Welcome to Part 3 of our five-part look back at the late, great Wizard magazine’s 2005 article “55 Comic Book Movie Things We Can’t Wait to See,” as I look at whether we got our nerdiest desires fulfilled on the big screen over the past nine years, or if we got our geek hearts broken by Hollywood. In case you missed it, here’s part 1 and part 2, so read those and then come back here and continue the countdown to #55…
#23. Brandon Routh Opens His Shirt To Show “S” Symbol
What Wizard Said: “Phone booths might be extinct in this world, but we hope the new Superman movie won’t deny us the pleasure of seeing Brandon Routh loosen his tie and shirt buttons and flying to reveal the iconic emblem underneath. It’s the Superman moment fans are waiting for!”
Did We Get It? Yes, almost exactly as described above.
Was It Satisfying? As with all things involving Superman Returns, that’s a bit of a loaded question isn’t it? I personally loved that moment, but many many fans hate anything to do with that movie, even the stuff that is exactly what they said they wanted.
#24. The Phoenix Effect (Not Underwater)
What Wizard Said: “You could hear fans freaking out in their seats at the end of X2. While the orchestra swelled, a faint image of the Phoenix rising from the murky depths was teased before the screen went totally black! We know when Jean Grey returns in X3, there will be hell to pay.”
Did We Get It. No. One of the many things that X-Men: The Last Stand dropped the ball on was the entire Dark Phoenix Saga. And there is just about no excuse for them not doing the Phoenix effect in the movie, as during the climax of the film, a fully dark and murderous Jean is literally surrounded by fire everywhere, fire that she could easily manipulate into a giant angry bird shape if she wanted to. It was almost a slap in the face to fans who had waited years to see that iconic image brought to life.
#25. Iron Man Goes Nuts
What Wizard Said: “We can’t wait to see Iron Man go Tony Stark-raving mad. It’ll be the armored, flying version of Wolverine’s berserker  rage from X2, when Tony Stark snaps, boot jets blazing, his hands out and repulsor rays at full blast.”
Did We Get It? Yes indeed, at about the halfway point of 2008’s Iron Man, when Tony goes to the Middle East and kicks some terrorist ass.
Was it Satisfying? In 2005, most of us probably thought Robert Downey Jr wouldn’t even be alive in 2014, much less be Iron Man. Who could have predicted he would be so perfect, he would become the thing the entire Marvel Cinematic universe is built on? The scene in question was indeed awesome, but not as awesome as having Iron Man be RDJ.
#26. Flash Runs At Hyperspeed
What Wizard Said: “Remember how good it felt when Dash took off across the water, broad smile on his face, in The Incredibles? Multiply that by 100 when we finally get to see that figure clad in scarlet and gold, transforming from man to blur, as the Flash is born.”
Did We Get It? Not quite yet, and when we do get it, it’ll be on TV, as The Flash television series is coming to the CW this fall. (I imagine we will get big screen Flash of some sort too, since I can’t imagine a Justice League movie without him.) Â We’ve already seen an extended preview which shows lots of nifty running action.
Was it Satisfying? We’ll know this fall. But they’re gonna have a hard time topping the Quicksilver scene from Days of Future Past. I’m just sayin.’
#27. The Fastball Special
What Wizard Said: “It’s one of the coolest, time honored techniques in X-Men history; Colossus throwing his runty buddy Wolverine through the air on a path to destruction. No Colossus appearance would be complete without Hugh Jackman nodding to his comrade “two words bub — Fastball special!”
Did We Get It? Yeah, in the danger room sequence in X-Men The Last Stand, Piotr Rasputin a/k/a Colossus throws Logan at a giant Sentinel (that we don’t really get to see).
Was it Satisfying? Not really. Like most things having to do with the third X-Men movie, it felt rushed and and handled poorly.
#28. White Queen Emma Frost In Skimpy Leather Costume
What Wizard Said:Â “The hottest, most scandalous outfit in comics must be brought to the big screen! We’d probably pay to see an IMAX version of it too!”
Did We Get It? Well, we got Emma Frost in a skimpy outfit in X-Men: First Class, but not her leather one. So if the only important part is the skimpy aspect, I guess I’ll say  we sort of got it?
Was it Satisfying? Well, January Jones certainly looked the part of the Hellfire Club’s diamond encrusted buxom telepath, but her performance left much to be desired. I once heard January Jones described as “a black hole of charisma” and it’s hard to argue with that assessment. But I guess she got the look down, I’ll give her that.
#29. Special Release of Batman DVD
What Wizard Said: “The upcoming rebirth of the Batman franchise (Batman Begins came out in 2005) has us nostalgic for the Tim Burton classic that started it all. Luckily for us, Warner Brothers is planning on releasing all the existing Batman movies in new DVD editions”
Did We Get it? Yes, a rather extensive DVD boxset of the original four Batman films was released in 2005, with tons of special features.
Was it Satisfying? Up until that point, Batman only had a cheap-o bare bones DVD with no special features and a lousy transfer. This boxset improved on it by quite a lot. And another special edition, this time on Blu-ray, is coming out  in time for the movie’s 25th Anniversary later this year.
#30. Steve Niles’ Vampires
What Wizard Said: “The blood sucking beasts from Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith’s 30 Days of Night are sadistic, evil and clever. With that in mind, we want to see a very moody, spooky glimpse of Alaska, complete with buckets of gore on hand.” (never say Wizard didn’t know who their audience was.)
Did We Get It? Yes, two years later a big screen adaptation of 30 Days of Night was released, and was moderately successful.
Was it Satisfying? Not to me personally, but a lot of fans of that book really dig the movie, so if it made them happy, I’ll put this one in the “satisfying” category.
#31. A Blue and Furry Beast
What Wizard Said: “We are holding out for one of our favorite X-Men in all his blueberry-hued and furry glory in the coming film. We want to be blown away the first time we see him hanging upside down and reading Faust.”
Did We Get It? We were indeed introduced to a blue and furry Hank McCoy in X-Men: the Last Stand, as well as his younger self in X-Men: First Class and most recently Days of Future Past, as played by Nicolas Hoult.
Was it Satisfying? You know… over the course of this list I’ve spent a lot of time bashing X-Men: The Last Stand for ruining or shortchanging so many classic X-Men stories and tropes, from the Danger Room to the Phoenix to you name it. But one thing they nailed was casting Kelsey Grammer as the big blue furry beast. He owned that part from the moment we first saw him (as Wizard predicted) hanging upside down and reading, and every other moment he was in. Nicolas Hoult also did a great job as the younger Hank McCoy.
#32. Wolverine Fighting Ninjas
What Wizard Said: “Be it part of a spin off movie or part of an X-Men sequel, we want to see the coolest segment of Wolverine’s history-his time in Japan. It would make for the best X-Men action scene in years. A berserker Hugh Jackman vs dozens of ninjas in the bitter snow…we already picture him clawing his way out of a pile of dead nijas lighting up a cigar and saying “who’s next bub??”
Did We Get It? It took awhile, but we got the Wolverine/Japan saga in last year’s mostly satisfactory The Wolverine.
Was It Satisfying:Â I’d say that The Wolverine was a marked improvement over X-Men: Origins Wolverine, and a pretty decent action flick in its own right. And yes, we got to see Logan fight off Ninjas. It was pretty bad ass and well worth the wait.
#33. Iceman Iced Up All The Way
What Wizard Said: “Bobby Drake has been in both X-Men films, but not once has he transformed into the Iceman we all know and love. Maybe by the third movie he’ll gain full control of his powers, and when the X-Men are in trouble, he’ll come skating in on a mid-air ice ramp just in time- covered from head to toe in the cold stuff.”
Did We Get It? Â Although we briefly got an Iced-up Bobby Drake in X-Men: The Last Stand, we really didn’t get to see the version of Iceman we’d been waiting for until this year in Days of Future Past, ice slides included.
Was It Satisfying? When Iceman entered the battle on his ice slide, not only was the thirteen year old  X-Men fanboy in me finally happy, but the even younger  kid who grew up watching Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends was equally thrilled and happy. It took eight years, but the moment was worth it.
We’re half way there kids! Come back tomorrow, for items 34- 44  in 55 Things We Can’t Wait To See In Comic Book Movies- Revisited, and sound off on your thought’s about this installment in the comments below.
I have to totally agree with you about the Dark Phoenix Saga… how did they screw that up so completely. It was my favorite storyline as a youngling. Chris Claremont is the man.
I have said it before and I will say it again, the ONLY good thing about X3 was the Beast, the ONLY good thing, that is, just the Beast.
I actually found the fastball special satisfying when first viewed. I went into X-men 3 so excited for another X-cellent installment of the franchise and the first few scenes were really cool. While the Sentinel head and Danger Room didn’t satisfy even originally I loved seeing the fastball special occur initially. I think the overall suckitude of that movie may have clouded judgement in hindsight, but I feel that was one thing (maybe the one thing) they got right.