Comic Book Movies You Can Watch Online

A list of the most notable comics-based movies that are available to watch right now.

by | May 22, 2013 | Comments

Comic book movies are all the rage these days, and every year we see more of them hitting theaters than before. Whether you’re into quirky indie comics (Ghost World, American Splendor), superhero action titles (The Dark Knight, The Avengers), graphic novels (300, Persepolis), or even manga (Oldboy), there’s probably a big screen adaptation on this list for you. Read on to find out what’s available to watch online (whether through full purchase, rental, or streaming subscriptions) right now.

Batman Begins

85%

In the origin story of Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy, Christian Bale stars as Bruce Wayne, orphaned billionaire who dons the cape and cowl to uncover a conspiracy to poison Gotham City’s water supply.

Available now on: Amazon, Vudu

The Dark Knight

94%

Batman faces a treacherous new villain in The Joker (Heath Ledger), who terrorizes Gotham City and forces Batman to make tough decisions to keep the peace.

Available now on: Amazon, Vudu

The Dark Knight Rises

87%

Gotham City has enjoyed eight years of peace following the events of The Dark Knight, but a broken Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) must become the Batman once again when Bane (Tom Hardy) takes the entire city hostage.

Available now on: Amazon, Vudu

Iron Man

94%

When wealthy military industrialist Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is taken hostage by terrorists and ordered to build a new weapon, he instead invents an armored suit and decides to dedicate his life to fighting evil.

Available now on: Amazon, iTunes, Vudu

Iron Man 2

72%

Now known to the world as Iron Man, Tony Stark must deal with a rival arms manufacturer and becomes the target of a vengeful man with ties to his past.

Available now on: Amazon, Vudu

Thor

77%

In the distant realm of Asgard, a powerful warrior named Thor (Chris Hemsworth) breaks a centuries-old truce, earning him exile to Earth. Once among humans, Thor must protect his new friends from an evil adversary who has followed him from Asgard.

Available now on: Amazon, Amazon Prime, Netflix, Vudu

Captain America: The First Avenger

80%

Scrawny Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) volunteers for a super-soldier program prior to WWII and leads American forces against Nazi collaborator Red Skull (Hugo Weaving) and his nefarious HYDRA army.

Available now on: Amazon, Vudu, Netflix

The Incredible Hulk

68%

After a military experiment gone wrong leaves his biology drastically altered, scientist Bruce Banner (Edward Norton) flees the US to search for a cure and fights to keep his blood out of military hands.

Available now on: Amazon, Vudu

Marvel’s The Avengers

91%

When a mystical object is stolen from a remote research facility, the agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. assemble Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, and the Hulk to retrieve it and prevent a large-scale alien invasion.

Available now on: Amazon, iTunes, Netflix, Vudu

Persepolis

96%

Marjane Satrapi’s autobiographical tale recounts the childhood of an outspoken Iranian girl growing up during the Islamic revolution.

Available now on: Amazon, Vudu

American Splendor

94%

A stylish indie biopic that blends live action and animated elements in an adaptation of underground comic writer Harvey Pekar’s autobiographical comics of the same name.

Available now on: Amazon, Vudu

A History of Violence

88%

When small town man Tom Small (Viggo Mortensen) commits an act of heroism that gets him on the local news, a mysterious stranger (Ed Harris) recognizes him and shows up, daring to reveal secrets from a past Tom claims never existed.

Available now on: Amazon, Vudu

Road to Perdition

82%

Tom Hanks plays Depression-era hitman Michael Sullivan, whose son witnesses an execution at the hands of his father. When Connor (Daniel Craig), the son of his employer, kills his wife and younger son in an attempt to keep the family quiet, Sullivan sets out on a path of revenge.

Available now on: Amazon

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

83%

Young slacker Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) falls for his dream girl, Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), but if he wants to be with her, he’ll have to defeat her seven evil exes in battle first.

Available now on: Amazon, Vudu

Spider-Man

90%

In the first of Sam Raimi’s three Spider-Man films, Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) is bitten by a radioactive spider and inherits superhuman powers, which he uses to stop Norman Osborn, the megalomaniacal Green Goblin.

Available now on: Amazon, Vudu

Spider-Man 2

93%

Peter Parker is now a college student and dating Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst), but he finds adversaries in the disturbed Dr. Octopus (Alfred Molina) and Harry Osborn (James Franco) — Peter’s best friend and the son of Green Goblin.

Available now on: Amazon, Vudu

Spider-Man 3

63%

This time out, Spider-Man squares off against Sandman (Thomas Haden Church) and the alien symbiote Venom (Topher Grace), the latter of which presents a particularly personal struggle for Peter.

Available now on: Amazon, Vudu

The Amazing Spider-Man

71%

Marc Webb’s reboot of the franchise stars Andrew Garfield as a wisecracking Peter Parker, who is bitten by a radioactive spider and discovers secrets about his past that lead to the birth of his first adversary, the Lizard (Rhys Ifans).

Available now on: Amazon, Vudu

Sin City

76%

Based on Frank Miller’s comic series, Robert Rodriguez’s neo-noir is a stylish, violent crime thriller following multiple storylines of pulpy fiction.

Available now on: Amazon, Vudu

Hellboy

81%

Guillermo del Toro brings to life Mike Mignola’s antihero Hellboy (Ron Perlman), a demon-turned-good who teams with other paranormal heroes to defeat Rasputin, the Russian mystic who summoned Hellboy for the Nazis sixty years prior.

Available now on: Amazon, Vudu

Hellboy II: The Golden Army

86%

Ron Perlman reprises his title role in this sequel, which finds Hellboy fighting to keep an otherworldy tyrant from wiping out humanity.

Available now on: Amazon, Vudu

X-Men

82%

Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, and more provide the star power for this pioneering entry in the franchise about superpowered mutants with contradictory philosophies about achieving acceptance in the human world.

Available now on: Amazon, Vudu

X2: X-Men United

85%

As Professor Xavier (Patrick Stewart) and his X-Men continuing to fight for the mutant cause, Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) sets out to uncover secrets about his dark past.

Available now on: Amazon, Vudu

X-Men: The Last Stand

56%

As Magneto (Ian McKellen) prepares for an all out assault on humankind, Professor X (Patrick Stewart) rallies his troops to meet their forces head-on in a massive mutant battle.

Available now on: Amazon, Vudu

X-Men: First Class

86%

Director Matthew Vaughn takes us back to the 1960s, when a young Professor Xavier (James McAvoy) and Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto (Michael Fassbender) first meet, begin to gather mutants to their respective cause, and discover they hold very different ideas about the future.

Available now on: Amazon, Vudu

Click to Page 2 to see the availability of Kick-Ass, Dredd, 300, and the Superman, early Batman and Men in Black franchises, plus more!

Superman: The Movie

93%

As Planet Krypton verges on annihilation, a lone infant escapes into space, only to land on Earth and live out his dual life as both Clark Kent (Christopher Reeve) and the powerful Superman.

Available now on: Amazon

Superman II

83%

Superman saves Paris from a nuclear attack, but he simultaneously awakens a trio of powerful Kryptonian criminals in Earth’s orbit who then attempt to take over Earth.

Available now on: Amazon

Superman Returns

74%

This 2006 film picks up where Superman II left off, as Clark Kent/Superman (Brandon Routh) returns after years of absence only to find that the world is getting along fine without him… and his former enemy Lex Luthor (Kevin Spacey) is up to his old tricks.

Available now on: Amazon

Ghost World

93%

Based on the Daniel Clowes graphic novel, this coming-of-age comedy focuses on recent high school grads Enid and Rebeca (Thora Birch, Scarlett Johansson), who spend their summer navigating relationships and trying to figure out what to do with their lives.

Available now on: Amazon

Oldboy

82%

In this South Korean thriller, a man (Choi Min-sik) is kidnapped and held captive for 15 years by an anonymous party for undisclosed reasons; when he is finally set free, he begins to unravel the dark mystery behind his imprisonment.

Available now on: Amazon, Netflix

Men in Black

91%

New York cop James Edwards (Will Smith) is recruited for a top secret government agency tasked with policing earth’s resident aliens; with his partner Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones), the two help stop a “Bug” (Vincent D’Onofrio) bent on the destruction of a hidden universe.

Available now on: Amazon, Vudu

Men in Black II

38%

Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones) has retired and had his memory wiped, but when a shapeshifting villain (Lara Flynn Boyle) takes control of the MIB offices, Agent J (Will Smith) must team up with him again to bring her to justice.

Available now on: Amazon, Vudu

Men in Black 3

67%

After an unexplained anomaly wipes all traces of Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones) from the present, Agent J (Will Smith) travels back in time to partner up with a young K (Josh Brolin) and set things right.

Available now on: Amazon, Vudu

Kick-Ass

78%

Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson) wonders why there aren’t any real superheroes in the world, so he buys a goofy outfit and tries his hand at vigilante justice. When he inadvertently upsets a crime boss (Mark Strong), he teams up with a few fellow heroes to take him down.

Available now on: Amazon, Vudu

Dredd

80%

In a dystopic near future, “judges” dispense justice at their discretion. Dredd (Karl Urban) and a rookie partner (Olivia Thirlby) get their first assignment: take down a highrise populated by gangsters and ruled by a ruthless drug lord named Ma-Ma (Lena Headey).

Available now on: Amazon, Vudu

V for Vendetta

73%

This adaptation of the Alan Moore graphic novel, set in an alternate England, stars Natalie Portman as a young woman who joins with a mysterious masked man, skilled in speech and combat, who seeks to overthrow the totalitarian government.

Available now on: Amazon, Vudu

Batman: The Movie (1966)

80%

Adam West and Burt Ward star in this campy classic, which finds the Caped Crusader (West) and Robin (Ward) chasing down a gang of their most famous adversaries after they’ve dehydrated the UN.

Available now on: Amazon, Vudu

Batman (1989)

77%

Tim Burton’s take on Batman stars Michael Keaton in the title role as he attempts to thwart the Joker’s (Jack Nicholson) plan to poison consumer products used by the citizens of Gotham City.

Available now on: Amazon

Batman Returns

82%

Tim Burton follows up the 1989 hit with a much darker film, in which Batman (Michael Keaton) must deal with Catwoman (Michelle Pfeiffer) and the Penguin (Danny DeVito).

Available now on: Amazon

Batman Forever

41%

Val Kilmer takes up the cape and cowl for Joel Schumacher’s decidedly campier sequel; Robin (Chris O’Donnell) enters the picture to lend Batman a hand against the Riddler (Jim Carrey) and Two-Face (Tommy Lee Jones).

Available now on: Amazon

Batman: Mask of the Phantasm

83%

A companion to the 1990s animated series, Mask of the Phantasm pits Batman against the Phantom, who frames Batman for the murder of a crime lord and uncovers a dangerous link to someone from his past.

Available now on: Amazon, Vudu

300

61%

Zack Snyder directs a violent and stylish adaptation of Frank Miller’s fictionalized retelling of the legendary battle of Thermopylae, where, as legend has it, a small army of Spartans held off the entire Persian army.

Available now on: Amazon, Vudu

Red

72%

In this action-comedy, Bruce Willis heads up a squad of retired CIA agents who fight back then they’re targeted by their former agency for their knowledge of clandestine operations.

Available now on: Amazon, Vudu

Barbarella

75%

Jane Fonda stars as the title heroine in this sci-fi cult favorite about a government rep from Earth who searches the galaxy for a missing scientist and explores her sexuality with a number of intergalactic suitors.

Available now on: Amazon, Vudu, Netflix

Watchmen

65%

It’s the mid-1980s in an alternate universe US, where superheroes exist but are prevented from using their powers. When a new threat arises, former allies come together to ensure it fails.

Available now on: Amazon, Vudu

Blade

58%

Wesley Snipes stars as the titular vampire hunter, who sets out to stop Deacon Frost (Stephen Dorff), a vampire with ambitions of “turning” every human in the world.

Available now on: Amazon, Vudu

Blade II

57%

Guillermo del Toro helms this sequel, which finds Blade (Wesley Snipes) joining forces with his nemesis Damaskinos (Thomas Kretschmann) to fight a super-race of vampires.

Available now on: Amazon, Vudu

Heavy Metal

66%

Based on stories from the eponymous sci-fi comic magazine, Heavy Metal tells a handful of loosely connected stories through eye-popping animation.

Available now on: Amazon

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie

43%

Four turtles exposed to radiation grow up learning martial arts from a mutated rat sensei and do battle with a ruthless crime lord known as Shredder.

Available now on: Amazon, Vudu

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze

36%

The Turtles are back to take down Shredder, who has obtained some of the same radioactive ooze that transformed the Turtles and uses it to create new warriors to do his bidding.

Available now on: Amazon, Vudu