring and is exactly like the poster they released months before the cinematic release. The cover uses the original teaser poster and then shoves Batman on the front, such a lazy attempt. What is more appalling about this cover is all the marketing they put into DKR and the completely awesome 2^nd teaser poster from December 2011  (Bane walking away from the broken cowl) they give us this boring and unimaginative front cover, Tut, Tut.

   

 4: Fantastic Four & Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer:

No a fan favourite by a long shot anyway, so adding more fuel to the fanboy fire is the cover work for both films. The first films Blu Ray art work is so typical and actually looks like a 90’s early 2000’s film still, at least with the X-men films the cover art makes the films look remastered, Fantastic Four does not. Then with Rise of the Silver Surfer, we get an almost identical cover with the characters slightly moved around then adding the Silver Surfer on the top, sloppy work. In my humble opinion the Surfer was the best thing about FF: ROTSS (don’t get me started of cloud Galactus!) and I have the special edition DVD of this film which just has the Surfer on the front and I actually think it’s a better cover for this reason.

   

3: Green Lantern: Extended Cut

I think my problem with this cover is that our “Hero” is unmasked and I think that’s stupid, maybe it’s not a just enough reason for second place but then again it’s not exactly a imaginative cover either. You have Ryan Reynolds at a slanted angle with the lovely over the top CGI city in the background. I think we have seen that similar cover many times before. I think with GL cover art they are trying to sell Ryan Reynolds more than Green Lantern no offence to Mr Reynolds because I actually enjoy some of his films quite a bit, Green Lantern is the point of the film, then again most fans want to forget this film exists.

2: Ironman 2:

I remember seeing this artwork on Amazon before it’s official release date back in 2010 and I thought, “No way this is the cover, Its’ just a scene from the film.” Looks like I was wrong, this is one of the most boring covers out of all my films let alone comic book hero films. The first Ironman DVD and Blu Ray covers were awesome I loved the Blu Ray cover from IM1, this attempt is pure nonsense a blue back ground with the Mark V armour in action, nothing special at all. The could of at least ripped of Ironman 1’s DVD art like the did for their Theatrical poster.

  

1: Spiderman 1-3 (Re-release)

There was no way of me picking just one cover here. The original covers for these films were perfectly fine and looked cool, these new covers are almost as bad as Ironman 2, the blue back around with Spidey and the Villain of the film, not even decent action shots of the 2 facing off they are just posing. It’s a shame these films got awful cover arts because Spiderman 1 and 2 are classic films and Part 2 is still considered one of the best comic based films around.

  

BEST: 5: Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut.

To me this cover sums up my memory of Superman, the classic “costume under the shirt” this is a classic cover but is still fresh and looks amazing. The artwork is a simple yet effective and brings back some sense of nostalgia to older viewers with the classic scene. My favourite Superman film fittingly has my favourite cover out of the Superman collection.

  

4: Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance

I get that the Ghost Rider franchise isn’t a fan favourite and like I said before some posters or cover art make bad films look great. GR: SOR is a great example. Just a simple shot of our “Hero” well more like antihero, on a black background looks pretty badass, I’m sorry but Ghost Rider is cool, the films are not but the character itself is awesome and this cover grabs Ghost Rider’s essence in one simple picture, if I didn’t know how awful this film was I would of brought it purely from the cover. 

3: Avengers Assemble

One of 2012’s best films, let alone one of the best comic book movies around, and to go with that title is one of the best covers for Blu Ray, who imagined seeing Hulk, Thor, Captain America and Ironman all on one Blu Ray cover?! I didn’t until September last year. This is a truly awesome cover and a fanboy’s dream cover. I will note I did bash Green Lantern for having a unmasked hero, but everyone knows Tony Stark is Ironman so I’ll let it slide, plus this cover is too awesome to hate on.

  

2: Dark Knight 2008 Version/ Batman (1989)



I’m sorry folks, this was a split decision, I am an avid Batman fan and have since about 5, and both these cover arts are both amazing. So I’ll start with The Dark Knight cover. Let’s face it TDK was all about the Joker, and what a better way to show that by having The Joker as the only character on the Blu Ray cover. I think having this cover shows how strong a character Heath Ledger’s character is and for that reason alone is why it takes joint second, fantastic cover! Now moving onto Mr Tim Burtons dark and gritty take on Batman. This cover takes the second place mantel also because it’s just a newer version of the DVD art, the original 1990 DVD art was recognisable anywhere in UK, USA or any country the film was released. The Batman Symbol from that cover became iconic and stood the test of time, and became even more popular once the animated series came along (how great was that TV series?). Some of you may think Burton’s Batman cover is a cheat because you then have Returns, Forever and (unfortunately) Batman & Robin, but if you think about it, the original Batman logo is the mascot for the following 3 plus Batman Forever & Batman and Robin have the stupid add on like the question mark behind the logo and the Robin/ Nightwing symbol on B&R. This would of original been my number 1, until January 14^th came…

  

1: Dredd:

This is not just the best cover on a Blu Ray to me, it was my film of 2012. Dredd was a underdog to many fans and critiques due to the original Judge Dredd film which was god awful. This on the other hand wasn’t. The art for this Blu Ray reflects how the film is to me, and that my fellow readers is pure awesomeness. The cover shows Dredd with his badass pose with his badass gun standing near flaming building and it’s just brilliant, I actually want a canvas art for my wall of this cover because it is a great piece, maybe I’m being a little unfair because as I said Dredd was my film of 2012 and I want it to be recognised as the great film it is, I hope more people appreciate this film and bath in it amazing front cover.

How does my list sound? Tell me what you best & worst Blu Ray comic book film covers are.