Surely there can be no greater exciting time in the history of movies than now because we have more comic book superheroes visiting the big screen than at any other time in our history.
Comic book characters have been appearing in the movies since the 1930s and 1940s but the very first superhero to star in a movie was Superman. I think it is amazing that anyone even remembers the first superhero movie.
For me the superhero movie age began with Michael Keaton as Batman in 1989. But those Batman movies descended into chaos as the role changed actors and the scripts became worse and worse. I thought that Alicia Silverstone as Batgirl was a good idea. I just wish she had a better story to work with.
I did not like the Christopher Nolan restart of the Batman series. His “Batman Begins” movie was very bad because it was not faithful to the character I enjoyed from the comic books. Nolan has gone on to devastate the DC comic books movie universe. He should not return to superhero movies but that is not my decision to make.
The best superhero movie of all time has to be “Iron Man” starring Robert Downey, Jr. He played the role perfectly and we were able to see how a man goes from being a jerk to being a great hero. The Iron Man saga continued into two more sequels, two “Avengers” movies, and now a “Captain America” film. In all of these stories Tony Stark is maturing into a better man.
Of course the Captain America and Thor movies are great too. They don’t tell all the adventures I want to see but there is only so much you can put into a movie, is there not? What is great about Thor’s world is that not only is he maturing as a person but his brother Loki is a great villain who has found a place in the Avengers story and also loosely in the story of Captain America.
Loki’s sceptre secretly held an infinity stone and once that was revealed it was used to create the Vision, the super android who eventually becomes the leader of the Avengers.
The other great character who should be mentioned is the Hulk. Everyone says he should have his own movie but he has already had movies that were not so good. I think the character is interesting but the Ang Lee movie started things off wrong. The Edward Norton movie showed some promise but then Norton dropped out of the picture to be replaced by Mark Ruffalo.
I do not think that Eric Bana or Edward Norton were wrong for the part. They both did very well in my opinion and I would have loved to see them both continue in the role. But if you had to follow Bana and Norton with a third actor then Mark Ruffalo is the actor to complete the character. He is the best Bruce Banner / Hulk since the original TV show. And I don’t remember the TV show very much but everyone loved it from what I am told.
I wish Mark Ruffalo could have his own Hulk movie but maybe that would ruin the streak for him. He did so well in the “Avengers” and “Avengers: Age of Ultron” movies and now he will be in the third “Thor: Ragnarok” movie. Maybe he will get to crush Loki again.
This is what makes the superhero movies so exciting. There is so much going on in them and I think Marvel is doing the finest job possible with the movies. DC movies are not so good. I did not like “Man of Steel” and I was very unhappy with “Dawn of Justice”. What is the point, DC? What story are you trying to tell? And where is the Martian Manhunter? I hear he will not be in the live action movies. That is really unfair.
We must wait for the next chapter in the Marvel universe but you know I had a hint of things to come when I saw movies like “Watchmen” and “Kickass” because I thought they were both very realistic in some ways. It is this realism that makes the movies better than the old funny superhero movies. They made light of the characters and their worlds. But ever since “Watchmen” I think the film people have learned to take the superheros seriously in their own worlds and not to mess with them the way Christopher Nolan does.
So this is the era of the better superhero movies thanks to Marvel. The Marvel movie age will be remembered for a long time. I think DC is still looking for the right vision. For now, we will have to settle for Marvel but that is good enough but it is very, very good.