NewWorldKam wrote:

And even in the case of Batman, they have to make the characters similar to the comic book characters in only the most superficial of ways. Not much of any Batman film has anything at all that can be said to be faithful to the source material.

I disagree.  The characters all look and act the same.  The story lines match up.  The Scarecrow is the Scarecrow, The Joker is the Joker, Bruce is Bruce.  Gordon is Gordon.