Codex / Unadapted
Production intelligence
Great stories nobody has filmed
30 comic arcs with no screen adaptation on record, ranked for how readily they could become one. The score is the average of three things a production actually cares about: how self-contained the story is, whether its length suits a film or a season, and how large a cast it demands.
| Score | Arc | Year | Issues | Tone | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4.7 | Kraven's Last Hunt Kraven buries Spider-Man alive and takes his place to prove a point. | 1987 | 6 | psychological | Marvel Comics |
| 4.7 | Mister Miracle An escape artist and new god fights a war and a depression at once. | 2017 | 12 | surreal | DC Comics |
| 4.3 | All-Star Superman A dying Superman completes twelve final labours. | 2005 | 12 | mythic | DC Comics |
| 4.3 | Superman: For All Seasons Clark's first year told through four narrators and four seasons. | 1998 | 4 | pastoral | DC Comics |
| 4.3 | The Vision A synthezoid builds himself a family in suburban Virginia. | 2015 | 12 | domestic-horror | Marvel Comics |
| 4.3 | We3 Three weaponised animals escape and try to get home. | 2004 | 3 | chase | Vertigo |
| 4.0 | Marvels The Marvel age seen from street level, through a photographer's eyes. | 1994 | 4 | ground-level | Marvel Comics |
| 3.7 | Chimera Ant The arc most cited as the series' peak. | 12 | anime-manga | ||
| 3.7 | Chunin Exams The exam arc that introduces most of the supporting cast. | 12 | anime-manga | ||
| 3.7 | Fourth Shinobi World War The series-ending war arc. | 12 | anime-manga | ||
| 3.7 | Infinity Castle The final confrontation arc. | 12 | anime-manga | ||
| 3.7 | JLA: Tower of Babel Batman's contingency plans against the League are stolen and used. | 2000 | 4 | thriller | DC Comics |
| 3.7 | Kingdom Come An older generation returns to a world of reckless successors. | 1996 | 4 | elegiac | DC Comics |
| 3.7 | Marineford The war at Marine Headquarters — the series' turning point. | 12 | anime-manga | ||
| 3.7 | Shibuya Incident The arc that resets the series' power structure. | 12 | anime-manga | ||
| 3.7 | Soul Society The rescue arc that defines the series' structure. | 12 | anime-manga | ||
| 3.7 | Superman: Red Son The rocket lands in Ukraine instead of Kansas. | 2003 | 3 | alternate-history | DC Comics |
| 3.7 | The Promised Day The climax of Brotherhood. | 12 | anime-manga | ||
| 3.7 | The Rumbling The final arc. | 12 | anime-manga | ||
| 3.7 | Thousand-Year Blood War The final arc, adapted long after the anime first ended. | 12 | anime-manga | ||
| 3.7 | Wano Country The longest arc in the series. | 12 | anime-manga | ||
| 3.3 | Planetary Field agents excavating the secret history of the twentieth century. | 1999 | 27 | archaeological | WildStorm |
| 3.3 | The Great Darkness Saga The Legion faces Darkseid at the height of his power. | 1982 | 6 | cosmic | DC Comics |
| 3.0 | Annihilation A negative-zone invasion redraws Marvel's cosmic map. | 2006 | 6 | cosmic-war | Marvel Comics |
| 3.0 | The Immortal Hulk The Hulk reframed as a horror story about what cannot die. | 2018 | 50 | body-horror | Marvel Comics |
| 3.0 | The Sinestro Corps War Sinestro builds an army powered by fear. | 2007 | 11 | space-opera | DC Comics |
| 3.0 | Transmetropolitan A gonzo journalist against a rotten future republic. | 1997 | 60 | satire | Vertigo |
| 2.7 | Blackest Night The dead rise wearing black rings across the DC universe. | 2009 | 8 | horror | DC Comics |
| 2.0 | Starman A reluctant heir takes up his father's name in Opal City. | 1994 | 80 | legacy | DC Comics |
| 1.7 | 52 A year in the DC universe with its biggest names absent. | 2006 | 52 | ensemble | DC Comics |
How the score works
- Self-contained (1–5) — how much prior continuity a viewer needs. A story that needs forty years of setup is a harder sell than one that explains itself.
- Length (1–5) — 4–12 issues scores highest: enough story for a film, not so much that it has to be gutted. Long runs score lower because they are a series commitment, not a film.
- Cast size (1–5) — inverted. A two-hander is cheaper to cast, schedule and fund than an ensemble.
Deliberately not included: our own opinion of quality, and rights availability. The first is not measurable and the second changes monthly. What is here is structural, checkable, and arguable — which is the point.