The culture of the comic book superhero has grown to immense proportions and is now spawning film after film of our favorite characters like nobody’s business.
The first comic book hero to appear was Doctor Occult, who debuted in DC Comics back in 1935. He was a private detective who specialized in Ghost mysteries. Also known as the Ghost Detective, Doctor Occult used magic to help him to solve his cases. He was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the same guys who created Superman – probably the biggest and best-known superhero of all time.
The dominance of DC Comics and Marvel
Superman first hit the scene in 1938, and again was published by DC Comics. He was followed by a string of new superheroes, the most famous of which include the likes of Batman in 1939, The Submariner (1939), The Flash (1940), Green Lantern (1940), Captain America (1941), and Wonder Woman (1941)
Captain America and the Submariner were not a DC Comics characters. They were published by Marvel, who later produced some other great superheroes like The Hulk, Spiderman, and Thor (all 1962), plus Iron Man in 1964.
Between them, DC Comics and Marvel dominate the superhero niche.
It was only a matter of time before the superhero culture was to explode onto the big screen, bringing a new genre of high box-office earning filmmaking, into existence. The early Superman films starring Christopher Reeve were excellent, but a little too goody-goody to be taken seriously.
From comic strip to film noir
The first Batman film from 1989, starring Michael Keaton as the caped crusader, took the old Batman television character to a new level, introducing a little bit of darkness into the superhero mix. By the time we come up to date with Christian Bale’s interpretation of the Batman character, that darkness is fully developed. Finally, Ben Affleck brought the true menace of Batman to life, contrasted with the sophisticated elegance of alter-ego, Bruce Wayne. He portrays both superbly well.
For Batman devotees and geeks, Affleck probably takes the accolade as the ultimate Dark Knight, being the closest thing to the actual character portrayed in the DC Comics.
The film noir feel that Batman brought to the screen’s top superhero movies has changed the perception from comic strip cartoons to serious, believable individuals, with all the weaknesses and foibles of ordinary folk.
We’ve seen the amazing growth of the superhero film industry, and in its efforts to go to new places and introduce new scenarios and challenges, superheroes have been grouped together; sometimes as enemies and sometimes as teams – often dysfunctional teams.
Follow-on to Batman v Superman
The latest superhero team-up is the ‘Justice League,’ which has also been turned into a video slot that can be played at the MrGreen online casino.
Following on from ‘Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice’ – ‘Justice League’ reunites the trio of Batman (Ben Affleck), Superman (Henry Cavill) and Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot). They are joined by a host of other DC superhero favorites including Flash (Ezra Miller), Aquaman (Jason Momoa) and Cyborg (Ray Fisher)
‘Justice League’ is scheduled to debut at movie theatres on November 17. It looks to be the biggest and best of the Warner Brothers’ superhero universe.
The movie brings back to the big screen several characters from ‘Wonder Woman;’ namely Queen Hippolyta (Connie Nielsen), and General Antiope (Robin Wright).
The storyline in a nutshell
In a nutshell, the ‘Justice League’ is about Batman, who garners the help of his newly found ally (Wonder woman) to recruit a team of superheroes to challenge an even bigger threat than the planet has faced before.
The threat comes in the form of super-villain Steppenwolf, who together with his assembled army of parademons, are scouring the Earth in search of three so-called Mother-Boxes. Even with the formidable strengths and talents that the newly formed Justice League possesses, they may not be able to save the Earth.
Somehow, we have a feeling that the Justice League will probably succeed, especially as Superman (Henry Cavill) will be resurrected to join our new team of superheroes. It is a must-see film, so keep your eyes open for it at a cinema near you at the end of the year.
