Why were there no superhero movies in the 80s?

[Monterey Jack]

Recently I've been wondering...considering how virtually every other hugely successful movie from the late 70s throughout the 80s generated a ton of cheap, cheesy rip-off movies (Raiders, Mad Max, Alien, Animal House, E.T., etc.), why did no one attempt to cash in on the huge box office of Superman: The Movie by greenlighting a wave of superhero movies? There wasn't another serious attempt until Tim Burton's Batman…eleven years later.

Considering how there were DOZENS of Batman knockoffs clogging multiplexes in the early-to-mid 90s (not to mention the absolute glut of superhero movies we have today), it's even more odd that not one studio was attempting to develop superhero movies for pretty much the entirety of the 80s. The only Marvel movie released during that decade was Howard The Duck. The only time you saw anything even vaguely superhero-related back then was if it were a deliberately-ridiculous parody, like Condorman or something. Was it a question of expense, the lack of necessary F/X technology to make them look even remotely-respectable, or some other hurdle?

[shinobipopcorn]

Superman sequels, Supergirl, Flash Gordon, Buckaroo Banzai, Punisher, Robocop, Howard the Duck

Hulk and Spider-Man on tv...

[Monterey Jack]

The Superman sequels and Supergirl (a spin-off of said series) were the only real superhero movies released during the decade. The '89 Punisher barely counts, Howard The Duck wasn't a superhero, and Buckaroo Banzai and Robocop weren't even based on comic books.

Name another ACTUAL superhero movie based on an ACTUAL comic book released on movie screens in the 80s. You can't!

[LMFAObros]

Judge Dredd. Ahh S*** thats the 90s

[shinobipopcorn]

Yes I can, Masters of the Universe. A superhero doesn't need to be based on a comic book, that's just semantics.

[Monterey Jack]

Originally Posted by LMFAObros

Judge Dredd. Ahh S*** thats the 90s

Like I said, after Tim Burton's Batman the floodgates were opened for all manner of comic-book heroics on the big screen in the 90s, but not one studio looked at the $100 million gross of Richard Donner's original Superman, and said, "Hey, give us one of THOSE!" And yet, within a year of Star Wars, there were already chintzy, low-budget rip-offs like Starcrash hitting theaters. There were countless slasher rip-offs of Halloween and Friday the 13th (which was a rip-off itself) in the early 80s. Everyone had a whack at making their own E.T.. And yet, you NEVER saw an actor slap on a cape and a pair of tights and play a superhero on the big screen.

It's a weird oversight for a decade where every moderately-successful movie was crassly Xeroxed almost immediately.

[Monterey Jack]

Originally Posted by shinobipopcorn

Yes I can, Masters of the Universe. A superhero doesn't need to be based on a comic book, that's just semantics.

Based on an existing toy property and TV cartoon, NOT truly a superhero movie (but admittedly close).

[Shingster]

Difficult to actually adapt on 80s budgets and with 80s technology. CG pretty much changed the game when it came to the feasibility of adapting comic book characters on the big screen and even then they had to wait until CG technology reached a certain level before they could really get into it.

[Rich65]

Originally Posted by Monterey Jack

The Superman sequels and Supergirl (a spin-off of said series) were the only real superhero movies released during the decade. The '89 Punisher barely counts, Howard The Duck wasn't a superhero, and Buckaroo Banzai and Robocop weren't even based on comic books.

Name another ACTUAL superhero movie based on an ACTUAL comic book released on movie screens in the 80s. You can't!

Flash Gordon
Not a superhero as far as powers but still a comic book hero.

[LegacyCosts]

Ah the good ol' days, less crappy superhero movies.

[BlurayX]

Condorman (1981)...oh wait...a superhero film not based on a comic book.

[MifuneFan]

I have no idea why the topic would be limited to superhero movies or even ones based off actual comics. There were plenty of knock off and non-superhero comic book films in the 80's.

[Leslie Dame]

The only Superhero movies from the 80s that really matters:

The Toxic Avenger (1984)
Zorro: The Gay Blade (1981)
The Pumaman (1980)
The Return of Captain Invincible (1983)



Didn't know there was a TV movie of The Spirit (1987)

[Jim Pez]

Well Batman come out in 89 so that's technically the 80's.

[Gacivory]

Swamp Thing movies were 80’s an comic based.

[A Sith Lord?]

You obviously never watched

Rambo 1,2,3
Cobra
The Terminator
Conan
Predator
Commando
The Running Man
The Delta Force
Missing In Action

These were superhero movies.

[phobicsquirrel]

I would say the tech wasn't there. Also there wasn't a huge sequel hardon over going on. Then again many were done in the time you suggested. I love comics on the big screen however today they've at times become too much especially the agenda driven social media politics getting in the mix.

[CSM101]

What about Super Fuzz?

[shinobipopcorn]

You have to remember comics in the 80s were messed up to a degree, until Crisis on Infinite Earths "fixed" things for DC and Secret Wars took over for Marvel. People still thought of superheroes as "old chum" clean (remember how Stan Lee bucked the Comics Code in the 70s with the Spider-Man "drugs are real and they are bad" story?) but Superman and The Hulk were as dark as they were going to get. That's why Batman Returns looks tame to us now but caught hell when it came out for being "dark". They would never have been able to crank out superhero movies in the 80s even if they had enough tech to do it. Everything comic book was still "for kids" back then, no matter how many basement dwelling adults were into them, and you couldn't convince society otherwise.

[AaronJ]

Originally Posted by LegacyCosts

Ah the good ol' days, less crappy superhero movies.

I just don't get this way of thinking. Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of films are released in the US alone each year. How does it hurt you if they make another X-Men movie, or whatever? Go see something else. It's not like you don't have choices.