Superhero film
The superhero film is a film genre categorized by the presence of superhero characters, individuals with extraordinary abilities who are dedicated to fighting crime, saving the world, or helping the innocent. It is sometimes considered a sub-genre of the action film genre and has evolved into one of the most financially successful film genres worldwide. These films focus on superhuman abilities, advanced technology, mystical phenomena, or exceptional physical and mental skills that enable these heroes to fight for the common good or defeat a supervillain antagonist.
Superhero films typically include genre elements of romance, comedy, fantasy, and science fiction, with large instances of the superhero genre predominantly occupied and produced by American media franchises DC and Marvel, originally adaptations of their existing works of superhero comic books. Individual superhero films frequently contain a character's origin story.
History
1936–1978: Early years
Superhero stories initially gained popularity through comic books and were later adapted into film serials. Early examples include Flash Gordon, Mandrake the Magician, The Shadow, Adventures of Captain Marvel, Batman, The Phantom, Captain America, and Superman.Between 1941 and 1942, Fleischer Studios produced a series of eight animated cartoons and one additional short based on the Superman comic book. Famous Studios, the successor of Fleischer Studios, created eight more cartoons between 1942 and 1943.
In the following decades, the decline of Saturday matinée showings of serials and turmoil in the comic book industry slowed superhero motion picture production greatly, although films were still being produced. These films included Superman and the Mole Men, starring George Reeves, and Batman, a big-screen extension of the Batman television series starring Adam West. Superman and the Mole Men was a pilot for the TV series Adventures of Superman. Compilations of the series were later released theatrically.
Tokusatsu
In 1957, Shinto Ho produced the first film serial featuring the Tokusatsu superhero character Super Giant, marking a shift in Japanese popular culture toward masked superheroes in Tokusatsu. The Super Giant film series and Astro Boy heavily influenced later Japanese Tokusatsu superhero films. Moonlight Mask also became popular around that time, with six films retelling the story of the TV series. Another early Japanese superhero film was Ōgon Bat, starring Sonny Chiba, based on the 1931 Kamishibai superhero Ōgon Bat.Kaiju films
Although kaiju movies, or movies featuring kaiju monsters, do not typically fall under the superhero category, the kaiju monster Godzilla, originally a villain, transitioned into a superhero role in subsequent films. Godzilla has been described as "the original radioactive superhero" because his nuclear origin story predates Spider-Man's 1962 debut. However, Godzilla did not become a hero until Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster. By the 1970s, Godzilla was viewed as a superhero, with the magazine King of the Monsters describing Godzilla in 1977 as the "Superhero of the '70s." Donald F. Glut wrote that Godzilla was "the most universally popular superhero of 1977."1966 saw the debut of the Ultra Series with the kaiju TV show Ultra Q. With the release of the original Ultraman, the franchise started focusing on superheroes and the series averaged an audience rating of 36.8% through its first 39 episodes. In 1967, Ultraman started expanding to films. Early films, such as Ultraman: Monster Movie Feature, were compilations or theatrical releases of TV show episodes. The first original Ultraman film was The 6 Ultra Brothers vs. the Monster Army, a co-production with Thailand.
The popularity of television superheroes in Japan led to the Kamen Rider and Super Sentai franchises by manga artist Shotaro Ishinomori in 1971 and 1975, respectively. As with Ultraman, many early Kamen Rider and Super Sentai episodes were released as films. Original Kamen Rider films released before 1978 include Kamen Rider vs. Shocker, Kamen Rider vs. Ambassador Hell, Kamen Rider V3 vs. Destron Mutants, and Five Riders vs. King Dark.
Original superhero characters emerged in other, more comedy-oriented films, such as the French political satire film Mr. Freedom, the Polish parody Hydrozagadka, and the American B movies Rat Pfink a Boo Boo and The Wild World of Batwoman.
1978–1998: Rising popularity
Following the success of Star Wars, Richard Donner's Superman, the first big-budget DC feature film, was a critical and commercial success. The same year, Toei Company's Spider-Man reimagining and the first Super Sentai crossover film, JAKQ Dengekitai vs. Gorenger, were released. Other entries emerged throughout the 1980s, including Eight Riders vs. Galaxy King, Kamen Rider Super-1: The Movie, Richard Lester's Superman II, Spider-Man: The Dragon's Challenge, and Paul Verhoeven's RoboCop. These were followed by Kamen Rider Black: Hurry to Onigashima and Kamen Rider Black: Terrifying! The Phantom House of Devil Pass, released in 1988. The success of Tim Burton's Batman and its direct follow-up, Batman Returns, spawned the DC Animated Universe.One of the first superhero films of the 1990s was Marvel's Captain America, which did not have a theatrical release. Roger Corman's The Fantastic Four was produced solely to maintain the film rights to the property and was not released theatrically or on home video.
Alex Proyas' The Crow became the first independent comic superhero franchise film. The film introduced a new level of violence to a younger audience, bridging the gap between superhero and modern action films. The success of The Crow may have influenced the release of a film version of Spawn, Image Comics's leading character. After Marvel bought Malibu Comics, Marvel and Columbia Pictures released Men in Black in 1997. This film was the first Marvel property to win an Academy Award and, at the time, was the highest-grossing comic book adaptation. While commercially successful, Joel Schumacher's Batman & Robin was critically panned for its campiness and deviation from the darker style of the series' first two films directed by Tim Burton. Some have cited it as a factor in the temporary decline of the superhero film sub-genre.
In Japan in the 1990s, original Ultraman films became more common. In 1996, Tsuburaya released Ultraman Zearth, which parodied the original TV series and later installments. The following year, the sequel titled Ultraman Zearth 2: Superhuman Big Battle - Light and Shadow premiered.
1998–2007: Further rise
In 1998, Marvel released Blade, a darker superhero film blended with traditional action elements. The title character possesses the powers of a vampire and an arsenal of weaponry. The success of Blade is considered the beginning of Marvel's film success and a catalyst for further comic book film adaptations. Blade II was released in 2002.Adam Sternberg of Vulture stated that The Matrix was influenced by comic books, cyberpunk fiction, Japanese anime, and Hong Kong action films. He also credits the film and its incorporation of Computer-Generated Imagery with reinventing the superhero film by setting the template for modern superhero blockbusters. According to Sternberg, this inspired the superhero renaissance in the early 21st century. John Kenneth Muir, in The Encyclopedia of Superheroes on Film and Television, describes The Matrix as a re-imagination of movie visuals, paving the way for the visuals of later superhero films. He credits it with helping to "make comic-book superheroes hip." He notes that the bullet-time effect successfully demonstrates the concept of "faster than a speeding bullet" onscreen.
In Japan, following the success of the Kamen Rider Kuuga television series, a new era of the Kamen Rider franchise began, leading to the production of annual Kamen Rider movies, starting with Kamen Rider Agito: Project G4 in 2001.
The popularity of the Ultraman Tiga TV series led to several films based on it and later installments, including Ultraman Tiga & Ultraman Dyna: Warriors of the Star of Light, Ultraman Gaia: The Battle in Hyperspace, and Ultraman Tiga: The Final Odyssey.
2008–present: Ubiquity of the MCU and DCEU and the expansion to streaming services
2008–2014
The release of Iron Man in 2008 began the Marvel Cinematic Universe. A few months later, The Dark Knight was released to widespread critical acclaim and became the first superhero movie to make over $1 billion at the worldwide box office. 2009 saw the release of Watchmen and X-Men Origins: Wolverine. The 2010s saw continued success for superhero films both culturally and economically, taking the sub-genre's success and ubiquity to new heights. Matthew Vaughn's adaptation of Kick-Ass was released in 2010, followed by Iron Man 2 a month later. 2011 releases included The Green Hornet, Green Lantern, and X-Men: First Class. After referencing the "Avengers Initiative" in the Iron Man films and The Incredible Hulk, Marvel released Thor in May 2011, followed by Captain America: The First Avenger in July 2011.While Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance had little audience interest, three superhero films made it to the top ten in the box office chart for the year, both in the US and internationally. These were The Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises, and The Amazing Spider-Man.
A Superman Returns sequel was planned for 2009 but was delayed and later scrapped in favor of Man of Steel, a reboot of the Superman franchise.
At the 2012 San Diego Comic-Con, Marvel confirmed an Ant-Man movie was in development, as well as a film based on the 2008 comic book series Guardians of the Galaxy, which was released in August 2014. Iron Man 3 was released in May 2013, Thor: The Dark World in November 2013, and Captain America: The Winter Soldier in April 2014. The Amazing Spider-Man 2, the sequel to the 2012 reboot, was released in May 2014. A sequel to the 2009 film X-Men Origins: Wolverine, titled The Wolverine was released in 2013. In 2014, X-Men: Days of Future Past was released.
In 2014, Italian filmmaker Gabriele Salvatores directed a superhero-fantasy film titled Il Ragazzo Invisible, which won the Young Audience Award at the 2015 European Film Awards.