Many comic fans seem to complain about the movie transition, whether it’s X-Men in Matrix outfits, Spider-man’s organic web shooters, neurotic Lois Lane, etc.
Which movie(s) did the best in capturing their comic book heroes?
IMHO, Spider-Man and X-Men top the list.
Then I’d say Tim Burton’s two Batman movies, the first two Supermans, and (yes I know he didn’t start out in the comics) The Shadow with Alec Baldwin.
“Neurotic Lois Lane”–huh?
IIRC, black leather outifts were around long before The Matrix.
I recently saw Spiderman and must say I thought it was pretty damn good.
Not having seen SpiderMan yet I would have to say Blade.
Unbreakable… I don’t care if it was an original hero (not from a comic), the whole film was about comics and this one did the best job I’ve ever seen of capturing what a “superhero” really is.
So I cheated, blah. 
Batman (only the original) is my runner-up favorite.
X-Men, by the way, was a decent film but did a very poor job capturing the X-Men as a team. They basically got their assed handed to them in the Statue of Liberty fight sequence because they completely forgot to fight as a team. It captured the individual characters somewhat better, but the strength of the team in the comic book was always when they fought as a team. The film completely missed the boat on that aspect.
Spiderman
I’m going to have to credit Spider-Man as the best thus far only because of how well it propelled Spider-Man’s character. Up until I’d seen the film, I’d always thought of Spidey as a comic book icon–but really recognizable only to those in the comics industry. (Outsiders might recognize the character–but not understand his basic story and the mythos surrounding him.) Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman are characters I’d consider “legends”: their stories transcend the comics, because anyone in any walk of life recognizes their iconic realities.
The Spidey film did a very good job of capturing the character’s essence–his flawed mistake which led to his Uncle’s death, followed by his lifelong struggle between responsibility and the desire to be normal–and showed it to audiences worldwide. Hence, I think the film has promoted him to a new cultural level, now on par with the DC heroes I mentioned.
Of course, Superman would have been my first choice a few months ago. The scene where he rescues Lois and stops the helicopter from crashing…how can you not be inspired by that sequence?
Unbreakable is the best serious superhero film IMHO.
Barbarella and Tank Girl are a tie for best campy superhero movie.
Superman. the first one or two, and Spiderman did it for me. 
I liked X-Men but not having read the comics I can’t really compare the movie to them.
Holy cow I get to be first.
'The Mystery men"
Campy fun, where the less than super, super heros save the day!
I have not seen unbreakable but will give it a look see now.
Spider-Man. And though I’ve never read the comic, and therefore can’t comment on faithfulness, MiB was pretty damn cool too.
X-Men was the best movie, with serious acting talent (Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen) behind it, but Spider-Man is, so far, the most accurate adaptation of the source material.
Interestingly, the 1978 Superman movie has more in common with the post-1987 comic book version than with the comics being published at the time - Krypton is cold and sterile, there was no “Superboy” career, Superman himself is relatively de-powered…
Anyone remember this Wonder Woman TV movie from 1974 starring Cathy Lee Crosby?
X-Men, hands down. I never read the comics that much, so I can’t say whether or not it’s “accurate.” What I like best about it was that they didn’t approach it as a comic-book movie, but as a movie about what would it really be like to be born with super powers you didn’t necessarily want?
Superman 2. I don’t care for accuracy in film translations. I just want a good film. Organic webshooters were ok for me.
Mystery Men was great, and it actually was a comic book as well. The Mystery Men fought alongside Flaming Carrot. I’ve only read a little of the comic, so I can’t say how true it is to it, but I do know that some characters were made for the movie while others were “modified” a bit from the comic.
Obviously, Spider-Man is one of the best superhero movies EVER! (Hell, one of the best movies regardless of genre.) It is fairly true to the comics (the web-shooters being the only thing that is drastically different.) X-Men was OK, but like others, I didn’t like Rogue taking Jubilees’ place, as well as a few other smaller things. The second one has a good chance to be better, since Nightcrawler is in it (who is the best X-Man.))
And then there is a little known movie called The Specials. It’s like Mystery Men, in that the super-heroes are not that good. It’s done in a documentary style, in that occaisonally one of the characters will talk to the camera while sitting in a chair. It’s hilarious, and is good because it has superheros dealing with everyday problems like dating, friendsships, etc…
- Superman I: The ultimate superhero origin story imo.
- Batman I: Jack Nicholson was possibly the best arch villain to grace the silver screen.
- Blade I: Dark, violent, and artful, I loved it.
- Superman II: Supes gives up his powers for Lois only to find those three dudes in the glass thing from the first movie are tearing Metropolis a new one – you gotta love it!
- X-Men: I knew Bryan Singer was more than man enough to pull this one off in spades.
- Spider-man: Don’t get me wrong I love spidey as a comic, more than any of the ones I’ve listed, the movie just doesn’t make my top 5 due to poor fx, a few unnecessarily cheesy lines (“That’s a nice outfit, did your husband make it for you?”), and a score that I didn’t think fit.
Honorable mention: Flash Gordon- freeze any frame of this film and it looks like you pulled it right off the page of the comic, and the Queen soundtrack rules!!
Unbreakable. As Avalonian said above, it captures the essence of superheroics.
I liked Superman 1 and Superman 2.
Batman 1 was OK, I didn’t really like Jack as The Joker.
I liked Batman 2 - I liked Catwoman. I hated Penguin.
I also liked Batman 3 - I liked The Riddler
I would like to have to seen Billy Dee Williams as Two Face
he was Harvey Dent in Batman 1, Tommy Lee Jones was good, but it would have been good to see BDW.
I hated Batman 4 - I did not like Arnold as Mr. Freeze, it should have been Patrick Stewart, or John Malkovich, or Jeremy Irons, or Sting (these people look like Mr. Freeze).
I did like Poison Ivy.
I liked the X-men movie, didn’t mind the Black Outfits, I did like Patrtick Stewart as Professor X and Ian McKellan as Magneto.
I like Storm and Wolverine.
I liked Spiderman, the costume was great, even though the web shooters were in his wrists, not in the gloves.
I think you underestimate the penetration of the Spiderman mythos into mainstream America. Personally speaking, I don’t think I’ve ever bought any comic book, much less Spider-Man comics. My only knowledge of Spidey is from occasional reading of Stan Lee’s (incredibly slow) Spidey newspaper comic strip, as well as occasional view as a child of various Spidey cartoon shows. Even with that limited exposure, I was very aware of the basic elements of the Spidey story, from Uncle Ben, the spider bite, Peter as scientific whiz kid (an element dropped from the movie), etc.
Sua
Spider-Man: the most faithful and accurate, besides being just plain good.
Not Batman. I was totally turned off by the fact that he essentially killed the Joker.