Image by Hitesh Sharma from Pixabay “[The success of Blade] proved to Marvel that you could make a successful franchise using a tertiary or secondary character. So suddenly they weren’t just sitting on a half dozen characters that might be marketable, they were sitting on these treasure troves.” – David S. Goyer “When we read stories of heroes, we identify with them. We take the journey with them. We see how the obstacles almost overcome them. We see how they grow as human beings…or show great qualities of strength and courage and with them, we grow in some small way.” – Sam Raimi Several weeks ago, I kicked off my summer blog mega-series on the evolution of the comic book movie genre by examining its two pillars: Richard Donner’s Superman and Tim Burton’s Batman. But, as I hope my next few blogs will make clear, we’ve come a long way since these two foundational superhero movies. So, I thought my next foray into this history should look at some of the more iconic, important, and high-quality comic book movies that preserved the more admirable aspects of the genre before it became mainstream cinema with the launch of Marvel Studios’ cinematic universe in the late 2000s.
So, without further ado…LET’S GET STARTED!! [NOTE: This blog contains spoilers for several movies. You have been warned.] Blade (1998) As early as the late 1980s, various studios developed versions of a project centered on the infamous vampire hunter Blade first introduced in the 1970 comic book “The Tomb of Dracula.” First, Roger Corman’s very own New World Pictures worked on a western starring Richard Roundtree (Shaft, Se7en) in the title role. A few years later, before officially even existing, Marvel Studios looked to make a Blade movie starring rapper LL Cool J. However, New Line Cinema ended up securing distribution rights and hired David S. Goyer (Dark City, Batman Begins, Man of Steel) to write the screenplay. While the studio initially sought to parody the Blade character, Goyer managed to convince them otherwise and take a more serious direction against the grain of the popular comic book movies of the decade such as Joel Schumacher’s Batman Forever and its lambasted sequel. To achieve this, Goyer wanted to inject some reality into Blade’s world by making vampirism into a biological disease and demythologizing the vampires by stripping any romanticism away from them and treating them like serious, villainous threats. Several actors were suggested by the studio for the lead role, from Denzel Washington (Glory, Malcolm X, Fences) to Laurence Fishburne (Boyz n the Hood, The Matrix, Contagion). However, Goyer always supported casting Wesley Snipes (Jungle Fever, Dolemite Is My Name) for the part. Fortunately, Snipes failed to produce a film centered on the character Black Panther by 1996 and thus was available for the role. By the time the final draft was completed, Snipes was the only actor seriously being considered to play Blade. Principal photography began in Los Angeles in February of 1997 largely on constructed sets. After the original 140-minute rough cut of the movie was negatively received by test audiences, post-production focused heavily on editing and incorporating reshoots which delayed the release more than six months. However, some of the cut or trimmed-down plot elements would end up playing integral roles in the sequels (i.e. giant blood bags filled with human victims of the vampires factored into the story of Blade: Trinity). Made on a budget of forty-five million dollars, Blade was released in August of 1998 to commercial success. Earning over 130 million dollars, it became Marvel’s first successful movie at the box office which laid the groundwork for the company’s future of adapting their iconic characters (i.e. the X-Men, Spider-Man) to the big screen. The film received mixed reviews from critics, who praised the visuals, action sequences, and intense style but found the story and characters to be lacking much depth or intrigue. Still, Blade remains a popular cult superhero flick among general moviegoers and is now credited as helping lay the foundation for the modern comic book movie genre. Based on when the original Blade movie came out (only one year after Joel Schumacher’s Batman & Robin), I certainly appreciate how it essentially reinvented the aesthetic of comic book movies. No longer did audiences have to be mired in the gothic fantasy world of Burton’s vision for Gotham nor the cartoonish atrocity of Schumacher’s vision. Instead, director Stephen Norrington went for a gritty, grunge-inspired aesthetic for the world of Marvel Comics’s human hybrid vampire hunter. And, despite the film’s many weaknesses, this look was surprisingly ahead of its time. Such a commitment to a darker look, tone, and style shows that the creative team behind Blade had some idea of where the genre was going (at least for DC, if not Marvel as much). Something else that this film helped Hollywood realize is that putting a nonwhite character front and center in a superhero story was by no means a risk. Quite the opposite, in fact; doing so could be well received by audience and, therefore, profitable. Without question, Blade set the stage for other comic book blockbusters with actors of color in the lead roles (Gamora and Drax in Guardians of the Galaxy, Shang-Chi in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings), most notably the Oscar-nominated film Black Panther with an all-black leading and supporting cast. That being said, I do appreciate that the story of Blade is not one bothering with themes about racial prejudice or America’s history with discrimination. I want to be very clear: there is a place for stories focusing on such themes in film, including in superhero movies (Black Panther is a prime example, or the Disney+ series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier). However, given the time that Blade came out I think its successful longevity as a cult movie hindered on showing that a superhero action flick could star a black or brown actor without their story relating solely to the color of their skin and what they (or anyone else, for that matter) think about that. In other words, any comic book movie nowadays with an ethnically and culturally diverse cast that kids look up to as role models is indebted to one mainstream movie from over twenty years ago: Blade. To wrap up, I could devote an entire blog to criticize the forgettable plot, stoic performances, and lackluster character growth in Blade. But sometimes there are lower-quality films that retain a sense of historical or cultural significance (Tim Burton’s first Batman flick proves that), and I confidently place Blade into that classification of foundational films of the comic book genre. In spite of its flaws (and there are many of those), I do think Blade has value as a movie that foreshadowed the kinds of darker and grittier comic boom films that would come to captivate audiences’ imaginations in the movie theater for now multiple generations and, quite possibly, many more to come. X-Men (2000) As early as 1984, writers at Marvel Comics drafted a screenplay based on the team of superhero mutants created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in the 1960s. But development stalled for many years due to financial troubles with Orion Pictures (the studio who held film rights to the X-Men at the time). By 1990, Stan Lee himself was working with Carolco Pictures to continue developing the film; James Cameron (The Terminator, Aliens, Titanic) would produce, while Kathryn Bigelow (Point Break, The Hurt Locker, Detroit) was in mind to direct. Early on in the process of writing a treatment for Bigelow, Cameron shifted his attention to producing a Spider-Man movie. Meanwhile, Carolco declared bankruptcy and thus the film rights to X-Men reverted to Marvel. They shopped the rights around to a number of studios (notably Columbia Pictures) before 20th Century Fox, who were impressed by the success of the animated X-Men television series, became interested. So, their producer Lauren Shuler Donner (Pretty in Pink, Free Willy, You’ve Got Mail), the wife of the late Richard Donner, purchased the film rights in 1994. Donner hired Andrew Kevin Walker (Se7en, Sleepy Hollow) to write a treatment, which ended up focusing more on Magneto’s backstory and the Sentinels but retained some elements of the final film such as Wolverine’ rivalry with Cyclops and Professor Xavier recruiting Wolverine into the X-Men. A rewrite on Walker’s second draft was done in 1995 by screenwriter Laeta Kalogridis (Shutter Island, Alita: Battle Angel), who injected a romance between Wolverine and Storm. One year later, Michael Chabon (John Carter, Star Trek: Picard) wrote a six-page treatment which focused more on developing the main X-Men characters and did not even plan to introduce the main villains until a sequel film. The studio offered directorial duties to both Robert Rodriguez (From Dusk till Dawn, Spy Kids) and Paul W.S. Anderson (Mortal Kombat, Event Horizon), but they turned it down. After the success of his neo-noir mystery thriller The Usual Suspects, Bryan Singer (Superman Returns, Valkyrie) was looking to direct a sci-fi flick. While initially hesitant to adapt a comic book for the big screen, Singer resonated with the themes of prejudice in the X-Men’s storylines and thus signed on to the project by December of 1996. In August of that year, another script was written; this time by Ed Solomon (Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Men in Black). His script was revised later on by John Logan (Gladiator, The Aviator, Skyfall) and James Schamus (The Wedding Banquet, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) who focused on fleshing out the characters more. By 1998, however, comic book writer Chris Claremont (who created X-Men characters such as Rogue, Shadowcat, Mystique, and Emma Frost) learned just how much trouble the writing process was. So, he sent the studio a four-page memo synthesizing the core concepts and ideas behind the X-Men that differentiated them from other superheroes. Around the same time, Singer sent the studio a treatment that, he believed, took the themes of the X-Men seriously as well as the analogy of Xavier and Magneto’s relationship dynamic to that of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X. Furthermore, Singer’s treatment turned Rogue into a more central character because he felt that her mutation—which prevents her from making physical contact with other people at risk of their life—best embodied the movie’s theme of alienation. 20th Century Fox, however, rejected Singer’s treatment because they felt it would cost five million dollars more than the $75 million budget they had previously set for the project. Thus, several special-effects-heavy character (notably, Beast, Nightcrawler, and Pyro) were cut before Fox officially greenlit the film. Later in the year, Singer brought on Christopher McQuarrie (Jack Reacher, Mission: Impossible – Fallout) to do some more rewrites. Before the year was out, Joss Whedon (Toy Story, The Avengers) was hired to rewrite the third act but instead he oversaw a “major overhaul” and thus changed the ending to include Jean Grey as the “Phoenix.” Whedon’s draft, however, was rejected because of its “quick-witted, pop culture-referencing tone.” The final screenwriting credit for the movie went to David Hayter (The Scorpion King, Watchmen), who was working as Singer’s assistant in the late 1990s. He was hired to do rewrites due to his extensive knowledge of X-Men comic book storylines. Despite studio pressure, Hayter insisting on retaining many of the core elements of the source material (i.e. Wolverine’s Canadian heritage). Singer and producer Tom DeSanto (Apt Pupil, Transformers), who had co-written Singer’s original treatment, were given story credit while McQuarrie voluntarily removed his credit since he felt the final draft of the screenplay was more Hayter’s than his own (there is some controversy to this day as to how much of the final movie was written by Hayter or McQuarrie). Russell Crowe (Gladiator, A Beautiful Mind, Cinderella Man) was Singer’s first choice to play Wolverine. However, Crowe turned it down and recommended his friend Hugh Jackman (The Prestige, Prisoners, The Greatest Showman) who was relatively unknown at the time. Furthermore, Jackman was competing with several more established performers for the film—including Viggo Mortensen (A History of Violence, Captain Fantastic, Green Book)—and even lost the job to Dougray Scott (Ever After, Deep Impact) who ended up dropping out due to scheduling conflicts with shooting John Woo’s Mission: Impossible 2. Ultimately, Jackman was cast after filming had already been going on for three weeks after his audition was received well by the studio. Singer first approached Patrick Stewart (Star Trek: First Contact, The Prince of Egypt) while the actor was filming Richard Donner’s political thriller Conspiracy Theory. Singer also cast Ian McKellen (The Lord of the Rings) in the role of Magneto based on his performance in Singer’s previous movie Apt Pupil. McKellen greatly resonated with the subtextual LGBTQ+ allegory of the movie as an activist and gay man himself. Due to some shifting release dates with other films, Fox pressured Singer to finish production of the project six months ahead of the initial schedule in order to meet a new July release date. Thus, principal photography commenced in Ontario, Canada in September of 1999 and lasted until March of 2000, with several Toronto locations utilized for interior and exterior sets. Due to his claim of taking medication for back pain, Singer reportedly often arrived to set late and experienced mood swings and tantrums. After several cast and crew members complained to the studio, associate producer Kevin Feige was flown to Toronto to keep Singer in line. Furthermore, Singer was accused of giving small roles to younger actors in exchange for sexual favors. Other elements of production were nightmarish for the actors, from Jackman having hundreds of pairs of plaster claws built for him to Rebecca Romijn-Stamos wearing over 100 individual silicone prosthetics for the role of Mystique which took over six hours to apply each time. Romijn-Stamos later commented that, for her, making the movie was “hell.” Released on July 14, 2000, X-Men earned just under 300 million dollars on a final budget of 75 million dollars making it the ninth highest-grossing film of that year. It was also well-received by critics, who praised the streamlined storytelling, action, and special effects. However, some felt that much of the ensemble cast (notably Halle Berry) were underutilized. Nevertheless, X-Men helped the resurgence of mainstream comic book cinema in the early 2000s and spawned a massive franchise of films that, in total, have grossed over six billion dollars (making it the ninth highest-grossing film franchise of all time). My very first blog was about 20th Century Fox’s X-Men franchise, and the overall sentiments that I expressed back then I agree with now: people look back at the first two X-Men movies with intense nostalgia and should really revisit them through a modern lens given how much the genre has grown and evolved since the year 2000. But, I do want to shine some light on what does work about the movie and why it remains an important part of the foundation of this genre. As I said in that blog, most people emphasize the rapport between Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) and Erik Lehnsherr/“Magneto” (Ian McKellan) as the best part of the first X-Men flick. While I don’t deny their excellent chemistry as former best friends who became archrivals, I never found their characters to be the crux of why this movie is remotely enjoyable. Rather it was how the filmmakers handled some of the darker, more mature themes that the X-Men deal with. On the one hand, you have the political subtext of ostracization and prejudice towards the “other” involving the government aiming to rid its society of mutants who they deem dangerous and, in some cases, inhuman. This, of course stems from the opening scene involving a young “Magneto” being separated from his family in a concentration camp during the Holocaust (which is expanded on, to great effect, in Matthew Vaugh’s prequel X-Men: First Class). In addition, the character of Rogue (Anna Paquin) was a solid choice for a deuteragonist who embodies the film’s central metaphor about having an identity crisis and social isolation. But, in my humble opinion, the strongest character (and performance) in X-Men is Hugh Jackman as Logan/“Wolverine.” Not only does he perfectly embody the gruff loner archetype of the character, but the hints of his backstory as a military man who has lived many lifetimes and was physically abused in order to be weaponized play very well into the tragic lives of these characters and what makes them different than other hero teams such as the Avengers. Aside from the mature themes, X-Men feels different than the Batman movies of the 1990s or the original Blade film in how it uses relatable “outsider” characters like Rogue and “Wolverine” as a bridge for the audience to cross into the world of mutants. This seems specifically apt at a time in modern cinematic history when such films were not being released every few months and the concepts inherent to comic book storytelling were household words. From there, the movie manages to build a team that people were invested in and thus set the stage for better “team-up” superhero flicks like The Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy to come along. All that being said, the original X-Men is undeniably too campy and bound to its own time to truly transcend and earn its reputation as a great comic book movie. However, it also undeniably helped convince regular moviegoers that comic book movies were worth their time and energy by not being unabashedly cartoonish. So, it deserves credit for that, at least. And, if nothing else, it (like Blade) helped establish Marvel’s reputation for making good comic book movies. Spider-Man 2 (2004) Immediately after production wrapped on the first Spider-Man film, director Sam Raimi (The Evil Dead, A Simple Plan) committed to the sequel and enlisted screenwriters Alfred Gough and Miles Millar (Lethal Weapon 4, Shanghai Noon) to write the first draft of the screenplay. The sequel was officially announced only five days following the first film’s highly lucrative debut at the box office with the working title The Amazing Spider-Man. Later that year, Michael Chabon was hired to do rewrites, which included aging Dr. Otto Octavius down in order for him to fall for Mary Jane Watson while Harry Osborn worked with the Daily Bugle to put a ten-million-dollar bounty on Spider-Man’s head. With multiple drafts from Gough, Millar, Chabon, and David Koepp (Jurassic Park, Mission: Impossible), Raimi sifted through them in order to pick and choose what he liked from all of them. He was adamant that a sequel to the first film needed to explore the inherent conflict of reconciling being a superhero with the daily responsibilities of normal life. Ultimately, Raimi decided to keep Octavius as the villain because he found him to be potentially visually appealing who could physically spar with Spider-Man but was also sympathetic. Raimi added the notion that Peter Parker hero-worshipped Octavius as well as making Spider-Man’s struggle about saving Octavius from his demons as opposed to killing him. Despite having a three-movie contract, Tobey Maguire (The Cider House Rules, Brothers) began suffering from a pre-existing back condition upon wrapping filming for Seabiscuit. Jake Gyllenhaal (October Sky, Brokeback Mountain, Nightcrawler) was temporarily cast to replace him. However, Maguire’s girlfriend’s father Ronald Meyer—the head of Universal Studios from 1995 to 2013—helped him get the role back (and a $17 million salary in the process). Several actors were considered for the part of Octavius, such as Chris Cooper (A Time to Kill, American Beauty) and Christopher Walken (The Dead Zone, Catch Me If You Can), before Alfred Molina (Raiders of the Lost Ark, Boogie Nights, Promising Young Woman) was cast after Raimi saw his performance in Julie Taymor’s Frida. As Molina is a big fan of Marvel Comics, he committed himself to retaining Octavius’s signature sense of humor from the source material. Principal photography began in New York City and Chicago in April of 2003 (after being pushed back to accommodate Maguire’s filming schedule on Seabiscuit) before moving to Los Angeles the next month. After an eight-week hiatus was needed to build Doctor Octopus’s lair on the pier (inspired by the work of German expressionist filmmaker Fritz Lang). A special camera system, nicknamed the “Spydercam,” was created to allow Raimi and his team to shoot more footage from Spider-Man perspective while swinging from buildings. It was dropped as much as fifty stories to film at least 2,400-foot-long shots, but these shots were pre-planned using digital versions of the location cities. Reshoots for the movie went on until the end of 2003. Octavius’s mechanical tentacles were made from a corset, metal-and-rubber girdle, rubber spine and four foam rubber tentacles eight feet in length and weighing approximately twenty-five pounds each. Puppeteers controlled each of the tentacle’s claws, while it took four puppeteers to control just one of the tentacle arms. They would intensely rehearse with Molina in order to get the movements down (Molina ended up nicknaming his tentacles “Larry,” “Harry,” “Moe,” and “Flo”). Made on a budget of two hundred million dollars, Spider-Man 2 was released in June of 2004 and grossed 789 million dollars. Despite being the lowest-grossing Spider-Man flick until 2012, it ended up being the third-highest-grossing film of the year. It was also well received by both critics and audiences, who praised the visual effects, emotional weight of the storyline, and Molina’s performance as Octavius. Nominated for three Oscars, the film won Best Visual Effects at the Academy Awards. Today, it is considered by nerds and cinephiles alike to be one of the most important (and best) superhero films ever made. For my thoughts on Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man films overall, click here. But, for now, I’ll dive into the significance of the middle film in this trilogy to the genre as a whole. Simply put, Spider-Man 2 is a solid improvement on the original film in multiple ways. Perhaps most evident is Sam Raimi’s handling of the CGI-heavy action sequences involving Spider-Man swinging around, which look much better than the original film. Furthermore, the standout set pieces involving “Doc Ock” escaping the bank and on the train remain both compelling and believable despite being nearly twenty years old. Not only is this movie’s action unquestionably better than anything in the original X-Men trilogy, but it arguably rivals comic book movies that came out years afterwards. Aside from just the action, Raimi seemed to recognize the need for a villain that was more than just psychotic but actually empathetic and relatable. In comes Otto Octavius (Alfred Molina), who is far better developed than Willem Dafoe’s take on Green Goblin (let alone the wastes of space in Spider-Man 3) as a tragic figure whose ambitions and drive in his pursuit of knowledge end up causing chaos and lead to multiple deaths (including that of his wife). Thus, his story gives him a (somewhat) satisfying redemption arc by sacrificing himself to save New York City from his own destructive powers. Certainly, villains in other comic book movies (from Heath Ledger’s Joker in The Dark Knight to Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War) have surpassed Molina’s performance in virtually every way. But, Molina was unquestionably one of the first comic book movie villains that was pretty good. Of course, Spider-Man 2 being a Raimi movie means it has echoes of his signature style of filmmaking. While much of his editing style doesn’t work as well as it should, the horror vibes (particularly on display during the hospital scene) help distinguish the film’s tone from the other two in the trilogy and from many other comic book movies. And by having a director impose his style onto a genre that some argue nowadays is too formulaic, you allow for it to breathe more by a diverse array of filmmakers in terms of backgrounds and sensibilities make their mark on this malleable genre of movies. There’s more I could discuss, but I think these elements represent the best of what Spider-Man 2 has to offer. While it’s by no means one of the best comic book movies ever made, it deserves its spot as an important landmark of the genre. Not only does it improve on its predecessor, but by doing so it serves as the model for how to do a sequel right alongside films of superior quality like The Dark Knight and Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Batman Begins (2005) A couple of years after the release of his Oscar-nominated sophomore feature Memento, Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight, Inception, Dunkirk) was hired by Warner Brothers to direct a Batman movie that would reboot the franchise nearly ten years after the critical failure and middling commercial performance of Joel Schumacher’s Batman & Robin. Two months after Nolan was hired, David S. Goyer was hired to write the screenplay. Together, Nolan and Goyer aimed to reinvent the franchise by portraying the character’s origin story which, up to that point, had never been done before in live-action film (shocking, right?! 😊). Furthermore, they wanted to invoke intense empathy for Batman/Bruce Wayne from the audience by grounding his struggles in a “recognizable” and “contemporary” world to contrast with the emergence of a “heroic figure.” Notably, Nolan cited Richard Donner’s original Superman film as key inspiration for guiding him and Goyer to focus the story on the character growth of Batman rather than the style and flair of Gotham City and Batman’s rogues’ gallery. In developing the story, Goyer took inspiration from Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale’s limited comic book series “Batman: The Long Halloween” (specifically the portrayal of crime boss Carmine Falcone). Intending to include Harvey Dent in the narrative, Nolan and Goyer felt they “couldn’t do him justice” and instead wrote an original character—Rachel Dawes—while also injecting a version of GCPD Sergeant James Gordon inspired by his portrayal in Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli’s story arc “Batman: Year One.” In deciding on the film’s primary antagonists, Nolan and Goyer decided to use Scarecrow and Ra’s al Ghul since they had never been featured in a live-action Batman movie nor in the 1960s television series starring Adam West. In crafting the logic behind Batman’s creation, Nolan ignored the common trope in the comic books of young Bruce Wayne being inspired by a Zorro movie because he felt that the idea to become a superhero had to be an original concept (thus explaining why no other superheroes exist in the world of the film). Furthermore, he felt that this allowed the poignant symbolism of bats to become more integral to the storytelling. Principal photography began on location in Iceland in March of 2004. In line with Nolan’s vision (and a standout from either Burton’s or Schumacher’s versions of Gotham City as a fantastical setting), exteriors were filmed in London, New York, and Chicago in order to make Bruce Wayne’s home recognizable to audiences. Many of the interior sets (including the Batcave) were built at Shepperton Studios in England, while Mentmore Towers (a 19th-century country home in Buckinghamshire) served as the filming location for Wayne Manor due to its white floors which Nolan felt acted as a memorial to Thomas and Martha Wayne. Meanwhile, the Tumbler chase scene was filmed on the streets of Chicago. In filming the action and violence, Nolan was fine sticking to a PG-13 rating and thus filmed nothing gory or bloody. This was also due to him wanting to appeal to a wide age range in order to make a film that he “would have loved to have seen” during his early adolescent years. Filming was completed on a 150-million-dollar budget. Released in June of 2005, Batman Begins earned a retrospectively modest 373 million dollars in theaters but was critically appraised. Nolan’s direction and Christian Bale’s performance in the lead role were widely praised, with critics highlighting the emotional weight of the story as pivotal to helping viewers dig into the psychology behind who Batman is as a character (something that the Burton-Schumacher movies were sorely lacking). Walter C. Pfister (Memento, Inception) was nominated for an Oscar for Best Cinematography. The film is now recognized as the model for doing a reboot well, and is also considered one of the bets and most important comic book movies of the 2000s, having inspired films such as Iron Man, Logan, and Joker, just to name a few. Since I’ve already dived deeply into Christopher Nolan’s first entry in the Dark Knight trilogy (click here), I’ll keep my discussion of Batman Begins here relatively brief. Simply put, there are few movies that stand up to Batman Begins as a superhero origin flick. Arguably, only Iron Man comes close in terms of achieving the level of success in its objective of introducing mainstream audiences to a brand-new interpretation of a comic book character that transforms into a hero. But Favreau’s film that kickstarted the Marvel Cinematic Universe was lighthearted and silly by comparison. Nolan’s first Batman flick, on the other hand, sensitively deals with compelling themes via a character study that most comic book movies back then (and even now) barely touch. When it comes right down to it, however, the thing that Nolan did to pull off such an incredible feat of filmmaking is he designed a version of Gotham City that feels like it belongs in our reality. Even more grounded than the fictional universe of Blade, his hyper-industrial take on a modern city plagued by crime, poverty, and chaos makes for a fantastic setting for a dark action thriller and prime breeding ground for the “Caped Crusader” to reveal himself to the world. To this day, Nolan’s version of Gotham in Batman Begins is more believable than most other fictional universes in other comic book movies despite having been released over fifteen years ago. Combining how exceptional Bruce Wayne’s character growth is in the film with the heightened realism and sense of place, Batman Begins is truly a triumph of modern cinema (not just for the comic book genre). It more than deserves its place as one of the best examples of what a great superhero movie can be, despite still not getting the credit it deserves due to being overshadowed by its first sequel. So, these are just some of the important comic book movies that preceded a pivotal turning point in its evolution: the rise of Marvel Studios and its critically and commercially successful cinematic universe. Will this be the subject of my next blog in this series? Tune in soon to find out. 😊 Which of these formative comic book movies do you think still holds up today? What are some other pre-2008 superhero movies that you think people should check out? What opinions of mine do you find absolutely ridiculous? Let me know in the comments below. Until next time, this has been… Yours Truly, Amateur Analyst
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Austin McManusI have no academic or professional background in film production or criticism; I simply love watching and talking about movies. Archives
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