In the recent years I have noticed an influx in the production of comic-book adaptation movies (Superhero movies) or what I would like to call spandex movies. The reason behind the popularity of this genre in the recent years is the improvement of the movie special effects and computer generated images which this genre heavely relies on (at least that is what I think). Do you remember how lame superhero movies were in the 70s, 80s and early 90s were CGI wasn't that good which failed to manifest how superhero story should be presented as close as how comics are drawn?
In this post I will list the most important superhero movies produced in the past, the upcoming movies and the comic-books that are likely be adapted into movies in the near future. I will not talk about Radio and TV adaptations.
Page to screen, the history of most important comic-book adaptations:
1978: Christopher Reeves Immortalises Clark Kent in the first Superman movie
1982: Austrian body builder Arnold Schwarzeneger flexes in the film version of Conan The Barbarian
1984: Superman's cousin Kara flies high in Supergirl. Film falls to earth with a bump at the box ofice
1989: Michael Keaton is Burton's caped crusader in Batman alongside Nicolson's Joker
1992: Michelle Pefifer razor-sharp cheekbones and claws bring another iconic bat to life in Tim Burton's sequel Batman Returns. Flop sequels to come in 1995 and 1997
1995: Sly Stallone casts his authority in Judge Dredd
1997: Todd McFarlan's Spawn rages into cinemas
1998: Wesley Snipes helps to develop an 18-rated big screen adaptation of Marvel's half human, half vampire badass Blade
2000: First X-Men movie released with two sequels to come in 2003 and 2006
2002: First of Spiderman movies sees light and two sequels to come in 2004 and 2007
2003: Industrial Light and Magic spend over 2.5 hours to create the Hulk.
2003: Daredevil gets his own self titled movie with Ben Afflek playing blind superhero
2004: Ron Perlman makes a devlishly good Hellboy in Guillermo del Toro's film take with a sequel in 2008
2005: Sin City movie debuts with Tarantino as a guest director
2005: In a spin off Daredevil, ninja warrior Elektra gets her own film
2005: Batman reboots with a dark more realistic look in Batman Begins.The Joker returns in sequel movie The Dark Knight which hits screen in 2008
2005: Vertigo's comic book Hellblazer is turned into a movie and is named after the lead character Constantine
2006: Superman continues where he left off in Superman Returns.
2006: Alan Moore's work is adopted for the first time, his graphic novel V For Vendetta is turned into a movie
2006: Gerard Butler gets ripped for an adaptation of Frank Miller's 300
2007: Comic book superfan Nicolas Cage ironically has to cover his Ghost Rider tattoo to play antihero Johnny Blaze on screen
2007: superhero sequel Fantastic 4: Rise Of The Silver Surfer receives mixed reviews, but still receives $288m worldwide. I know I didn't post the first movie
2008: Speed Racer underwhelms at the box office
2008: Edward Norton reboots The Incredible Hulk after the failure of Eric Banna's movie
2008: Robert Downey Jr. is cast as playboy superhero in Iron Man with a 2010 sequel
2009: The story of Wolverine is told in X men Origins: Wolverine
2009: Alan Moore's other graphic novel Watchmen is adapted to the big screen
2010: Josh Brolin drools throgh his cheek as a scarred gunslinger in flop Jonah Hex
2010: Another DC Vertigo comic book is adopted: The Losers
2010: First DC comic book movie adaptation not produced by Warner Bros. RED which stands for Retired, Extremly Dangerous
2011: The much anticipated Captain America: The first Avenger hits screens
2011: Ryan Reynolds dons the skintight superhero suit for the Green Lantern movie
2011: Second Avenger Thor hits screen
2011: X Men go back to origins in X Men: First Class
You can clearly see that over the years the gap narrows between superhero movie debuts, from one movie debut every few years to several movies in the same year.
Spandex movies coming soon, under production or under post production:
2011: Steven Spielberg uses performance capture to bring the Belgian boy detective to life in Tintin.
2012: Andrew Garfield will star as Peter Parker in franchise reboot: The Amazing Spiderman
2012: Hugh Jackman hits the screen again as The Wolverine which is the movie title
2012: Christian Bale is the first actor to done the bat suit for 3 times in the 3rd installment of the new look batman The Dark Knight Rises
2012: Nicolas Cage returns as Johnny Blaze once again after the crappy 2007 movie in Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance. Nic kindly requests you to not call this movie a sequel
2012: The Avengers Director says that he is making the sequel to five of the last decade's biggest movies at the same time.
2013: Superman ditches the red briefs in the reboot movie Man Of Steel.
Spandex movies under pre-production and rumored future projects:
- Gravel
- The Boys
- Afro Samurai
- The Flash
- Akira
- Luke Cage
- SGT Rock
- The Goon
- Daredevil (reboot)
- Dan Dare
- The Crow (reboot)
- The Red Star
- Blood of The Innocent
- Shrapnel
- Bone
- Damaged
- Random Acts of Violence
- The Darkness
- Ant Man
- Sin City 2
- Holy Terror (Frank Miller's new graphic novel that talks about modern terrorism)
- Nemesis
- Battle Angel
- EARP: Saints for Sinners
- The Last Days Of American Crime
- Supercrooks
- Dana Valentine
- 300: Battle Of Artemisia
- Iron Fist
- Oblivion
- Black Panther
- Strike Force: Morituri
- Inhumans
- Iron Man3
- Deadpool
- Captain Planet
- Voltron
- Thor 2
- Justice League
- Batman (reboot since Christophar Nolan is leaving Batman after The Dark Knight Rises)
- Preacher
What the hell happened to?:
- Kick Ass 2
- Wonder Woman
- Wanted 2
- Aquaman
- Hawkman
Sources: Total Film Magazine and IMDB.com
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