Line #9 YMMV/TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen


1	[[foldercontrol]]
2
3	[[folder:The comics]]
4	* {{Anvilicious}}: In common with a lot of Alan Moore's work, the series is not particularly subtle when it comes to expressing his opinions on various subjects. It's less the case in the earlier volumes, which are largely throwback Victorian pulp adventures with little in the way of overt lessons to communicate, but from about ''The Black Dossier'' onward if the reader does ''not'' pick up on Moore's opinions on such matters as Franchise/JamesBond, Franchise/HarryPotter, how terrible superheroes are for society and the general hollow inadequacy of modern pop culture, among others, it is certainly not from any want of effort (or somewhat heavy-handed lecturing) on Moore's part.
5	* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: Due to the integration of ''Theatre/TheThreepennyOpera'' into ''Century: 1910'', characters derived from the play sing versions of its songs (and act like they're living in a musical in contrast to everyone else). The new lyrics still match the original music, and often work in their own right as decent English translations/adaptations of the original German due to having less or no references to the comic's plot.
6	** For instance, from [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zivr__LnHkM "What Keeps Mankind Alive?"]]
7	--->'''Willett and Manheim's translation:'''
8	--->''What keeps mankind alive?''\
9	What keeps mankind alive? The fact that millions\
10	Are daily tortured, stifled, punished, silenced and oppressed.\
11	Mankind can keep alive thanks to its brilliance\
12	In keeping its humanity repressed.\
13	For once you must try not to shirk the facts:\
14	Mankind is kept alive by bestial acts!
15	--->'''Moore's translation:'''
16	--->''What keeps mankind alive?''\
17	What keeps mankind alive’s the millions yearly\
18	That we mistreat and cheat, the beaten, burned and barbecued.\
19	Mankind may just survive if it sincerely\
20	Keeps every decent human urge subdued.\
21	Try not to trim the truth to suit your needs:\
22	Mankind is kept alive by monstrous deeds!
23	* BaseBreakingCharacter: Orlando is this. To some readers, he/she is a BloodKnight who is LivingForeverIsAwesome personified. To others, he/she's a CreatorsPet and a one-note CampGay.
24	* BileFascination: This tends to be what draws in people during later arcs, especially with the Moonchild.
25	* BrokenAesop: The first volume opens with a joking SpoofAesop where the narrator declares that a message the reader should take away is that "the Chinese are brilliant but evil"--implicitly declaring that the {{Orientalism}} of the book's time period is wrong. The volume then proceeds to take every single YellowPeril trope and play it straight as an arrow, with [[TokenHeroicOrc only one sympathetic Chinese character]] among a horde of hideous caricatures that the heroes casually mow down. According to Moore, his objective when writing Literature/FuManchu was to try to divorce the character from his racist origins by depicting him as so inscrutably evil (even moreso than his original counterpart, who was cleanly a NobleDemon) that [[AmbiguouslyHuman the reader would question if he was even human]]--apparently not realizing that not only is the InscrutableOriental already a well-established stereotype, but depicting someone of a different race as an inhuman "other" is the entire ''point'' of racial stereotyping. Additionally, at one point, it's declared that ''Literature/JourneyToTheWest'', one of the foundational Chinese texts and one of the only Chinese stories mentioned in the series, was really total nonsense ([[ArbitrarySkepticism the character saying this is an immortal gender-switching knight who met the actual King Arthur]]). In all, while the story mocks the racist views of colonial England, it also seems to verify them at every opportunity.
26	* BrokenBase:
27	** There's a question of whether Moore's ''really'' TruerToTheText than most other adaptations, or whether he's really just [[DarkerAndEdgier pushing for the darkest possible depictions]] [[AuthorAppeal for his private enjoyment]]. There is a lot of contention that Moore doesn't care about a lot of the characters' textual qualities as long as it fits what he felt the book was about. In the worst cases these can have some of Moore's attempts at SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome, such as Mina's scars, [[FridgeLogic retroactively cause massive plotholes]] if assumed to be true in the source material. The divisiveness isn't helped by the fact that Moore is evidentially easily angered by how adaptations of his work alter his characters, which, given the laundry list of examples people point out, makes this look pretty hypocritical. [[note]]A summary of some of these include but are far from limited to: Mina Murray being a divorced woman when she was HappilyMarried to Jonathan Harker in the original novel, Allan Quatermain, who took a drug for vision quests, becoming an off the wagon louse, Captain Nemo working for the empire he spent his first book bad mouthing and wanting dead, Mr. Hyde raping the Invisible Man, James Bond as an incompetent misogynist psychopathic traitor instead of being a loyal, competent ProfessionalKiller, and Harry Potter as a whiny, self-pitying, school-shooting chav strung out on anti-depressants who becomes the Antichrist, which is pretty far off from his actual character, etc.[[/note]]
28	** The ''Century'' trilogy is very divisive amongst readers, with some hailing it for its more experimental qualities, well-done characterization, and the many [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome Awesome Moments]] that occur. Others slam due it due to Moore's [[NostalgiaFilter attitude towards virtually all modern culture]], [[NewMediaAreEvil the indulgence in thematic antiquarianism in a series that had once critiqued that kind of thinking]]; [[CreatorsPet Orlando, a two-note character who seemingly exists only to provide]] AuthorAppeal and his [[ShallowParody mean-spirited]] treatment of [[Franchise/JamesBond modern]] franchise [[Franchise/HarryPotter characters]].
29	** Moore's stance that art had higher expectations in the Victorian era compared to the modern stuff he's apathetic towards at best and utterly hates at worst is debated heavily by fans ''and'' academia. There are examples of many of the things Moore decries about modern fiction (LongRunner series, [[MoneyDearBoy low-effort cash-grab sequels]], fiction without higher themes intended purely for entertainment) in that time, much of which had to be rehabilitated via DeathOfTheAuthor, or deliberately and politely ignored in favor of focusing on counter-examples. Victorian authors were also no less prone to [[TrollingCreator baiting their audiences]], [[HePannedItNowHeSucks getting into feuds with critics, academics, and each other]], or [[CreatorBacklash questioning their younger works as they got older and more thoughtful]]. Moore portrays all of these things as worrying new trends and/or symptoms of something deeply diseased about the process of writing modern fiction. Some see this as Moore essentially siding with academic consensus, at least to the extent Moore can see himself as an intellectual for doing so. Moore's social anarchist cues may also play into this worldview. Others are more prone to call this as age old academic snobbery, arguing that OlderIsBetter and [[NoTrueScotsman arbitrarily excluding older works from the same criteria used to judge modern ones]]. In the very process Moore seems to uphold obstacles to a wider literary acceptance, and which, ironically, has led to academia pushing away many of the fictional works used to build the comic's world in the first place.
30	* CanonDefilement: Two major ones.
31	** When you portray [[spoiler:Franchise/HarryPotter]] as committing the magical equivalent of a school shooting, you are ''not'' going to earn brownie points with the people who like the original work.
32	** [[Franchise/JamesBond "Jimmy" Bond]] is a boorish, sex-obsessed thug who ultimately attempts to nuke the Blazing World (after already having done so to several places on Earth); a far cry from the flirtatious but ultimately heroic figure of cinema or the [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold thuggish and prejudiced but ultimately still human]] ProfessionalKiller of literature.
33	* CompleteMonster:
34	** [[InvisibleJerkass Hawley Griffin]], aka Literature/TheInvisibleMan, is a cowardly and [[AdaptationalVillainy even more depraved]] incarnation of the literary character. Recruited by England, Griffin has been using his powers to [[SerialRapist sexually assault]] the students at an all-girls boarding school, having impregnated three and caught in the midst of trying to force himself on a fourth. [[TokenEvilTeammate Joining the team]] out of a promise for payment and pardon for his crimes, Griffin continues to prove his despicableness by beating an innocent constable to death at one point to steal his clothes and abandoning his team to die at another. When the Martians arrive to destroy the Earth, Griffin happily sells out his race so he can rule alongside the invaders, giving away the locations of human artillery positions and the hiding places of his own teammates.
35	** [[Franchise/JamesBond "Jimmy" Bond]] is a [[AdaptationalVillainy ruthless thug]] and SerialRapist who refuses to take no for an answer, [[EstablishingCharacterMoment introduced]] trying to seduce and then rape a disguised Mina Murray. Jimmy is revealed to be a traitor who murdered industrialist Knight and later kills Knight's best friend, Bulldog Drummond, before making it clear he plans to seduce Knight's daughter Emma in her grief. Later becoming "M" in his old age, Jimmy has friends of Mina's tortured and killed to obtain access to the pool of Ker and {{immortality\|Immorality}}, murdering his handler as a young man and murdering and torturing his way to get to his foes. Jimmy even [[NukeEm fires nukes at micro-nations]], trying to obliterate the Blazing World and the mystical races there before trying to sneak aboard the League's ship to murder Emma one final time.
36	%%Do not add anyone else without going to the cleanup thread first.
37	* CreatorsPet: Orlando is frequently cited as this in the ''Century'' trilogy, though it's worth noting the character is a BaseBreakingCharacter who divides opinion.
38	* DesignatedHero: In ''The Tempest'', we're clearly meant to support Emma in her plan to get revenge on "Jimmy" by murdering him. However, she doesn't even try to get her own hands dirty, and instead emotionally blackmails Jason King into being her assassin while she safely watches from a distance. [[spoiler:Then when the apocalypse happens, all the story's "good guys" don't even make the slightest effort to save humanity, choosing instead to abandon Earth.]]
39	* DesignatedVillain: In ''The Tempest'', the rejuvenated "Jimmy" is a bloodthirsty sadist who fires a nuke at the Blazing World and plans to do the same to other magical realms seemingly just ForTheEvulz. However, since [[spoiler:when creatures from these realms are ultimately released by Prospero onto humanity they turn Earth into a CrapsackWorld, it could be argued that "Jimmy" [[WellIntentionedExtremist was trying to save humanity from this apocalypse]].]]
40	* DuelingWorks: ''ComicBook/ScarletTraces'' came out the same year as Volume [=II=]. It's a sequel to ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds'' with enough cameos from other fictional characters to count as a MassiveMultiplayerCrossover.
41	* EnsembleDarkhorse: Whenever [[Series/DoctorWho the Doctor]] appears, or is referenced, fans tend to make a big deal of it. This is to be expected, given how he's a classic British pop culture hero no matter how brief his appearances are. Ironically, Moore himself isn't a fan of the show, feeling that it peaked with Creator/WilliamHartnell. That didn't stop him writing comic strips for Marvel UK in the late seventies.
42	* EvilIsCool: As of ''The Tempest'', a lot of fans who disliked his earlier portrayal admit that [[spoiler:while they don't see "Jimmy" as a good deconstruction of James Bond, he makes for a pretty awesome Bond villain]].
43	** For all the complaints people have about Moore's characterization of ''Literature/{{Fantomas}}'', there's a moment true to form where he only needs to utter two words as he tries to murder his enemies and possibly teammates: "I win."
44	* FanficFuel: This is a universe where every piece of fiction to ever be published exists alongside each other and are connected in some way. [[WMG/TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen Go nuts]].
45	* FranchiseOriginalSin:
46	** Alan Moore always tried to sell the series on the strength of its central MassivelyMultiplayerCrossover, with an intricate universe that showed dozens of classic works of literature weaved together into a cohesive whole. In that regard, one element that got some buzz was his use of BroadStrokes to develop once-bland cyphers into interesting characters in their own right. In the first volume, these two elements perfectly complimented and spiced up a genuinely interesting adventure story. However, by the time of ''Black Dossier'' and especially ''Century'', they had become a major weakness. For the former, many scenes ended up being devoted to [[ContinuityPorn showing off Moore's education]] instead of advancing the plot, leaving a whole lot of interesting names scattered through a slow and boring narrative. As the series advanced into modern times, Moore also ran out of {{Public Domain Character}}s, forcing him to do a whole lot of obvious WritingAroundTrademarks. For the latter, Moore attempted to apply his broad-strokes reinvention technique to characters who were far more well-known and fleshed-out to readers than the likes of [[Literature/KingSolomonsMines Allan Quatermain]] (most infamously [[spoiler:''Franchise/JamesBond'' and ''Literature/HarryPotter'']]), leaving the impression that Moore either hadn't done any research or [[Administrivia/ComplainingAboutShowsYouDontLike was trying to fulfill some kind of vendetta.]] Other times, he botched the reinvention; one of his most ambitious creations, Orlando, earned a reputation as a CreatorsPet, and the general opinion of [[{{Blackface}} the Golliwog]] is that he was [[ValuesDissonance best left forgotten.]]
47	** Moore has used the series as a means of [[TakeThat performing mean-spirited hatchet jobs on characters he doesn't like]] since the beginning. The very first volume featured [[Literature/TheInvisibleMan Griffin]] raping both [[Literature/RebeccaOfSunnybrookFarm Becky Randall]] and [[{{Literature/Pollyanna}} Pollyanna Whittier]]. In both cases it's BlackComedyRape; the former is given an insulting portrayal as a dumb country bumpkin too stupid to fully understand what'd happened to her and the latter [[ThePollyanna is completely unfazed]]. This is the Victorian equivalent of taking pot-shots at ''Literature/TheTwilightSaga'' and just as [[ShallowParody shallow]]. But, unlike his treatment of [[spoiler:''Harry Potter'' and ''James Bond'']], the characters in question were old-tyme enough that they didn't have strong fanbases to be offended at their treatment, or at least, had fanbases that overlapped so little with the comic's target audience that most let it pass. And, ''also'' unlike them, the hatchet-job was a side-note within the plot rather than a central part of the narrative.
48	* GeniusBonus: If you got every single reference in this series without help... you need to make ''a lot'' more pages here at Website/TVTropes.
49	* HarsherInHindsight: In ''Century: 2009'', Creator/JudiDench's M from the Franchise/JamesBond films, who in this universe is [[Series/TheAvengers1960s Emma Peel]], is made [[spoiler:immortal. A few months later, she was killed off in ''Film/{{Skyfall}}'']].
50	* HePannedItNowHeSucks: A big part of the reaction towards ''Century: 2009'' comes from the fact that a big part of the last leg of the story boiled down to a mean-spirited hatchet-job directed at [[spoiler:Harry Potter]]. Whether fans' reactions were just this trope in action, or whether it was legitimately poorly-done and damaged the work from a literary standpoint is up for debate.
51	* HilariousInHindsight
52	** Moore's GrandFinale for ''Century: 2009'' involves an epic face-off between [[spoiler:Harry Potter and Mary Poppins]]. Just a few months after he wrote that scene (and almost exactly a month after the comic hit the stands) a battle between [[Franchise/HarryPotter Voldemort]] and a swarm of Mary Poppinses turned out to be part of the Opening Ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games.
53	** Among many other tidbits, ''Century: 2009'' manages to tie Franchise/JamesBond and ''Series/TheAvengers1960s'' together into one universe with the revelation that Creator/JudiDench's M in the later Bond films is actually an aging Emma Peel. Though we never get to find out M's true identity in the films, ''Film/{{Skyfall}}'' actually did turn out to include a brief moment where Kincade, Bond's old groundskeeper, addresses her as "Emma" (presumably because he misheard "M" as "Em").
54	** ''Century: 2009'' includes a brief cameo from [[Series/TheThickOfIt "seasoned fixer Malcolm Tucker"]] on a television screen, in the same issue that includes several background cameos from [[Series/DoctorWho The Doctor]]. Fast-forward to 2013: [[Creator/PeterCapaldi Malcolm Tucker]] is now the Twelfth Doctor.
55	** A 2005 episode of ''Series/{{Extras}}'' featuring Creator/DanielRadcliffe mercilessly hitting on Dame Creator/DianaRigg suddenly became HilariousInHindsight when ' featured [[Series/TheAvengers1960s Emma Peel]] leading the fight to take down [[spoiler:a deranged Literature/HarryPotter]]. Maybe she wanted revenge on him [[ItMakesSenseInContext for flinging that condom at her head]]?
56	** The final scene of ''Century: 2009'' (and the end of the comic, at least until ''Tempest'') [[spoiler:is of Quatermain's grave in Africa, just like the movie.]]
57	** Similarly, though the movie had "the Fantom" (a villain loosely based on Erik from ''Theatre/ThePhantomOfTheOpera'' and Fantomas) the comics ''did'' finally incorporate ''Phantom of the Opera'' into the plot of ''The Black Dossier''. According to one of the supplementary stories, the League had their final face-off with France's "Les Hommes Mystérieux" at the Paris Opera, where they tried to stop their plot to plant explosives in the Phantom's old lair. The other half, Fantomas, being one of the French team members. Fantomas even detonates an explosion in the Phantom's lair, which was something Erik himself threatened to do in the book.
58	** About thirteen years after Creator/AlanMoore made Literature/SherlockHolmes' older brother [[Franchise/JamesBond "M"]] in the first volume of ''League'', [[Creator/JonnyLeeMiller the original M's grandson]] became Sherlock Holmes in ''Series/{{Elementary}}''.
59	** Creator/AlanMoore has long been well-known for practicing ceremonial magic and being an avid student of occultism and the mystic arts, and he (in)famously claimed in 2003 that he worships Glycon, a Roman snake god that was once the center of an ancient pagan cult. In 2011, he attracted a bit of controversy for portraying [[spoiler:Literature/HarryPotter]] as a thoroughly unsympathetic {{Antichrist}} figure who's also supposedly the epitome of everything wrong with the 21st century. In other words: Moore is an occultist who talks to snakes and has an [[ItsPersonal intense personal hatred]] of [[spoiler:Harry Potter. Voldemort? Is that you...?]]
60	** After all those years of decrying fantasy stories as inherently Satanist, the most well known target, [[spoiler:old Potter himself]], is ''literally'' the Antichrist.
61	* JustHereForGodzilla: At this point it's evidently clear there's a chunk of people following these comics only for the curiosity of seeing what works Moore chooses to reference. Many of these people are openly critical of Moore's creative choices but considering how large in scope these comics are they still want to see who's going to show up. [[spoiler:Hell, even Franchise/{{Godzilla}} himself gets a mention in The Johnson Report of ''Nemo: The Roses of Berlin'', when Janni talks about burns on her arm caused by the radioactive exhalations of a "huge bipedal saurian" which the ''Nautilus'' engaged in waters off Japan]]. This reaction trope likely contributed to the much more mixed reaction towards the newer stories of the series, which rather heavily lambast newer pop culture icons, something that turns off readers who are attracted purely to the crossover premise, seeing many popular media [[TakeThat dragged through the dirt]] by the author.
62	* LesYay: [[spoiler:Mina has no use for Orlando when he's a male.]]
63	* {{Narm}}:
64	** [[spoiler:Allan's]] death. To elaborate: he gets electrocuted by lightning coming from [[spoiler:Harry Potter's]] dick. And then [[spoiler:Potter]] gets destroyed by [[spoiler:Mary Poppins.]]
65	** YOU ARE THE SHIT OF THE WORLD! I SHALL KILL YOU NOW!
66	* NeverLiveItDown: For a more humorous and less controversial example, it appears Frankenstein's Monster has never been able to live down the constant arguments of whether Frankenstein was the man or the monster, which the League version considers a constant struggle and his own personal existential crisis.
67	* OneSceneWonder: Deliberate in both cases, so as to avoid two of the most famous literary creations of the Victorian age overshadowing everyone else:
68	** Literature/SherlockHolmes' single appearance in Volume I, during Moriarty's flashback to Reichenbach Falls.
69	** Literature/{{Dracula}} appears on a single page in ''Century: 1969'', as part of Mina's drug-induced hallucinations at a rock concert.
70	* TheScrappy:
71	** The Golliwog. The fact that you have a character whose design is a walking BlackfaceStyleCaricature is one thing, but the more notable part is that in a notorious DeconstructorFleet, Moore decided to play the character (whose name is so associated with racism as to have inspired an actual slur) entirely straight as a benign fey creature who is nothing but helpful to the protagonists. Even those who thought there was something to the idea of reclaiming the character tend to feel this wasn't the way to go about it.
72	** The Moonchild. The mere concept of the character as a vicious TakeThat to ''Literature/HarryPotter'' immediately drives off a lot of people. Meanwhile, those on board with the idea tend to find him to be [[DontShootTheMessage a pretty weak take on it]], as Moore ignores all the things one ''could'' criticize about the character: while Jimmy Bond was rooted in real critique of Fleming's Bond and had enough intrigue to be LoveToHate, the Moonchild has [[ShallowParody essentially nothing in common with Harry Potter]], and moreover, isn't given any interesting or redeeming qualities or even much personality at all besides being [[TeensAreMonsters an unflattering caricature of the younger generation]]. While the banal nature of his character and actions is intentional to a degree, it doesn't change the fact that he's still a major player in the last part of ''Century'' and ends up killing one of the main characters, which forces the reader to take him at face value as a villain when the entire narrative is screaming at them that he sucks and shouldn't exist.
73	* SeasonalRot: The first two volumes are widely liked, but the perceived quality of everything released afterwards is very contentious, for a number of reasons, but primarily due to the criticisms that the series underwent a noticeable FilibusterFreefall, which overshadowed the MassiveMultiplayerCrossover that hooked readers to begin with, especially because, even as the continuity of the story got closer to the present day, Moore rarely included fiction younger than the 1960s (even as lawyer-friendly references), and if he did, it was to complain how [[TrueArtIsAncient new media sucks in comparison to old media]], an opinion most of the series' audience disagreed with, and the references to older media got increasingly obscure to boot.
74	* SpiritualSuccessor: After writing the novelization to the movie, Creator/KevinJAnderson wrote ''The Martian War'' which had a similar plot to Volume [=II=]. Even having Dr Moreau creating a virus to kill the Martians and Griffin having Hawley as a first name which was made up for the ''League'' comics.
75	* {{Squick}}: [[spoiler:Griffin's death by rape at the hands of Hyde]] in Volume 2. It's mostly off-screen, but it includes the implication it was horrifically violent given the amount of blood that later materializes everywhere.
76	* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot:
77	** In the original volumes the League was in itself a MassiveMultiplayerCrossover with elements of DeconstructiveParody to be found inside of an adventure story. As the series continued however some found that Moore's deconstruction wasn't exactly as good of a sell as when played straighter. With less of an interesting story going on people started calling out more examples of ShallowParody that otherwise would have overlooked.
78	** The announcement of the ''Century'' trilogy initially had fans buzzing because they thought they'd finally get to see the original graphic novel's premise applied to 20th century fiction. And they did... except, instead of creating a new team of champions for a new era of fiction, Moore just made the two remaining members of the original FiveManBand immortal, and added ''one'' consistent new member (Orlando) who quickly devolved into a CreatorsPet. By ''2009'', Mina and Allan have mentally aged so much that they barely even resemble their literary counterparts (which kind of kills what made the series fascinating in the first place) leaving behind little more than ultra-obscure background references.
79	** The first installment of the Nemo Trilogy, ''Heart of Ice'' was criticized for not doing much with the ''Literature/AtTheMountainsOfMadness'' setting, as Janni and the other crossover characters just duke out against each other and go through similar scenarios depicted in Lovecraft's book, rather than giving it a new spin.
80	** The sheer lack of many popular literary characters invented from the 1960s onward not even getting a WritingAroundTrademarks ShoutOut is one major source of criticism. Even when accounting for the references to various works that were present, the fact that many of the sources were doggedly Anglocentric didn't help matters either.
81	** Once ''Century: 2009'' finally revealed the Moonchild's identity, many fans of [[spoiler:Harry Potter]] objected to the entire storyline -- not necessarily because of Moore's treatment of the character, but because it wasn't nearly as interesting as it could have been. If Moore had managed to rein in [[WriterOnBoard his hatred of today's pop culture]], and [[ShallowParody had actually familiarized himself with the character enough to make his portrayal feel authentic]], it ''could'' have been a genuinely fascinating look at youthful rebellion, the paranoia of the post-9/11 world, and [[BecauseDestinySaysSo the conflict between destiny and free will]]. Instead, [[spoiler:Harry]] is just portrayed as a one-note [[TeensAreMonsters foul-mouthed teen with an attitude problem]]. Regardless of how you might feel about the source material, that's hardly the basis for an interesting villain.
82	* TooBleakStoppedCaring: ''Tempest'' is basically a massive AuthorTract against modern-day superhero media, and unilaterally portrays them as fascist-coded cash cows with no redeeming qualities as an attempt to indict comic-book readers... you know, the people who read Alan Moore's work. It's possibly more hateful of superheroes than ''ComicBook/TheBoys'', since that work didn't end with [[spoiler:humanity being condemned to be consumed by bad writing]].
83	* UncertainAudience: The League throughout its entire run ran with this trope rather than an actual target audience. Many people who were general Alan Moore fans followed it but openly admitted much of it required annotations by Jess Nevins to be able to follow and be appreciated. The comic also got the attention of people with wide tastes who love crossovers, but as this page shows many of these readers are openly in complete disagreement with Alan Moore's opinions that went into building the world of the comic and [[AuthorTract his attitudes]] towards many of the properties included. Up until the very last issue the comic never really aimed itself in favor of one or the other and left many readers interested but never without heavy complaints. Even fans tend to celebrate the ambitious achievement as a crossover rather than its artistic merits as a comic.
84	* ValuesDissonance: The comic deliberately fakes this trope to create aesops such as "The Chinese are brilliant, but evil." We would like to stress this is a verbatim quote.
85	[[/folder]]
86
87	[[folder:The film]]
88	* AccidentalInnuendo: Reed has this gem in his conversation with Quatermain: "Stories of your exploits have ''thrilled'' English boys for ''decades''."
89	* AngstWhatAngst: Quatermain doesn't seem that all broken up when the Fantom's men killed his friend impersonating him, or when they blew up his clubhouse at Kenya with his other friends supposedly still inside.
90	* BrokenBase:
91	** Perhaps maybe the biggest example that only grew more contentious with time. For people who genuinely love the comic this movie is often considered an InNameOnly abomination. However it has another large faction full of the people who decry Moore's use of DeconstructiveParody is just example after example of ShallowParody that feel many things this movie changed from the comics were improvements. Debates about this still spring up to this day on most sites talking about the movie or comics.
92	** Tom Sawyer's inclusion through ExecutiveMeddling is either seen as a refreshing addition to the cast who appeals to the younger generation or a thinly-disguised marketing ploy shoehorned in to get more Americans to see the movie.
93	* CompleteMonster: The elusive [[BigBad Fantom]], actually [[spoiler:Professor James Moriarty]], wishes to engulf the world in war, just [[WarForFunAndProfit so he can line his pockets]]. Killing British and German citizens to increase tensions, the Fantom tries to attack a peace conference by sinking all of Venice, where it was taking place. [[spoiler:Founding the titular League while acting as "M", claiming it to be a counterterrorist organization, he gathers a group of individuals with superpowers and advanced technology, planning to replicate them to sell to the highest bidder in the war he plans]]. At his secret base, he houses hundreds of scientists, forcing them to work around the clock to recreate the League's abilities, while keeping their families hostage in overcrowded cells.
94	* CreepyAwesome: Hyde is this when he finally fights for the League.
95	--> '''Hyde:''' Trouble? I call it sport.
96	* CriticalDissonance: There are fans who are genuinely confused by the movie's poor reception and love the action scenes and performances. On Website/RottenTomatoes, the film has a 44% audience score which, while still on the lower side, is still noticeably better than the 17% critics score.
97	* EnsembleDarkhorse: Even though a main criticism of the movie is practically being an InNameOnly, many fans of the graphic novel prefer the film's version of the Invisible Man, [[GentlemanThief Rodney]] [[LovableRogue Skinner]], over his predecessor in the comics; Hawley Griffin was... [[TokenEvilTeammate a rather vile character]].
98	* FanficFuel: Those who actually liked the movie might add every other work of fiction into this universe, specifically live-action adaptations of them, to have the LXG be more TruerToTheText.
99	* FanNickname: Posters abbreviated the title to "LXG," causing certain derisive fans of the comic to call the movie "The League of [[XtremeKoolLetterz EXTREME]] Gentlemen."
100	* HesJustHiding: For those who like the others at Quatermain's club, it can be nice to hope they went out in time to not be blown up, especially since it's never outright said anyone died in there from the film.
101	* HilariousInHindsight:
102	** The movie's EvilPlan involves a mysterious bad guy (who's eventually revealed to be [[spoiler:Professor Moriarty]]) trying to start UsefulNotes/WorldWarI a few decades early. ''Film/SherlockHolmesAGameOfShadows'', which came out almost a decade later, was about the same thing. [[spoiler:In this film, Moriarty even references the Reichenbach Falls as being where "that man died." Perhaps he got some plastic surgery, and tried to start his EvilPlan all over again, but went more ambitious by using the League?]]
103	** Richard Roxburgh would also go on to play Dracula in ''Film/VanHelsing'' a year later, which also featured a Mr. Hyde who was depicted as a [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk Hulk]] {{Expy}}. He also played Literature/SherlockHolmes in a 2002 television adaptation of ''Literature/TheHoundOfTheBaskervilles''.
104	** When [[http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/rudyard-kiplings-the-jungle-book-1994 reviewing the 1994 live-action film]] ''Film/{{The Jungle Book\|1994}}'', Creator/RogerEbert talked about the InNameOnly premise and wondered "What's next? ''Tom Sawyer'' with a car chase and a shoot-out?"
105	** In the Italian dub Skinner was voiced by Creator/MinoCaprio, who would go on to dub the Invisible Man in the ''WesternAnimation/HotelTransylvania'' films.
106	** The team of this comic-book film consists of:
107	*** Nemo: [[ComicBook/IronMan A man with an unusual beard, untold riches, and access to advanced technology that no one else can duplicate]].
108	*** Quatermain: [[ComicBook/CaptainAmerica A legendary old hero in an era that is not his own, who lost someone close to him while working for his government]].
109	*** Mina: [[ComicBook/BlackWidow A beautiful red-haired woman with a traumatic past who dresses largely in black and is much more dangerous than she appears]].
110	*** Jekyll: [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk A mild-mannered doctor who, at times, transforms into his large, super-strong and ferocious alter ego]].
111	*** Sawyer: [[ComicBook/{{Hawkeye}} A sharpshooter]] who is the last official member of the team, whose skills play an instrumental role in defeating the BigBad.
112	*** [[spoiler:An attack on the heroes' cool transport by the [[ComicBook/{{Loki}} pretty boy bad guy]] and his inside knowledge, and he's working for [[ComicBook/{{Thanos}} an even more dangerous foe]].]]
113	*** [[spoiler:A villain with a military background transforms into a more grotesque large(r), super-strong and ferocious alter ego to fight Jekyll.]][[note]]In case you can't guess, it's [[spoiler:Abomination.]][[/note]]
114	*** And they're all working at the behest of [[ComicBook/NickFury a mysterious government figure]]. The only one that doesn't match is [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]], but other than that, one almost expects Quatermain to yell "[[ComicBook/TheAvengers League, assemble!]]"
115	* {{Narm}}:
116	** The opening scene where a police officer stupidly stands in front of a tank and yells at it to stop several times, only to get run over. He might not know what it is, but most people would know to get out of the way of the huge metal object heading towards them. It's like someone tried to do a serious version of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4UFQWKjy_I this]] ''Film/AustinPowersInternationalManOfMystery'' scene.
117	** Hyde and Mina have really put-on monster voices that sound more like children playing pretend than professional actors in a blockbuster film. Thankfully Mina only uses hers once.
118	** When he's captured in Paris, Hyde's outfit inexplicably includes a ''giant top hat''. Did Hyde seriously walk into a shop to have it commissioned? Sawyer even channels the audience by picking up the hat while making a face that just screams, "Where the hell did he ''get'' this?"
119	** Dante's overly dramatic [[spoiler:drinking of a massive dose of the Hyde formula, which looks more he's just dumping it over his open mouth and gargling it. Hyde's cry of "not ALL of it!" sounds a bit hollow when Dante is clearly ''spilling'' most of the formula needlessly on the floor.]]
120	* NightmareFuel: The in-between states of Mr. Hyde's transformations are as disgusting as the effects are bad.
121	** [[spoiler:Dante's Hyde transformation]] may not be a good effect, but he's basically stuck in in one of Hyde's mid states, except even larger, so his skin is stretched out and bright red.
122	* NightmareRetardant:
123	** The Fantom loses all intimidation when he starts taunting Quatermain in the cemetery. Why? Because the whole time he's running around desperately trying to get out like a frightened child.
124	** In general, [[spoiler:Moriarty]] spends most of his screen time running away from fights he started. He claims to have been reborn, but it was evidently into someone far less impressive.
125	* OneSceneWonder: The BadassBystander hunter at Quatermain's club who comments on the unsporting nature of the automatic rifles and is convinced that it must be the Belgians attacking them.
126	* RetroactiveRecognition: Shane West (Sawyer) later played Michael in ''Series/{{Nikita}}''. It's a little bit funny, because Peta Wilson (Mina) got her start as the lead on ''Series/LaFemmeNikita'', of which ''Nikita'' is a remake.
127	* SpecialEffectFailure: Due in part to the film's overall TroubledProduction, the VFX are not all that great.
128	** Skinner is convincing enough as a CGI effect, but it becomes extremely obvious whenever he's just Creator/TonyCurran in face paint. The scene where he's actually applying said face paint is perhaps the most jarring sequence of them all.
129	*** Though that's nothing compared to [[spoiler:"Super-Hyde"]], who looks like a "[[WebVideo/BadMovieBeatdown refugee from an Xbox game]]."
130	** [[spoiler:Dorian Gray's death]] is also extremely fake-looking CGI. But considering that it's essentially magic at work which also [[spoiler:involves him basically turning into his own portrait]], [[FridgeBrilliance maybe that was the point...?]]
131	** Another place that the subpar CGI lets down the film is the Nautilus, which looks utterly unconvincing and fake in every scene it's in.
132	* StrawmanHasAPoint: Dorian mocking Jekyll when he refuses to become Hyde again is probably meant to be [[KickTheDog kicking the dog]], but the League explicitly wanted Hyde for his brute strength, leaving one to wonder what exactly Jekyll thought he was going to be contributing.
133	* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter:
134	** While the Fantom is revealed to be [[spoiler:[[Franchise/SherlockHolmes Professor James Moriarty]]]], the revelation doesn't add any new elements for the character, not making any use of the genius intellect, unprecedented crime empire, or historic rivalry with [[spoiler:Sherlock Holmes]].
135	** Reed, the man who recruits Quatermain, could have been an addition to the team, [[spoiler:possibly as TheMole given how The Fantom was apparently the one who set him up there.]]
136	** The other patrons and staff at Quatermain's club. It isn't even made clear if they survive the explosion when they could have showed up later in a ChekhovsGunman role if the league needed help somewhere, or at least [[spoiler:Given a little extra presence and emotion to the funeral at the end.]]
137	* TookTheBadFilmSeriously: Half of the cast definitely put up a valiant effort into their performances, though the standout seems to be Creator/JasonFlemyng as both Jekyll and Hyde gives a nicely evil but charismatic performance as the latter and makes Jekyll's agony at his dual identity legitimately compelling.
138	[[/folder]]

Context YMMV / TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen