As many of you know the comic book movie era revolution began primarily in 2000 with the release of X-Men. Since then there has been an unstoppable wave of films based on comic book literature rapidly increasing in size and speed. But the majority of these films? More often than not they are produced by Marvel. Why is this? I recall the very first silver screen adaptations being that of Superman in 1978 and followed a little over a decade later by Batman in 1989. Each of these spawned 3 sequels (if you don't count Superman Returns, which I certainly don't). It's fair to say that Superman 3 and 4 destroyed the series popularity and demand for anymore sequels, as for Batman, the transition of director and lead role actually didn't do bad for revenue. All in all I would still state that Batman Forever and Batman and Robin were horrible and it wasn't until 2005 that the character got the treatment necessary to survive in Batman Begins. It is still shocking to me to see that there are NO other major DC characters on film other than these two. What does that add up to? Well, do the math: 5 Superman films and 6 Batman films, making a total of 11. Again, 2 characters ELEVEN movies. (Of course I have excluded Watchmen, which I don't consider as popular as Superman or Batman)
Meanwhile Marvel has put out quite a list that is difficult for even Superman and Batman combined to tackle. As many of you may not know there was a live-action Punisher (with Dolph Lundgren as Frank Castle) from 1989. This is hardly mentionable, as it got mostly negative reviews. And there was even a 1994 incarnation of The Fantastic Four which was never released in theatres.
Even though 1998's Blade garnered 2 sequels and was somewhat crowd-pleasing, I will choose to begin with X-Men as I previously stated based on its critical reception and popularity. Since then an expansive list has been generated including spin-offs of certain films that may have not seen a sequel otherwise.
Starting with X-Men, they are:
X-Men (2000)
Spider-Man (2002)
Daredevil (2003)
X2 (X-Men 2) (2003)
Hulk (2003)
The Punisher (2004)
Spider-Man 2 (2004)
Elektra (Daredevil spin-off) (2005)
Fantastic 4 (2005)
X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)
Ghost Rider (2007)
Spider-Man 3 (2007)
Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007)
Iron Man (2008)
The Incredible Hulk (2008)
Punisher: War Zone (2008)
X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)
Iron Man 2 (2010)
Already that makes for 18 movies 7 of which include recurring characters either through sequels, reboots or spin-offs. I gotta say that's pretty impressive for a corporation that had no prior exposure decades ago like DC did. And furthermore there are already 3 more marvel comic characters coming to theatres next year. Two of these are brand new characters in terms of big-screen treatment (Thor and Captain America). The prequel film X-Men: First Class is set to be released June 3rd 2011. 2012 ushers in even MORE Marvel action as the Avengers brings together superhero mega-stars Thor, Captain America, The Hulk and Iron Man. Ghost Rider also gets a sequel in the same year and there is of course the Spider-Man reboot which I have commented on before in a previous article of mine. Undoubtedly there will be more produced along the lines of X-Men developments in terms of prequels and origin stories.
When you compare the two rival companies, the results are staggering. How did this come to be? Unquestionably the interest of comic-book turned movie medium was catapulted with the developments of the original Superman and Batman movies. With the augmentation of special effects wizardry over time it would seem that DC- having had its hand in the basket already-would simply pull out names and run with it. Sadly this has not happened. Batman was re-done. Superman was regrettable- brought back in a shameless apparition presented as a "semi"-sequel only to the first 2 of the Reeve series.
The only movie confirmed to be planned for a release next year is Green Lantern which is already creating a buzz and stirring skeptics with it's completely CG suit as opposed to the classic black, white and green uniform Hal Jordan dons in the comics. I believe that the thing that sells these stories is remaining faithful to the original literature. After all, the target audience is people that READ comic books, right?
As a kid I was always engrossed on DC. I absolutely loved Superman, The Flash and all of the Justice League. Where is the devotion and the drive to build up to a Justice League film in the same fashion that the folks over at Marvel are doing for The Avengers? Simply put, Marvel has been generating a substantial amount of films each year and undoubtedly turning much more of a profit than DC is at this point. DC is really losing this race by far. Where is Aquaman? Wonder Woman? The Flash or even Martian Manhunter? I have spent countless hours trying to dig up any info on even just a script in the works for any of these films and nothing looks promising. Most of it is just rumors if anything and it's quite irritating.
Exactly how long will it take for DC to get on the ball? Are they even SEEING how well Marvel is dominating at this point? Who IS better, DC or Marvel? Once again this is Superfan714 [aka real name Andrew (as revealed for the first time)] signing off...as always sound off below....