Superhero, inc.: characters step out of comics into big-screen blockbusters
By Casey Gillis on May. 01, 2008
(434) 385-5525
When comic books first hit a nerve with the public in the 1930s, they were a step ahead of the black and white movies of the time.
“Whatever (comic book creator) Jerry Siegel could imagine and (his partner) Joe Shuster could draw or suggest with a few brushstrokes — a man leaping over skyscrapers, outracing a locomotive, towing an airplane on his back, snuffing a time bomb in his hands — kids could now see, and in full color,” author David Hajdu writes in “The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic Book Scare and How It Changed America.”
Early film and television adaptations of comics lacked the finesse of today’s CGI-fests, and the result was a lot of low-budget, cheesy fare. Think the old Adam West “Batman” series, with its “Whams!” “Bangs!” and “Pows!”
The first big-budget superhero movie didn’t come until 1978’s “Superman,” which was made for $55 million. “Batman” followed in 1989, with a budget of $35 million, according to the Internet Movie Database.
Today’s movie budgets have skyrocketed in general, especially with superhero movies that employ a lot of special effects.
“It’s all about spectacle,” says Mike Robinson, a pop culture professor at Lynchburg College. “You have to have these big spectacle kind of scenes that everybody can get into. The special effects budget has to be good. The destruction, the danger has to be there.
“That’s what movies do now. They do special effects better than anything else. The superhero genre, like sci fi and horror, just takes advantage of that really well.”
This summer’s crop of superheroes are no exception.
“Iron Man,” starring Robert Downey Jr., is up first, hitting theaters this weekend.
There’s also a remake of “The Incredible Hulk,” starring Edward Norton, which comes out June 13; “Hellboy II” on July 11; and, probably one of the most anticipated movies of the summer, “The Dark Knight,” starring Christian Bale as Batman and Heath Ledger as The Joker, on July 18.
Of the four, “Hellboy II” was the cheapest to make, with a budget of $72 million, and “Iron Man” was the most expensive at $186 million, according to the Internet Movie Database.
Robinson, a comic book enthusiast, says this generation of superhero movies started being green-lit by studios after the release of “Spider-Man” in 2002.
“Success breeds imitation,” he says. “‘Spider-Man’ really kick-started a lot of this stuff again. It was just so good.”
The “Spider-Man” trilogy, starring Tobey Maguire, killed at the box office. The first two are among the top 10 highest grossing films of all time, according to boxofficemojo.com, and “Spider-Man 3” currently holds the record for biggest opening weekend of all time.
Robinson thinks these movies appeal to people because of the morally pure world the characters live in.
“Good is good, and bad is bad,” he says. “I think viewers like that kind of certainty and like the idea that somebody is out there fighting for them.”
After the first “Spider-Man” was released, other superheroes, some more well-known than others, followed.
There was the good (“Batman Begins,” “Superman Returns”), the bad (“Daredevil,” “Elektra”) and even the ugly (“Catwoman,” which earned a score of Razzie nominations, the evil twin of the Oscars).
Basing big-budget movies on comic books is appealing to Hollywood because there’s built-in name recognition of the character and all the fans who come with it.
But with that high profile comes great responsibility.
“The great thing about these superheroes, and kind of the curse of the superhero, is the fans love them,” Robinson says.
Fans are fiercely protective of the material. They want continuity in the actual comics, and if a filmmaker adapts it for the big screen, they want it done carefully.
“It’s got to have that spirit there,” Robinson says. “You’ve got to have some sense that the thing you grew up reading is being respected.”
When the first “Hulk” movie came out in 2003, with Eric Bana as the big guy, it was widely criticized.
“There wasn’t enough ‘Hulk’ smash action,” Robinson says. “That’s what we want from the Hulk.”
Take one look at the previews for the Norton version, with the Hulk battling archrival Abomination, and it looks like the reboot will give fans what they want.
“Studios have realized if they can get the fans on their side, they can generate this whole wave of publicity,” Robinson says.
This summer, that support will be vital to “Iron Man” and “The Incredible Hulk” in particular.
Both are based on Marvel comic book characters, and the films were actually financed by the company itself.
In the past, Marvel licensed its characters — which also include the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, Blade and Daredevil — out to big studios.
“They were kind of at the mercy of whoever bought the rights,” Robinson says.
Now it’s all on them, and Robinson says it will be a big test for Marvel.
For “Iron Man,” the pressure is really on.
“He’s not had the kind of exposure beyond comics that the others have had,” Robinson says. “This is his big chance to be seen by the American public.”
Marvel first introduced the character in 1963. His alter ego, rich playboy Tony Stark, is an industrialist who designs weapons for the government. He becomes Iron Man after being injured and captured by en-emy troops in a war zone, building a suit of armor that keeps his heart beating and gives him super strength.
“The injury took his perfect life in a different direction,” Robinson says.
Even after Stark becomes Iron Man, he still has his flaws.
“Stark is something of a weirdo compared to other superheroes,” Robert Downey Jr. told Entertainment Weekly recently. “Whereas most of them are dealing with some extraordinary transformation, he’s very self-indulgent, a womanizer and politically unsound by most people’s standards.”
In later comic book storylines, Stark battles alcoholism and loses his company because of it.
“He’s probably the most major character to battle alcoholism,” says Robinson.
Rumor has it that the drinking won’t be addressed in this film. But, hey, there’s always the sequel for that.
Whether “Iron Man” and the others hit or not, Robinson thinks Hollywood will continue to mine comic books for material.
“Ultimately, they’re just good stories. That’s the hidden secret of comic books,” he says. “That’s what people have finally, in the last decade, gotten. They’re not just these juvenile characters.”
COMMENTS