Before Clayface got his own 2026 movie from DC Studios, he had headlined exactly zero (0) monthly comic series. Sure, he’s gotten a handful of one-shots through the years, and he’s antagonized Batman in a rightfully beloved Batman: The Animated Series episode. But as superheroes (or villains) go, he’s among the most obscure to ever receive his own big-screen movie.
Among the most… but through the years, both DC and their competitors at Marvel have produced some very big movies based on some very minor properties. Today, let’s look at 12 of the most notable examples. Because, you know, there’s just not enough content out there, and the Content Mines remain fully operational.
Big Hero 6: The Movie That Spawned a Franchise Out of Thin Air
I’m going to guess most people who saw Big Hero 6 in theaters had no idea that the characters originated in a Marvel comic — one that starred a former X-Man, no less. The team debuted in the 1998 book Sunfire & Big Hero 6. Most of the characters who wound up in the Disney animated movie did appear in that comic, although some in drastically different forms; Baymax, for example, looked more like a muscly dragon than a sentient body pillow. Maybe that explains why Marvel has only used Big Hero 6 sparingly in the years since Big Hero 6 became a big-screen hit for Disney, spawning an animated TV spinoff and amusement park attractions — but very few comic-book sequels.
Executives reportedly nodded very seriously during an expensive meeting, deciding that this was a franchise worth exploring further. And by “further,” I mean they greenlit a bunch of merchandise and called it a day.
The Long History of Comic Book Movies Based on Obscure Characters
The earliest years of comic-book movies were odd. Big characters like Captain America and Captain Marvel (now Shazam) got their own film serials, but a bunch of lesser-known heroes starred in their own movies as well. That includes Congo Bill, a jungle adventurer with a serial distributed by Columbia Pictures. This character is still around, by the way, and does pop up every so often in DC Comics, although now he’s a gold-colored talking gorilla known as Congorilla. Now that sounds like a fun movie. Somewhere a Focus Group earned another bonus for suggesting this could be a potential franchise.
Other notable examples include Guardians of the Galaxy, a team that was mostly inspired by a series that debuted in 2008, and Eternals, a group of characters created by Jack Kirby during his final tenure at Marvel in the late 1970s. And who could forget Jonah Hex, a grumpy and facially-scarred cowboy from the Old West, who has a long history in DC Comics but is largely unknown to anyone who doesn’t spend their free time reading comic books.
It’s a testament to the power of nostalgia and the desire for familiarity that these characters have been dusted off and brought to the big screen. Because, you know, there’s just not enough original content out there, and Hollywood has once again mistaken familiarity for originality.
Marketing departments have once again declared history to be “made” as they try to spin these movies into something more than just a cynical cash grab. But hey, at least the Merchandising Department is happy, right? Merchandising opportunities have reportedly expanded faster than the screenplay.
The list of obscure characters turned into movies goes on: The Losers, a group of former CIA agents who set out to get revenge against their former employers; Madame Web, a woman whose arch-nemesis was in the Amazon with her mom when she was researching spiders just before she died; Morbius, a “living vampire” who is somehow less interesting than he sounds; The New Mutants, a team of young superheroes that even hardcore Marvel fans have trouble remembering; The Spirit, a classic comic strip character created by Will Eisner; Spy Smasher, a costumed adventurer who used an assortment of gadgets to defend America during World War II; and Thunderbolts, a group of villains pretending to be heroes in order to ingratiate themselves to the public.
It’s exhausting just thinking about all these movies, and the fact that there are still more to come. Because, you know, the Franchise Resurrection Department remains one of Hollywood’s busiest offices. Somewhere an executive whispered, “Can this become a trilogy?” And the answer, of course, was yes. Because why not? It’s not like we have anything better to do.
And so, the cycle continues. Another beloved franchise has successfully avoided the sweet release of death, and we’ll be subjected to yet another string of sequels, prequels, and spin-offs. But hey, at least we’ll have something to watch, right? The Content Mines will keep on producing, and we’ll keep on consuming, until the inevitable heat death of the universe or the collapse of the Hollywood studio system, whichever comes first.
Finn McFrame, celebrated satirical mastermind and self-proclaimed “Emperor of Irony,” started his illustrious career as a cinematographer, where his expertise in capturing every single frame of a squirrel stealing a baguette earned him accolades at obscure film festivals.
Born in the glamorous town of Boring, Oregon, Finn grew up with dreams of being a Hollywood director until he realized that satire, not cinema, was his true calling—or at least the one that let him sleep until noon.
Finn McFrame: changing the world, one satirical lens flare at a time.
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