Batman Begins Again

As a rule, if the major hero is named with the final syllable being "man," and has a cape . . . then he's DC.

Spider-Man is an exception, as is Elongated Man, who has no cape but who has a horrible name.

As for who is leading in the films:

Marvel is. The success of the first X-Men film in 2000 (as well as the fact it was much better than the drivel they have put in the comic since about 1991) brought back the comic book film. Spider-Man had excellent casting with Tobey Maguire (Heath Ledger was someone the studio pushed as Peter Parker. Good thing Raimi won the argument), not so excellent with Dunst. They had Alicia Witt all set, she's cute and a natural redhead, and doesn't have bad teeth, unlike Ms. Dunst, who is not ugly, but has bad teeth. Not sure why Witt pulled out.

Spider-Man 2 was better than the first, Roger Ebert called it the best comic book movie he had seen. I personally thought X2 was better, but neither was as good or had that epic feel like the original Superman from 1978.

Batman begins was excellent, and probably the best of the new crop of comic book films. Superman Returns, was okay, but was largely a love letter to movies made 25 years ago.

For sheer volume, Marvel wins hands down, of course. But Daredevil's main selling point was Ms Garner in that leather outfit, the Hulk had no selling points (the drawn-out and hokey climax with Nick Nolte overcame Ms. Connelly's presence). Fantastic Four mutilated the origin of Doctor Doom, which is probably the most compelling villain origin in all of comics next to Magneto, but it was somewhat entertaining. Never saw the Punisher, and X3 wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be.

DC just doesn't have the same stable of people, and basically banks on two guys to carry the banner. Is that Wonder woman movie gonna happen? Though Smallville is still entertaining, and has done a nice job of bringing in other DC heroes little by little.

Let's not forget that Transformers had a long life as a Marvel comic, as part of Hasbro's attemt to replicate the toy-selling bonanza it struck with GI Joe.

 

Yeah, but Marvel gets points for Blade and Blade II. Loses points for Blade Trinity.

 

Completely forgot about Blade. It came out in what, 1998? Maybe that was the start of the recent push of comic films, as a minor Marvel character had a solid movie.

 

Yep. A lot of reviewers had a problem with that.

 

wow! that's over-analyzing to me.

 

Lucky you. You never saw Punisher. Truly awful.

And I can see including Transformers as Marvel, because that is where the characters gained popularity.

 

Blade was very underrated, and almost forgotten in the wave of comic book films that followed. X-Men gets the credit for launching the genre into the stratosphere, but Blade laid some of the groundwork.

 

I liked Punisher, quite a bit actually. I just bought the DVD.

The one thing which really ruined Punisher was Travolta. He was too campy, too goofy at times.

But I've always liked Thomas Jane, and who can complain about Rebecca Romaijn and the hottie (can't remember her name) who played Travolta's wife?

Marvel is far, far ahead of DC in movies. Even though I like the last Superman, I know a lot of people didn't. That leaves DC with only one solid franchise: Batman.

Marvel has: Spider-Man, Fantastic Four (yes, critics hated it but it made 300 million world wide), X-Men (Jackman as Wolverine is the next movie, I think. A solo pic), and Hulk (another one not loved, but which also easily cleared 100 million domesically). That's 4, and I'm probably forgetting one or two. If Ghost Rider does over 100 million, that will be another franchise. Plus, Marvel is doing very well with their straight to DVD cartoon movies. The last two "Avengers' DVD's have done very big business. Their goal is to lay the fanbase down so they can do a live-action Avengers movie, eventually.

Oh, I know what I forgot. The Punisher. Though it did poorly in theaters, it did so well on DVD that Marvel wants to make a sequel. Don't know if it will be straight to DVD, but they will make another one, at least that's the plan.

I also forgot Blade. Now I don't know how much more Wes Snipes will be doing with the series, but I think they want to bring in the 'young guns' people from the last movie (Ryan Reynolds and Jess Biel) for more work.

 

man, that last moved just sucked. The last time I was that disappointed with a movie was Super Mario Bros.

 

Believe it or not, Double Drago was worse than Super Mario Bros. And don't get me started on Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat: Annihilation.

 

This is well put. Note that Marvel has, so far, generated two team franchises (X-Men, FF) and DC none.

At this moment, I think X-Men/FF generate about as much gravity as Batman/Supes.

I think Tarantino/R-Rod should tackle Dark Knight Returns, with storyboards by Frank Miller and a script by Kevin Smith. I'll pay to see that. Then, Watchmen. Then, Ronin. (Not the DeNiro vehicle.) All are DC projects, right?

I'm very much in the minority, I know, but I liked Daredevil.

My favorite hero? Iron Man. Let's have it!

I'm also down with a JLA movie, whenever somebody has a billion dollars for the FX budget.

 

The level of knowledge here is scaring me.