Everyone has noticed it. Recently, or at least for the past decade or so, Hollywood fell in love with the superhero movie. Spawned by the long-awaited portrayal of Spider-Man on the big screen, movies about superheroes began to flood out of the can and into multiplexes. Spider-Man, X-Men, Superman, Batman, Catwoman, Iron Man, etc. In fact, this string of releases might as well have saved Marvel Comics from bankruptcy. However, this long and very successful trend may be coming to an end.
Spider-Man was an unbelievable success, ranking in as the most successful movie opening of the time. Spider-Man 2 didn’t do as well but still raked in the comic book fans. However, Spider-Man 3 brought an uproar from the fans of the web-crawler, and it seemed to lose the plot line completely. In fact, the movie franchise was shut down and is now in attempts to bring it back with a new actor playing Spider-Man. The success of the franchise brought out awful renditions of the characters from other famous comic books, including Halle Berry as Catwoman and Ben Affleck as Daredevil. Another rendition of Superman was released, shocking many people who thought the series would end with Christopher Reeve, and bombed, despite the casting of Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor. As would be expected, the superhero movies began to dwindle and were found less often within the openings in the movie section of the paper.
However, that trend may find some sparks to re-ignite the fire. This summer will see the release of more, very different superhero movies that may be able to bring the genre back from the depths. Ryan Reynolds will star as the Green Lantern, one superhero that always seemed to hide beneath the limelight, and on the other hand, a well-known hero in Captain America will be portrayed in a World War II setting. And of course, Christopher Nolan will continue his epic renewal of the Batman trilogy. Although, there is one movie, in particular, that I would like to focus on. This movie brings back a franchise that actually never seemed to die.
The X-Men franchise may be the most successful Marvel movie franchise. Each film seemed to have more success than its predecessor, and the trilogy ended with resolution and popular approval. Even the X-Men Origins: Wolverine did well thanks to Hugh Jackman. Now, X-Men First Class brings us to the beginning with both Charles Xavier and Eric Lencher, both of whom have just begun their friendship. Depicted during the Cuban Missile Crisis, the movie brings us back to show us how the rift between Professor X and Magneto began. The trailer, itself, brings us back to images of the beloved X-Men trilogy, giving us a prologue-ish feel to the new movie. Even though comic book fanatics may not be happy, due to the fact that some mutants are shown that did not appear in the “First Class” comic, I think this movie will do extremely well and bring the superhero movie back on top.
