Why Marvel Is Defining The Modern Superhero Film Genre - Forbes Article

[Walts Ghost]

This is in no way being used to start some sort of flame war or criticize WB/DC. I just thought it was an interesting article that fans of the genre may be interested in reading. Hit the source link for the full article.

With the impending release of Disney-Marvel’s newest big-budget superhero franchise installment Thor: The Dark World, and last week’s unveiling of an impressively dramatic trailer for next year’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier, the Marvel superhero film business is taking control of the superhero film genre and defining it for the modern era. There are no doubt a lot of fans who will disagree with that assessment, but let’s look as objectively as might be possible at the big picture, and I think you’ll come to understand why Marvel is indeed setting the standard for the future of superhero cinema.

Marvel’s enthusiasm and confidence is apparent, in the choices to produce a Guardians of the Galaxy film featuring a walking alien tree superhero and a talking space raccoon, Ant-Man featuring a character little-known outside of comic book fandom, and a plethora of other comic book adaptations to expand the already-large Marvel cinematic universe. From 2008 through 2017, Marvel will have released SEVENTEEN films all existing together within a single world on screen. That’s not including the Spider-Man series, X-Men series, and other characters licensed by other studios, remember. In fact, most of the Marvel characters with the highest name-recognition among the general public are being exploited by other studios.

Looking at all of the films Marvel has made so far or has planned in the next few years, how many of the characters were possibly well-known commodities to the average movegoer before their film adaptations? One — the Hulk, who probably enjoys a decent amount of public awareness and had a previous film under his belt, but who still wasn’t on par with public awareness for Batman and Superman. Marvel has built their empire primarily on less recognizable characters, characters who wouldn’t seem to have much ability to attract worldwide audiences, and generally characters whose concepts seem at first glance to be hard sells.

If someone had asked you back in 2005 whether a Thor movie would be a big hit — bigger even than a Superman movie — what would you have said? Or if someone suggested an Iron Man movie could break a billion dollars at the box office — making more even than the highest-grossing Batman film — would you have been a tad skeptical? Yet here we are, in a genre pretty much owned by Marvel now.

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