With the booming success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, comic book films have come a long way since first becoming popular in the late 30s. Today, these box office successes have also brought a great deal of fortune back to the original book-publishing industry that started it all.
What was once a niche subculture has grown into one of the most successful entertainment industries to date. Gone are the days when reading comic books, let alone making them, is unusual. Today we can enjoy these imaginative and emotionally touching, visual stories easily as they are now fully integrated into our pop culture. A lot of this is thanks to the recent Marvel films.
From the early days of comic book adaptations back in the late 1930s, comic-book adapted films have been a part American cinema, but back then there was only a comic-book based film every other year—kids these days don’t know how lucky they are.
As the decades passed there were less and less films, though audiences did have Adam West’s charming rendition of Batman. It was only until the late 70s that these adaptations finally began to make a comeback, though many of them either went straight to television or, at the time, VHS. This was the beginning of comic books entering pop culture—slowly of course.
Granted throughout the 90s there were a number of *ahem* questionable Batman films—looking at you Batman and Robin—but nothing that really left an impact on audiences, although to be fair, Danny Devito’s role as Penguin definitely left some scars. That began to change with the greatness that was X-Men, opening the new century to a fresh look at comic book filmmaking.
The 2000 Marvel film was groundbreaking at the time, at least for all us nerds old enough to remember. The filmmakers went above and beyond to create a well-thought out story that actually made sense, carried by authentic characters, rather than the unbelievable caricatures designed for Hollywood. It was a great moment in film entertainment, but it still wasn’t enough to convince a wider audience to support the comic book industry.
X-Men definitely deserves some credit in bringing us to where we are now, but not without the help of the film Batman Begins (2005). The Christopher Nolan trilogy not only gave us another incredible comic-book film, but it also redeemed Batman from the embarrassment of his terrible filmmaking past. Again, this was great for cinema, and surely opened more people to reading comics, but not revolutionary. The sweeping change in pop culture came with 2008’s Iron Man.
It wasn’t until 2008 that the MCU began at last with Iron Man. From then on, the film industry would never be the same. The twenty-three, and still counting, movies in the franchise are not only beloved by comic-book fans, but thousands of people who have never read one in their life. Unlike the former adaptations, the MCU has blown up in pop culture through merchandise, an ever-growing fanbase, and put the books on the map like we’ve never seen before. Now, it’s cool to be into Superheroes, and if you still haven’t joined the bandwagon, then it’s your turn to be the odd one out.
Comic book films are now making history in the film industry, not only with an Academy Award, but also destroying box office records. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Avengers: Endgame fared so well in theaters it did even better than James Cameron’s Avatar, grossing $2.8 billion globally.
Results like that are hard to come by in the nerd community, so thank you Marvel for creating these fantastic films. The comic book industry will never be the same.
Now with Avengers: Endgame retiring our main heroes, we are entering Phase 4 of the MCU.
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