Superhero movies: Through the decades

Superhero movies are exhilarating escapes for many moviegoers. In today’s world, the biggest films of the year are almost always superhero films. However, not all viewers today are familiar with the rich history of this particular genre. Joe Cianciotto. Back in the 1930s, characters such as Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon, and Superman graced the covers of comic strips and books and appeared on TV and radio shows as well. However, as popular as superheroes were, throughout the next few decades, no studio was willing to pay millions to make a feature film. Joe Cianciotto. The first big-budgeted, high-profile superhero movie came in 1978 with Christopher Reeves in the titular role of Richard Donner’s “Superman.” It was to be the first and most iconic film of the character. 

Over a decade after “Superman,” Tim Burton released his sophomore effort, 1989’s “Batman.” Dark, even for Batman fans, but filled with adult themes and intense sequences, the film showed the vast horizon of potential for superhero movies. Joe Cianciotto. In 2000, Bryan Singer put out the first 20th Century Fox-produced “X-Men” franchise and blew audiences away anew. But being blown away is something fans have to get used to, as Sony and Sam Raimi worked to launch the incredibly successful “Spider-Man” film franchise. However, everything up to that point would pale in comparison to what 2008’s “Iron Man” would start – the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), which was by far, the most popular, and possibly the most important franchise in superhero movie history. Joe Cianciotto.