Despite the success of a great many superheroes on the big screen, some are not so lucky. For whatever reason – be it problems with the casting, the script or the directing – certain comic book characters did not make their way to the silver screen intact.
One example of this is Marvel’s Ghost Rider. Nicolas Cage played the Spirit of Vengeance in the hellish 2007 movie, and then again in the only slightly better (but that’s really not saying much) sequel in 2012. While those movies’ failure might have stopped the hero’s cinematic career, the character has found a new home on TV that could well suit him a lot better.
As we all know, Ghost Rider will be brought into the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the fourth season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. This will be the Robbie Reyes incarnation though, as played by Gabriel Luna. And while it’s still too early to say how things will turn out for him, so far, we’re feeling optimistic.
Of course, this isn’t the first time that a superhero who flopped on the big screen has turned out to be better suited to the small one. Here are 8 more examples of characters who may not have made much of an impact on cinemas but have gone on to delight viewers on television.