Five Favorite Films of Marvel Superheroes, Plus Which Marvel Hero Hates Star Wars?

In the latest Drawing Crazy Patterns, where we spotlight five recurring themes in comics, we examine five times that Marvel superheroes have identified their favorite films, plus revealing which major Marvel superhero apparently hates Star Wars.

As I am sure that you know already, one of the major ways that people get to know each other is to share their interests with each other, so knowing what somebody’s favorite movie is can be very helpful to understanding a person better. Of course, with fictional characters, it is a bit difficult, because they have all been written by so many writers over the years, it is a bit hard for most writers to seriously claim that they know what the favorite movie is of a specific Marvel superhero.

And yet, over the years, writers HAVE made a point to establish the favorite movies of a few different Marvel superheroes. Here are five Marvel superheroes’ favorite movies, as well as the reveal of which surprising major Marvel superhero apparently hates Star Wars!

Captain America has both a favorite movie AND a favorite romantic comedy

Before Ed Brubaker relaunched Captain America in 2005, Robert Kirkman was brought on board the Marvel Knights Captain America series to close things out in that series (with the last four issues no longer carrying the Marvel Knights trade dress). Kirkman, along with artists Scot Eaton and Drew Geraci, did a back-to-basics mini-run, heavily influenced by the Mark Gruenwald Captain America stories that Kirkman had read as a kid.

Diamondback is seemingly brought back into the series (it’s not the real Diamondback, though, just a really convincing Life Model Decoy), and she meets up with Captain America after he rents Yankee Doodle Dandy yet again, as apparently he does constantly…

So it appears pretty clear that Yankee Doodle Dandy, the story of the legendary performer and songwriter, George M. Cohan, is Cap’s favorite movie (and one he would have actually gotten to see before he hit the ice during World War II)…

In 2018’s Deadpool #2 (by Skottie Young and Nic Klein), Deadpool is arguing about romantic comedies when Captain America chimes in to note that You’ve Got Mail is the best romantic comedy of all-time…

Being a longtime New York City resident, I can see Steve enjoying You’ve Got Mail, which, like a lot of Nora Ephron’s work, can be seen as a love letter to New York City…

And also, Captain America kept his relationship with Sharon Carter secret from her sister, Peggy, for a while, so Cap can relate to Joe Fox keeping the fact that he knows that his online penpal is a lady who hates him.

Loki has an unusual favorite film

The modern publishing model for comic books sadly doesn’t leave a great deal of room for a lot of series to “breathe,” as “ongoing” series tend to get past one five-issue arc before getting ending, and effectively become miniseries instead. That was the fate of 2019’s Loki series by Daniel Kibblesmith, Jan Bazaldua, Andy McDonald and David Curiel. In the final issue, Loki is speaking with an unknown “captor,” who seemingly has him prisoner, and he discusses what he labels as his favorite film, “The Wizard in the Robe of Green” (which, of course, are Loki’s colors for the most part, as well)…

This is a reference to Mike Jittlov’s cult classic film, The Wizard of Speed and Time, a metafictive feature film based on an acclaimed short film that Jittlov had done a few years earlier that had aired on The Wonderful World of Disney and showed off some impressive special effects from Jittlov, who got his start working in animation and special effects (he worked on the special effects for Ghost).

We later see that Loki was actually just being interviewed by his old friend, Verity Wells, the whole time. She was the one who introduced him to the film. Loki then escapes, and asks Verity to go on new adventures with him, and that’s how that series ends, a very clever ending for a book that was abruptly canceled mid-story.

She-Hulk is green, and her favorite movie is a different color

One of the interesting things about favorite movies is that sometimes, there really ISN’T some deep narrative significance to why a character like a specific movie. That isn’t to say that their favorite films still don’t tell us something about them, of course, I just mean that it isn’t the case of, say, the patriotic, lost-in-time Captain America’s favorite film being a 1942 patriotic film.

In the case of Jennifer “She-Hulk” Walters, it just so happens that Pretty in Pink is her favorite movie, as seen in She-Hulk #6 (by Dan Slott, Will Conrad, and Dave Kemp), where Jen’s roommate rents Pretty in Pink because he knows it is her favorite…

I guess it’s kind of funny that she’s green, and the film is famously pink…

And, of course, She-Hulk had been involved in some love triangles of her own over the years.

West Side Story is the favorite film of two disparate Marvel superheroes

In X-Factor #72 (by Peter David and Larry Stroman), Havok and Polaris try to get to know each other fresh as they begin to date again (after being separated for some time due to Polaris being possessed by the villainous Malice, then becoming a nexus for the Shadow King, and Havok losing his memory and going to work as a Genoshan magistrate). So they discuss their favorite movies, and Havok says that his is West Side Story…

Of course, with the sliding Marvel timeline, some day he might be talking about the Steven Spielberg version of the film…

I won’t count Polaris’ answer of Inherit the Wind as her favorite movie, as it seems like just a weird joke by Peter David (as obviously, Inherit the Wind has nothing to do with Gone With the Wind other than the words “the Wind”).

A decade or so later, Johnny Storm’s ex-wife, Lyja, has impersonated the Invisible Woman for the Skrull “Secret Invasion” in Secret Invasion: Fantastic Four #1 (by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Barry Kitson, Mick Gray, Scott Hanna, Paul Neary, and Chris Sotomayor), and Johnny Storm figures out that she isn’t really his sister because Lyja doesn’t know that Sue’s favorite film is West Side Story…

That was a fun return of Lyja.

Spider-Man apparently hates Star Wars

In White Tiger #3 (by Tamora Pierce, Tim Liebe, Phil Briones, Don Hillsman, and Chris Sotomayor), Spider-Man shouts that he always hated Star Wars…

Now, that seems to be a pretty big thing to reveal in an issue of a whole other comic book series, so who knows if it is actually true or not, but it’s there in an official Marvel comic book.

Amusingly, years later, in Amazing Spider-Man #1 (by Nick Spencer, Ryan Ottley, Cliff Rathburn, and Frank Martin), Spider-Man DID react negatively when the Human Torch made a Star Wars joke during a battle…

So maybe Spider-Man really DOES hate Star Wars, for…reasons I can’t quite understand.

Remember, everyone, that these lists are inherently not exhaustive. They are a list of five examples (occasionally I’ll be nice and toss in a sixth). So no instance is “missing” if it is not listed. It’s just not one of the five examples that I chose. If anyone else has suggestions for a future Drawing Crazy Patterns, drop me a line at brianc@cbr.com!