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The rise of the superhero has always been inevitable

The Avengers debuted last week and set a new opening-weekend record at the Box Office, becoming the first film to break $200 million in its first three days. Readme.ae looks at the success of the comic-book hero on the silver screen.

Almost immediately after superheroes rose to prominence in comic books, they were adapted into Saturday movie serials aimed at young children, starting with Adventures of Captain Marvel (1941). Serials such as Batman (1943), The Phantom (1943), Captain America (1944), and Superman (1948) followed.

In the coming decades, the decline of Saturday serials and turmoil in the comic book industry put an end to superhero motion pictures, with the exception of episodes of the television series Adventures of Superman, starring George Reeves, which had been compiled for theatrical release, and Batman (1966) a big-screen extension of the Batman television series starring Adam West. Other superhero films released at this time include Mario Bava's Danger: Diabolik (1968) based on the Italian supervillain character. Original superhero characters emerged in other more comedy orientated films such as the French political satire film Mr. Freedom (1969) and the American b-movies Rat Pfink a Boo Boo (1966) and The Wild World of Batwoman (1966).

Riding a wave of a new interest in fantasy films with the outstanding success of Star Wars, Richard Donner's Superman (1978), the first major superhero feature film, proved a critical success and a commercial hit. The combination of producer IIya Salkind's willingness to finance a significant budget, Donner's desire to create an engaging verisimilitude, composer John William's majestic film score and Christopher Reeve's appealingly sincere performance of the title role helped make the film an inspiration for later generations' superhero films as part of a respected fantasy film genre. The success of Superman wore into the 1980s, as more successful entries emerged throughout the decade.

Alex Proyas' The Crow(1994) became the first independent comics superhero film that established a franchise. As Joel Schumacher's Batman & Robin (1997) was critically panned for being too jokey and tongue-in-cheek,The Crow brought in a new realm of violence absent in previous popular superhero films targeted at younger audiences and bridging a gap to the more modern action film. The success of The Crow catalyzed the release of a film version of Spawn (1997), Image Comics' leading character. The success of the "darker" Image Comics characters shifted the direction of comic book movies. Marvel soon released their first film to become a franchise, Blade (1998). Blade was also a mix of a more traditional action film as well as darker superhero film with the title character having superpowers as well as carrying an assault of weaponry.

The 2000s brought forward some of the most profitable superhero franchises in history, with Marvel Enterprises dominating the superhero film genre. It began with the surprise hit of 20th Century Fox and Marvel's X-Men film series (2000 onwards). Later, one of the largest blockbusters of all time was released with Sam Raimi's Spider-Man (2002). With high ticket and DVD sales, several new superhero films were released every year in the 2000s, including Daredevil (2003), The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003), Hulk (2003), Catwoman (2004), Hellboy (2004), The Punisher (2004), Fantastic Four (2005), Ghost Rider (2007), Iron Man (2008), Watchmen (2009), Kick-Ass (2010) and Jonah Hex (2010).

Other series discarded the continuities of previously released films and began a reboot, most notably Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins (2005) as well as Louis Leterrier's The Incredible Hulk (2008) and Lexi Alexander's Punisher: War Zone (2008). Bryan Singer's Superman Returns (2006) is unique due to the fact that it is a sequel to the first two Superman films, yet also a reboot to the third and fourth films. The Batman Begins sequel The Dark Knight (2008) is the most nominated superhero film in Academy Award history with 8 nominations with two wins for sound editing and posthumous best supporting actor for Heath Ledger.

All of which leads us back to 2012 and The Avengers which has just broken the $1 billion mark globally. What's more, we're yet to see the final installment of Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy and the latest in the long line of Spider-man movies, all within the next few months. Safe to say, we're in for a blockbuster summer thanks in no small part to these super indestructible mortal characters.

Comments

Ansy Mathew

15 May 2012

Really children deserve such initiatives. While I was reading the article I thought about my childhood super hero Giant Robot!!!!!!!!!!!

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