Comic book heroes began coming to life early in the 20th century.
It started in the 1930s and 1940s with the serials{Batman, Captain America, Batman and Robin, The Adventures of Captain Marvel, Lone Ranger, Flash Gordon, Green Hornet, etc.} and moved on to the 1940s with Superman getting animated.
Coming out of the 1950s, George Reeves' Superman led to Adam West as Batman, The Green Hornet, and a host of animation: the Batman-Superman Adventure Hour, The Superman-Aquaman Adventure Hour{featuring Superman, Superboy, Aquaman, JLA, and Teen Titans}, The Fantastic Four and The Marvel Superheroes in the 1960s.
Going into the 1970s, there were some interesting comic book related happenings on television: Wonder Woman, The Incredible Hulk, The Amazing Spiderman, and The Shazam/Isis Hour plus, more CB hero animation in the Superfriends, Spiderwoman, Plastic Man, and The New Fantastic Four. There were also some made for television movies in Captain America, twice, and Doctor Strange movies.
With the 1980s came Spiderman and his Amazing Friends, The Incredible Hulk, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and more variations of the Superfriends in animation with a live action Superboy and some unsuccessful and short lived live action attempts.
The 1990s, the Renaisance of superhero animation, gave us greatness in Spiderman, X-Men, Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Fantastic Four, Silver Surfer, Batman, Superman, Phantom 2040, Batman Beyond, Spawn, and The Avengers United They Stand. Lois and Clark brought Superman live action success as well while Captain America took to movie form once again, The Flash streaked across the silver screen, Nightman prowled, Swamp Thing lurked, and a Generation X made for television movie arrived while The Fantastic Four movie was made but, barely saw the light of day.
Moving in to the new century, the 2000s gave birth to better animation in Justice League, Spiderman Unlimited, Static Shock, Spiderman The MTV Series, Teen Titans, The Batman, The Spectacular Spiderman, Legion of Superheroes, Fantastic Four World's Greatest Heroes, X-Men Evolution, Wolverine and the X-Men, Iron Man Armored Adventures, and the beginning of the DCAU and MCAU movies. In live action form, Birds of Prey, Witchblade, and Blade had great potential but, only survived a little while, while Smallville set the bar incredibly high.
Now, in the 2010s, the animation continues to roll out with Marvel Anime, the short lived Black Panther, the Marvel Knights, the greatness of Avengers Earth's Mightiest Heroes, the could be better Ultimate Spiderman, Marvel's Super Hero Squad, Green Lantern TAS, Batman The Brave and the Bold, and Young Justice, with Teen Titans GO, Hulk and the Agents of SMASH and Avengers Assemble on the way. Meanwhile, Arrow is providing the lilve action presence with The Agents of SHIELD on the way.
I may have left out a few but, these are the main ones where our beloved CB heroes take center stage, regardless of quality.
Now, what did I list all of these shows for? Simple. I want to illustrate the correlation of small screen and silver screen success when it comes to the CB universe.
For starters, the most iconic and recognized hero, Superman, was the first real CBM and CBM blockbuster. Why? Looking at the leadup, there is a great fascination with the super powered lot. From the serials to the beginnings of animation and the campiness to the higher quality productions, it was a long slow build to Superman on the big screen but, it was eagerly anticiapated, well written, cast, and acted, and benefited from the first age of blockbuster movies, the mid-late 1970s.
As the Superman movies forged into the 1980s, the other media attempted to move ahead too but, only the animation seemed to have success during that decade. When the final Superman made its way into and, mercifully, out of theaters, a void was creaeted. Into that void stepped a man with a vision that Warner Bros smartly grabbed and put a great cast, script, and effects team together to produce Tim Burton's Batman!
TBs Batman, being in 1989, more or less kicked off what could be called the Bronze Age of CB animation and movies, the 1990s. It was a fun time to be into CBs then. The stories and artwork were excellent, the titles were plentiful, comic book shops were many, and, for some guys, the dawn of the so-small-it-will-break female waistline and top heavy female tops in comics kept interest high. With Superman, Batman, and the X-Men having a hundred titles each, or at least it seemed that way, comics could be found just about anywhere. This enabled WB to forge ahead with three more Batman movies, which was actually one too many!
Even though the live action shows didn't last very long and the other three main live action movies were definitely B-grade, it was the animation and the Batman movies that kept CBs selling and heading for a new age over the horizon!
Now, why was Superman successful on the big screen? A slow build of CB heroes in other media that featured a large amount of Superman in the 1950s-1970s created a market, desire, and anticipation to see how a CB hero could translate to the big screen.
Why was Batman successful on the big screen? Superman created a void after number four and the time was right for the darker tones of Batman and Gotham City.
Marvel finally caught on and loaded the 1990s with animation with seven main shows to DCs three. DC turned their attention to live action television to try and recapture Wonder Woman magic. Marvel attempted their first live action main character movies since the 1970s. While the live action was not as successful as the animation in keeping viewers, it served to teach them both what worked and what didn't.
So, why was Marvel unsuccessful on the big screen in the 1990s, or non-existant? Oversaturation and a lack of quality control hurt Marvel's bottom line in the 1990s. They counted on the CB buyers to just fall in line and watch whatever they put out. A lot of their animation was way below DCs, even the X-Men had quality control issues despite great stories.
Finally, the new millenium arrived! The 2000s, the Silver Age of CB animation and movies began with a bang, or a snikt if you prefer, with X-MEN! This decade saw a strange thing happen: DC could not seem to recapture the Batman/Superman movie magic for a while but, found their true success in animation and animated movies while Marvel, whether good or bad, found they could put out the movies and seemed to be okay with their animation and animated movies being behind DC in overall quality. However, as the decade progressed, Marvel decided to amp up their animation, too, thanks to the financial influx from their movies. Meanwhile, DC had Superman Returns but, found their own gold in the form of Chris Nolan and Batman Begins and The Dark Knight to round out the decade on a positive box office note. Marvel, meanwhile, answered with Iron Man as Robert Downey Jr. to bank.
At the end of the 2000s, it was Marvel seven, DC five in the animated shows category. The live action television shows were not even being tallied as Marvel chose the success of animation and movies while DC bottled lightning with Smallville, giving them the win in that category.
The reason the 2000s saw box office success for both? Quality control and respect for both the material AND the core fans while creating productions that would also draw in new fans without confusing them.
However, there is a problem, a disconnect between Marvel and DC, that will play forward into the new decade.
As the 2010s begin and continue, DC seems overly obsessed with churning out Superman and Batman. In animation, CBs, and movies, that seems to be all they are trying to turn out, besides another solid live action television show in Arrow. Yes, they put out Green Lantern but, it turned out to be a love it or hate it film that failed at the box office. Why did it fail? Well, reread the beginning of this paragraph to find out. In terms of animation, DC is way behind in this decade with currently no new animation on the air! They mercifully ended Batman TBATB but, for some stupid reason, ended Green Lantern TAS and Young Justice while ordering up a juvenile Teen Titans GO. Huh?
What is DCs best answer to Marvel this decade? The New 52, or DCNu as they term it. The Dark Knight Rises was a very dull crowning jewel to Nolan's Batman trilogy despite topping $1 billion. Superman Man of Steel has much promise but, WB and DC are putting all their eggs in that one Kryptonian basket to determine whether they make anymore DC CB movies. They threw away what was said to be a solid Wonder Woman TV pilot instead of shopping it to other networks. They keep cancelling and releasing DCNu titles to find ones that will sell well. It seems that DC and WB are trying their best to never catch up to where Marvel is at.
Yes, Marvel gained the Disney bankroll but, they have a clear focus, a defined plan, and leadership that knows what they are doing, something I'm not sure DC has. Marvel is following a plan based on their comics and is working with Fox to create a plan out of the properties they have there which will start with The Wolverine. The key to Marvel's plan, though, is what has kept fans into their properties besides the CBs themselves since the 1990s: animation. On top of that, The Agents of SHIELD are coming to a television near you to broaden the base further.
For DC, Arrow is good but, letting the Man of Steel's success or failure define the future is going to be a big mistake. I have read on some sites the rumor is nothing less than $1 billion at the box office will convince WB to move forward with more DC properties. They figure if Batman can pull that in each of the last two movies, Superman should be able to without a problem. Bad idea.
Meanwhile, DC and WB are falling behind. They are trying to catch up by figuring out how best to copy Marvel's plan. In that way lies madness! DC has great properties, great animation, and great potential. I just can't figure out why they can't figure it out. It's not rocket science! It's comic books!
Now, we stand on the plateau awaiting Marvel's Phase Two and Superman Man of Steel. After my in depth retrospective, I can't help but feel safe betting the farm on Marvel because DC just doesn't seem to understand their own properties beyond Superman and Batman when it comes to live action media.
I hope they prove me wrong.