by Mason Kupiainen
Growing up, I was introduced to the world of superheroes through films like Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy, Tim Burton’s Batman, and even Ang Lee’s Hulk. I later went beyond the screen and became an avid reader of Spider-Man, Wolverine, and the Flash comics. I loved all of those and more, but now I get to indulge in the great superhero films of today.
Image from IMDb
It’s crazy to think that just a few years ago, we were lucky if we had at least one superhero film a year. Currently, we are seeing upwards of eight superhero films a year. From the Marvel Cinematic Universe, DC Extended Universe, and all of the Sony Spider-Man properties, we are being treated to what feels like a new insurgence of superhero movies with one coming out every other month. Comic book-based films are also some of the highest-grossing films each year. In 2019 alone, we’ve seen three comic book films (Captain Marvel, Spider-Man: Far From Home, and Joker) reach the billion dollar mark, and even one (Avengers: Endgame) hitting that glamorous two billion dollar mark and going on to become the highest-grossing film of all time.
Superhero films have not always been what they are today. The superhero craze didn’t start until 1998’s Blade, which helped show that superhero movies could be made for adults and be taken seriously. Even though Blade was the first to kick off the superhero craze, 2000’s X-Men really paved the way by showing the potential for success for superhero movies. The popularity of the movie helped launch other movie adaptations of superheroes, such as Daredevil, Hulk, and Spider-Man, since studios saw the cash cow these movies could become. While the box office success of these movies show that audiences are attracted to this genre, it doesn’t really explain the continued popularity of these types of movies years later since movies, like other trends, reach a peak and then plummet to a hard and fast death.
The basic foundation of comic book movies is not new. Having the good versus evil plot line has been used countless times in movies, most notably in Westerns. Arguably one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, Stephen Spielberg, once compared superhero movies to Westerns.
“We were around when the Western died, and there will be a time when the superhero movie goes the way of the Western.” Spielberg continued, “It doesn’t mean there won’t be another occasion where the Western comes back, and the superhero movie someday returns. Of course, right now the superhero movie is alive and thriving. I’m only saying that these cycles have a finite time in popular culture.”
“The holy grail is putting ideas into a movie that also entertains. The Western allows you to put sugar on the capsule to make the ideas go down easy,” said Sheridan.
Joker, Logan, X-Men, The Dark Knight, Black Panther, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and Captain America: Civil War The Dark Knight Captain America
