Comic Hero's - How Long Will This Run Last?

In the last 10 years for me we have seen the role of Comic book films become the rage in Hollywood. It is now coming full circle.

In the beginning we had the series adaption of comic book hero's such as Batman, The Incredible Hulk, Wonder Woman. It was cheese, but fun. I think they had so much depth and coincided with some of the story's in comics and actually was ahead of it's time.

The jump to the big screen. Superman in 1978 was a success. To this day the casting of Christopher Reeve is just a masterstroke. It worked and I actually really enjoyed it. It did get a bit lame after Superman II, but the result was there to see. It could succeed on the big screen. Batman in 1989 came to the big screen. Again the decision to cast Michael Keaton was another superb decision. With Tim Burton on board it offered to be such a hit. I loved it. To this day Jack Nicholson as the Joker is one of his most under-rated performances. In between Batman and Batman Returns, we had The Toxic Avenger, The Punisher and The Flash. I am sad enough to admit I have seen the 3 and you must have your cheese head on to enjoy them. The Batman franchise was in it's ascendancy and despite cast changes they managed to bleed another 2 films from it and I think Batman and Robin seemed to be a death knell to Comic Book films. Batman and Superman seemed to have had a typical lifespan of peaking at the sequels and then declining after 3rd and 4th installments.

In 2000 Brian Stinger took on X-Men. As to this day I am still undecided how I feel about it. Ian McKellen grew in the role of Magneto with each film. Jackman as Wolverine worked too. Roll on 2002. Sam Raimi completely refreshed the comic book film. Spiderman was the much needed shot in the arm that comic book adaptation needed. I watched it and filming and effects were stunning. Yes there was the iconic kiss scene, but I enjoyed how Tobey Maguire was able to bring a youthful innocence to Peter Parker. Again decent casting and so the right choice. Hulk then hit our screens in 2003 with Eric Bana playing Doctor Banner. For me it was more hit than miss. I think Ang Lee took on too much when leading the project. I think the whole atmosphere and effects confused the story. We had Spiderman 2, X-2 and The Punisher in 2004. Spiderman 2 was brilliant. It outdid the first and anything after that was a tall order. The Punisher. My favourite comic character and by far the easiest for me to portray on screen and yet somehow it ends up being total crap. X-2, again I am still undecided if I like it or not. The comic adaptation was booming and the possibilities were endless. 2005 saw one of the most remarkable inroads to the comic adaptation and I am not talking about Fantastic 4. Batman Begins. The Franchise that died in 1998 was being re-made. Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale was a marriage made in heaven. It had a stellar cast. Oldman, Wilkinson, Caine, Holmes, Murphy. All playing their parts and adding value to the film. Bale becoming one with the character. It was immense film-making. A year later and we had Superman Returns. Just poor. That year we had X-Men Last Stand and despite McKellen's excellent performance, it was a shocker of a film. Fantastic 4 Rise of the Silver Surfer, again another let down for me.

2008 was the biggest year in the comic book adaptation. Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk and The Dark Knight. The Dark Knight out-shone them both. The late Heath Ledger took the Joker to new heights. Nolan wanted a Joker that was opposite to the Burton Joker. Nolan tapped more into the more pyschotic side of the Joker whereas Burton was more about the exuberance of the satirical side of the Joker. The Dark Knight was gushed over and yes it was a decent piece of film making. Iron Man for me showed great casting with Downey Jr. Stark almost mirrors an early fresh faced Downey Jr. The Incredible Hulk was poor screen writing. To take it from where Hulk left off and with a whole new cast was never going to work. I think Norton stuggled in the role. 2009 we saw X-Men: Origins with Wolverine and I enjoyed it. May not have been the best film, but I liked it. Liev Schriber was brilliant as Sabretooth and the conflicted loyalty to Logan was fantastic.

2010, Iron Man 2 and the whole Avengers story after the film credits and it kick started Captain America and Thor. Both were enjoyable. We also had the Green Lantern which I haven't seen yet. The Avengers is out now and I shall be there to see it.

2012 brings us a new Spiderman in Andrew Garfield and the trailer looks pretty special. Also The batman franchise comes full circle with The Dark Knight Rises. 2013 we have Man of Steel. Not sure what I make of it. Iron Man 3 is also out in 2013. Will we see the end of adaptations after 2013?

Good read, however after Iron Man 3 we have Thor 2 and Captain America 2 which both will be leading to an Anvengers 2. I think they are hoping to be able to go all the way and have an Avengers 3 but it will be based on how well the films do.

Thanks hodge.

I literally pulled all that from memory. I could recall what I had seen. Some of what I remember from the films is hazy.

Good memory then!

Like I said how long Marvel's films will be based on how well they do, apparantly anyone that has seen The Avengers has been giving it brilliant reviews saying its the best comic book film of all time, some of these are by fellow directors etc who saw the early screening.

I am hoping to view it this weekend. Marvel certainly have a good thing going at the moment as they have managed to retain the cast.

I wonder how a Justice League film would look like.

Yeah I think Marvel signed most of the cast to deals to appear in at least 5 or 6 films is how they've done it, I think Downey Jr's contract is up after Iron Man 3 so they will need to renew if they want if for a 2nd avengers. I'm hoping to see Avengers monday after handing in an assignment. hoping 5 days in the cinema won't be booked up if we go during school hours.

That's a great read legend, you have a very good memory! I am a self confessed superhero nut, I have all the above films and cannot wait to see The Avengers. I am particularly excited about The Man Of Steel as Superman is my favourite (I voted it number 1 on my top ten list) and i'm very interested to see where The Dark Knight Rises goes.

As for the end, I think not. Superhero movies are getting more and more popular as years go by and with 3D arriving and special effects continuing to get better and better I think they will run for a good while yet. I expect Spiderman to be a massive success and at least 2 sequels to come from it plus I have heard that a Justice League film is in the pipeline. I have also heard that another Hellboy film is in the works and that Marvel want to bring more of their characters to the big screen, most notably:

Ant-Man
Silver Surfer (his own movie)
Daredevil (again)
Hawkeye (again, his own movie)

If I had my way they would run forever

Great read

Thanks Crazy.

I think the lure of the story is what get's the viewers with Comic adaptations. When you hear names of who is portraying who, you just think cor I want to see that.

I am a massive Superman fan and I want to see it done justice since Christopher Reeve. The whole back story to the character is one of just pure fascination. Thats what I loved about the original. You have Brando and Stamp at the start and oh my god they were cut from the first 15 minutes of the movie.

Iron Man for me is the closest Marvel have got to DC with Batman in terms of movies.

I would actually like to see a villan style film. Maybe Black Adam!!

I would say that the current run started with X-Men in 2000, although it in some ways took cues from Superman 1978 [not surprising in hindsight - Singer was clearly a fan of what Donner did, as evidenced by Superman Returns].

For my money, the significant differences to previous efforts, and reasons for success, were:

* special effects have caught up with comic book authors' imaginations
* characters and story remained true to source material (worst contrary example perhaps being Catwoman, but even Batman 1989 jars with me given how casually he kills the Joker's henchmen / didn't like the reveal about the Joker and made-up thug/murderer Jack Napier; and the less said about Joel Schumacher's franchise-killing efforts the better, but portrayals of Two-Face and Bane really irritated me)

The first point is now taken as standard, but the better comic adaptations have not deviated from the second in my view.

Looking ahead and trying to answer the question, I'd say there are a limited number of classic characters which are screen-worthy, and although I no longer follow any continuities particularly, I'm not aware of any major "new" characters in recent years - which suggests perhaps a finite number of screen franchises. However, we'll see how The Amazing Spider-Man turns out, which might be an indication that there's endless potential for rebooting (Marvel and DC are known to do this themselves come to think of it). And of course, there are so many great stories from the back catalogue that I'm sure we're guaranteed a fairly long run of sequels one way or the other.

You're spot on there with the lure of the story, plus there is always that feeling of intrigue I think of how the story has been adapted.

Superman's back story is by far the best imo. The original film is just classic, Reeve's portrayal is second to none. Have you seen the Richard Donner cut of Superman 2? It is available on DVD. Its brilliant, so different from the original version.

I'd quite like to see a few villain films too where the hero is more in the background, Black Adam would be a great one. I'd like to see a film of the Suicide Squad.

I think if there is to be a Justice League film, I think like Marvel they need to feed it into other films. I would love to see a remake of The Flash. I think the possibilities of what they can do with the character is limitless.

In terms of the villan theme, I was annoyed with Spiderman 3 because in the animated series of the spiderman, the venom storyline was epic!! I was half expecting Spiderman 3 to take that direction and then they had him just turn into a dancing prancing twerp!

Good one Legend.

Superman II was the first superhero film I saw at the cinema. Reeve was good at both roles, especially as Clark.

Loved Batman Begins but I thought Batman 'The dark Knight' had too many twists at the end.

Never saw The Flash, who was in it?

There was a TV pilot and series in the wake of Batman 1989 (so I'd guess early 90's). I think it starred a chap called John Wesley-Shipp or something similar, with British representation from Amanda Pays.

Is that the one people are referring to?

legendkillarV2 wrote:I think if there is to be a Justice League film, I think like Marvel they need to feed it into other films. I would love to see a remake of The Flash. I think the possibilities of what they can do with the character is limitless.

In terms of the villan theme, I was annoyed with Spiderman 3 because in the animated series of the spiderman, the venom storyline was epic!! I was half expecting Spiderman 3 to take that direction and then they had him just turn into a dancing prancing twerp!

same here when i saw it was due to be venom i was so excited for the film, then felt majorly let down. Hopefully they can do it better this time round as you would assume they will use Venom at some point

Heres some info on whats going on with th Flash movie

http://dcmovies.wikia.com/wiki/The_Flash_(film)

Anyone seen the Captain America Film from 1990 with Matt Salinger?

Classic!

The original Punisher with Lundgren was epic for me. I mean that guy was perfect for the role at the time and it was such a shame it was done too early. It was a bit cheesey, but it was fantastic.

I think The Flash was a TV Series. It used to be on Sky One in the early days. That and The Incredible Hulk on Saturday afternoon. What a childhood that was!

Dean Cain ruined Superman for ages

hodge wrote:

legendkillarV2 wrote:I think if there is to be a Justice League film, I think like Marvel they need to feed it into other films. I would love to see a remake of The Flash. I think the possibilities of what they can do with the character is limitless.

In terms of the villan theme, I was annoyed with Spiderman 3 because in the animated series of the spiderman, the venom storyline was epic!! I was half expecting Spiderman 3 to take that direction and then they had him just turn into a dancing prancing twerp!

same here when i saw it was due to be venom i was so excited for the film, then felt majorly let down. Hopefully they can do it better this time round as you would assume they will use Venom at some point

Agreed.

I hope that they tap into the lure of power that Venom had on Peter Parker "The Black Spiderman"

I literally was wetting myself in the animated series when he manhandled The Rhino!

I loved the Flash TV series on Sky

Lundgren was epic as Punisher thats why I loved the 80's action movies because they are proper guts and all films and thats the Punisher

The best for me has to be the Hoff in, Nick Fury-agent of SHIELD

I liked Tommy Lee Jones as Two Face as well. Just that scene when the Riddler went into his camp and he was going to toss a coin whether to join him or shoot him and just the way TLJ was so 'calm' funny scene.

The Hoff!!!

The Punisher was brilliant. Just that massive arss bike and the fact he done all those baddies at the end. I am The Mechanic was a rip off as Lundgren as the Punisher.

You cant beat the Hoff

Spoiler:

Great read mate, reminded me so much of growing up, Danny Devito as the penguin was epic!

I would watch Green Lantern if I was you, visually it's stunning, the CGI was fantastic. Story line not as strong as it could have been but ryan reynolds does a good job as he does in most things. He is doing another comic film, Deadpool. Not due out until 2014.

The Toxic Avenger was hilarious. Just looked like a giant bogey on steroids!! I think they made a sequel?!?!

One of the best things I did after watching Superman III, was my mum was washing up and I nicked the tea towel and made a green and white square cape and ran down the road. She was fuming as she thought was losing the plot when she went to do the drying up!

legendkillarV2 wrote:
Dean Cain ruined Superman for ages

Oh jeez did he ruin it!! Awful, awful actor!!

I'd love to know what happened to the guy who played Nuclear Man in Superman 4! I also can't watch Two and a Half Men without thinking of Jon Cryer (alan) as Lenny Luthor!!

crazygangwomble wrote:

legendkillarV2 wrote:
Dean Cain ruined Superman for ages

Oh jeez did he ruin it!! Awful, awful actor!!

I'd love to know what happened to the guy who played Nuclear Man in Superman 4! I also can't watch Two and a Half Men without thinking of Jon Cryer (alan) as Lenny Luthor!!

Nuclear Man was fantastic. The fact the sun kitted him out in a stunning outfit was even better. The fight scene on the moon is just awesome.

legendkillarV2 wrote:

crazygangwomble wrote:

legendkillarV2 wrote:
Dean Cain ruined Superman for ages

Oh jeez did he ruin it!! Awful, awful actor!!

I'd love to know what happened to the guy who played Nuclear Man in Superman 4! I also can't watch Two and a Half Men without thinking of Jon Cryer (alan) as Lenny Luthor!!

Nuclear Man was fantastic. The fact the sun kitted him out in a stunning outfit was even better. The fight scene on the moon is just awesome.

"Destroy Superman!"

I love that scene on the moon. Don't you think Christopher Reeve just looks proper bored and p***ed off all through that film!

crazygangwomble wrote:

legendkillarV2 wrote:

crazygangwomble wrote:

legendkillarV2 wrote:
Dean Cain ruined Superman for ages

Oh jeez did he ruin it!! Awful, awful actor!!

I'd love to know what happened to the guy who played Nuclear Man in Superman 4! I also can't watch Two and a Half Men without thinking of Jon Cryer (alan) as Lenny Luthor!!

Nuclear Man was fantastic. The fact the sun kitted him out in a stunning outfit was even better. The fight scene on the moon is just awesome.

"Destroy Superman!"

I love that scene on the moon. Don't you think Christopher Reeve just looks proper bored and p***ed off all through that film!

I think he was pretty pi**ed off at the ending of Superman III. Especially when he was fighting a computer!!

What made Superman IV the more crapper was just how the Daily Planet became The Sun overnight!!

The moon scene was classic. Just for the lack of punches thrown. I think after Reeve was pounded into the moon he wanted to stay there!

crazygangwomble wrote:I love that scene on the moon. Don't you think Christopher Reeve just looks proper bored and p***ed off all through that film!

... and he directed that instalment, didn't he...?

legendkillarV2 wrote:

crazygangwomble wrote:

legendkillarV2 wrote:

crazygangwomble wrote:

legendkillarV2 wrote:
Dean Cain ruined Superman for ages

Oh jeez did he ruin it!! Awful, awful actor!!

I'd love to know what happened to the guy who played Nuclear Man in Superman 4! I also can't watch Two and a Half Men without thinking of Jon Cryer (alan) as Lenny Luthor!!

Nuclear Man was fantastic. The fact the sun kitted him out in a stunning outfit was even better. The fight scene on the moon is just awesome.

"Destroy Superman!"

I love that scene on the moon. Don't you think Christopher Reeve just looks proper bored and p***ed off all through that film!

I think he was pretty pi**ed off at the ending of Superman III. Especially when he was fighting a computer!!

What made Superman IV the more crapper was just how the Daily Planet became The Sun overnight!!

The moon scene was classic. Just for the lack of punches thrown. I think after Reeve was pounded into the moon he wanted to stay there!

poor guy! It was his script as well. That makes it even worse!

I found the punch-up in the diner in Superman II was funny. He took the punch like a real man

I like the very end comment when he's thrown the guy down the bar.

"Oh, i've er been working out"

I think they kept that scene in the Donner Cut.

I did see that.

And also the lack of the lynx effect when he hoists General Zod in the air. Anyone else notice the wet patch under Superman's armpit??

He needs Right Guard!!

yeh i did see that. If you watch Marlon Brando at the beginning of the first one, when he puts the baby in the spaceship you can see his Rolex watch. Didn't know those Kryptonians were so well off!

Just back on topic, I reckon that Superhero/Comic Book films will still be blockbustering (is that a word) summers in another 10 years time.

Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? Alec Baldwin knows! HAHAHAHAhahahaha........

It's unlikely to stop any time soon with Spiderman being rebooted, the whole Avengers series including any more sequels to the individual films and what is a bad decision for me, but the reboot of Batman which is already being planned.

Batman Begins and the Dark Knight are not really conventional Comic Book Hero movies as we know them too. They are incredibly good and everytihng but They are a different type of film to Iron Man and Thor. More in depth story and characters with slightly deeper themes.

It's been reported that 20th Century Fox have been working on a Daredevil reboot for a while, this one based on "Born Again" (in which case, big thumbs up from me).

Excellent read legend

I had no idea or had even begun to think, just how many of these films had been made. Even read a few that i had'nt heard of

Going to be hitting the ftp this weekend to get some in

I can't believe I forgot 2 movies.

The Blade trilogy. Snipes and Kristofferson (or however you spell it) again casting was limited. Snipes being the only black action star. Fitted the role perfectly. Again I thought the sequel was the best.

And X-Men First Class which is just that. Class. McAvoy was brilliant as Professor Xavier. I loved how he brought several dimensions to him and also Fassbender was brilliant as Magneto. I loved the on screen chemistry. Was a thing of beauty.

Let's face it, there have been so many that it's nigh on impossible to name them all, and the OP made the point very well without having to do so.

However, now that you've mentioned omissions -

* DD has been mentioned a couple of times, which reminds me that Jennifer Garner managed to headline an Elektra film as well. As much as I admire her (particularly for her work on Alias as another kicking female lead), even I would have to say it wasn't a good movie though.
* Surely Watchmen deserves a name-check? Possibly the only time I can recall seeing a trailer in a cinema followed by the audience breaking into applause (I think we were seeing The Dark Knight in IMAX, so admittedly a partisan crowd).

Superman has still as yet to get Schalk burger's permission to wear his pajamas. He can count himself lucky that Burger can't fly.

Sin City was a glaring admission.

One of my favourite films. Micky Rourke at his best!

Very fair point. Automatically tend to think of Marvel / DC when talking about this genre.

Incidentally, they are apparently finally making the Sin City sequel (based on A Dame To Kill For I think, together with an original story).

It really is amazing how much you actually miss if you dont pay attention. From the lists in here i have some good movie weekends ahead

The Sin City sequel has been in pipelines for ages. I am glad that finally they are at advance stages with getting a script written. What is interesting is that Frank Miller has done some comic adaptation of films. His Robocop comic was brilliant.

Spawn was another comic adaptation. That had massive potential and the film was quite shocking. Ghost Rider another one I missed. Dang it!

legendkillarV2 wrote:Spawn was another comic adaptation. That had massive potential and the film was quite shocking. Ghost Rider another one I missed. Dang it!

Actually, I suppose Ghost Rider is another TWO missed...!