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Why Superman is The Most Important Comic Book Movie of all Time


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I think Superman, as the first big superhero film, obviously has a pretty good claim to being the most important. The article itself also makes a pretty good case for Batman 89'. 

 

I think one movie that gets forgotten in this conversation is X-Men. After Superman, the only superhero films before 89 that were even mildly successful were its own sequels. After Batman 89', that's slightly less the case, but the ones that did well were Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Mask of Zorro, not exactly what many would consider superhero movies.

 

There are two movies that I would argue really kicked off the modern superhero genre: Blade and X-Men, but I tend to give more credit to X-Men even though Blade came first, because I think the X-Men are far more recognizable as comic book characters and superheroes. Blade is those things, but I don't think that film's success is necessarily what spurred others to follow. X-Men was followed up by Spider-Man, and after that the genre exploded.

 

I think Superman deserves all the credit for breaking the seal, proving that superheroes and comic book characters can succeed on screen, and Batman proved they could be bigger than anything, but I think X-Men should get some recognition for ushering in the modern age of superhero films.

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48 minutes ago, TwinIon said:

I think Superman, as the first big superhero film, obviously has a pretty good claim to being the most important. The article itself also makes a pretty good case for Batman 89'. 

 

I think one movie that gets forgotten in this conversation is X-Men. After Superman, the only superhero films before 89 that were even mildly successful were its own sequels. After Batman 89', that's slightly less the case, but the ones that did well were Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Mask of Zorro, not exactly what many would consider superhero movies.

 

There are two movies that I would argue really kicked off the modern superhero genre: Blade and X-Men, but I tend to give more credit to X-Men even though Blade came first, because I think the X-Men are far more recognizable as comic book characters and superheroes. Blade is those things, but I don't think that film's success is necessarily what spurred others to follow. X-Men was followed up by Spider-Man, and after that the genre exploded.

 

I think Superman deserves all the credit for breaking the seal, proving that superheroes and comic book characters can succeed on screen, and Batman proved they could be bigger than anything, but I think X-Men should get some recognition for ushering in the modern age of superhero films.

Blade most definitely ushered in Xmen and Spiderman... that's not even in dispute and it has been cited for that. It also was the first successful film for Marvel films and it was produced by Kevin Feige. Blade's success and it's darker,  more grounded take wiped the slate clean from the horrible Batman sequels and other bad superhero films of the 90's which were still riffing on the campiness of the 60's Batman series. Don't underestimate Blade's importance. Without it's success, I don't know if you even get an Xmen film.

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I haven't read the article yet so this might get covered there... but getting Marlon Brando in Superman was huge.  At that time big name actors would not have touched a superhero movie because they were seen as extreme kids stuff.  Getting Brando in Superman changed the game forever for the genre.  

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3 hours ago, skillzdadirecta said:

Blade most definitely ushered in Xmen and Spiderman... that's not even in dispute and it has been cited for that. It also was the first successful film for Marvel films and it was produced by Kevin Feige. Blade's success and it's darker,  more grounded take wiped the slate clean from the horrible Batman sequels and other bad superhero films of the 90's which were still riffing on the campiness of the 60's Batman series. Don't underestimate Blade's importance. Without it's success, I don't know if you even get an Xmen film.

I think you're probably right from a filmmaker's perspective. I don't remember how Blade was marketed or what impact it had publically, so I'm still inclined to give credit to X-Men for popularizing the genre, but I think Blade does probably have a better case for being "more important."

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1 hour ago, TwinIon said:

I think you're probably right from a filmmaker's perspective. I don't remember how Blade was marketed or what impact it had publically, so I'm still inclined to give credit to X-Men for popularizing the genre, but I think Blade does probably have a better case for being "more important."

Blade over performed when it was released. It won the box office weekend despite the fact that it was Rated R and featured a little known Black superhero. 

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