“Heroes, Villains, and Me” is a periodic article on Geeky KOOL by Larry Litle about the world of comic books and my reaction to it. “Heroes, Villains, and Me” is not a comic book review article. I will write about current events, speculation and rumors, or my own wacky thoughts about the world of comic books.
What a great time we live in. There has been a slew of comic book movies out in the last five years. Both Marvel and DC Comics have brought some of their best characters to the big screen with many more yet to come.
When I was a kid back in the late 70s, there weren’t many comic book movies. In fact, the 1978 Superman was first and only modern day superhero movie in theaters. Superman and later Superman II were fantastic at the time. Superman III and IV were not at the same level.
At this same time, Marvel had a few television shows and made for TV movies. I remember watching The Amazing Spider-Man television show and thinking it wasn’t what I really wanted but I was happy to get something. The Incredible Hulk TV show was better but even as a kid, I remember thinking the Hulk wasn’t nearly big enough. There were a couple of Captain America made for TV movies that were simply terrible.
I am not going to go through the whole history of Marvel and DC movies and shows. There were plenty of good comic movies like Batman, Batman Returns, Spiderman I & II, and X-Men I & II. There were also a ton of bad comic book movies like Daredevil, Ghost Rider, Fantastic Four movies, Superman Returns, Jonah Hex, and plenty more.
The worst Superhero movie of 2016 is far superior to the best of just a decade ago. Batman V Superman had a lot of issues in my opinion. I shouldn’t have to say more than “Martha” to make my point. But this is a good superhero movie. It shouldn’t have a Rotten Tomatoes score of 27% by critics and 65% by audience because it is much better movie than those rankings.
There is a problem with current superhero movies. We are spoiled. We have had great movies like Avengers, Captain America: Winter Solider, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Ant-Man. These movies have set the bar too high. Not every comic book movie will hit it out of the park. Batman V Superman and Suicide Squad were fun and good comic book movies but aren’t at same level but neither was Avengers: Age of Ultron and Iron Man 3.
As comic fans, we are in the golden age of comic book movies. We will look back on this wonder why we didn’t appreciate it more. I don’t care if someone is a DC or Marvel or both fan because this is a great time to love comics and the movies based on them.
When we have those geek discussions and debate which is better, let us remember how good we really do have it. If it was the 70s, we would be complaining about having such a limited amount of heroes in movies. We have so many good comic movies. Enjoy this golden age while it lasts.
Stay Geeky My Friends!
