dc and marvel comics that have been adapted to feature films
TRANSCRIPT
• Founded in 1934 as National Allied Publications by Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson
• Name was changed to DC to represent the popular line of Detective Comics
• DC launched the Action Comics title in 1938 which featured the first superhero…Superman
• Due to the popularity of Superman, DC went on to introduce other characters such as Batman in 1939
• 1938-1950 was known as the Golden Age of comics and many superheroes were introduced such as The Flash, Green Lantern, and Wonder Woman
• Superhero comics lost popularity in the late 1940s and DC began to publish western, mystery, and horror comics
• Detective Comics and Action Comics continued to be published and sold during this period
• Previously popular superheroes were reimagined for the Silver Age of comics which began with the appearance of the new Flash character in Showcase #4 Oct 1956
History of DC Comics
• The sale of DC’s comic books jumped drastically in the mid-1980s
• DC sold 3.5 million comics in Sept 2014
• DC currently has 61 different titles on the newsstand with more to come in late 2014 early 2015
• 40% of readers are women
• An Action Comics #1 sold for $1,000,000 in Feb 2010 and another for $3,207,852 in 2014
• 2013 was the 75th Anniversary of Superman’s first appearance in comics https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebXB0lBoaQ0
• In February 2010, A Detective Comics #27 featuring the first appearance of Batman, sold for $1 million at auction
• 2014 was the 75th Anniversary of Batman’s first apperance
Popularity
• DC made the transition to the big
screen in 1978 with Superman The
movie and its sequels
• After a period of no big screen
superhero presence, Tim Burton
revived the genre in 1989 with
Batman which led to several sequels
• The Batman story was rebooted in
2005 with Christopher Nolan’s Batman
Begins
• The Nolan trilogy is now considered to
be the best Batman films of all time
The New Media
• Superman The Movie: 1978 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grO4OcJ6cgY (Trailer)
• Superman II: 1980
• Superman III: 1983
• Superman IV: 1987
• Superman Returns: 2006
• Man of Steel: 2013
• Batman: 1989
• Batman Returns: 1992
• Batman Forever: 1995
• Batman & Robin: 1997
• Batman Begins: 2005
• The Dark Knight: 2008
• The Dark Knight Rises: 2012
• Green Lantern: 2011
DC Films
• Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin Goodman under the original name Timely Comics
• Timely’s first publication was Marvel #1 in Oct 1939 and featured the android Human Torch and Namor The Sub-Mariner
• By the 1950s Timely Comics had become known as Atlas Comics
• The modern incarnation of the company began in 1961 with the launch of the Fantastic Four title and other hero comics which resulted in the name change from Atlas Comics to Marvel Comics in honor of Marvel #1
• Marvel features popular heroes such as Spider-man, Wolverine, Iron-man, and The Hulk
History of Marvel Comics
• Marvel began to increase it’s popularity in the 1960s when Stan Lee took over as editor-in-chief https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqijirc45vU (Stan Lee Interview)
• Marvel’s characters are not the typical heroes like the ones in the pages of DC comics because Stan Lee prefers to write about the anti-hero
• Most Marvel characters are either mutants, outsiders, damaged, or deeply troubled in some way
• These characters are so popular with readers because they are different and many of the readers can relate
• 79 different Marvel titles were shipped to comics retailers in Sept 2014
Popularity
• Marvel had made previous attempts to get
on the big screen
• There was a poorly done Fantastic Four film
by Roger Corman in 1994 that was never
released and a Captain America film that
went straight to video in 1990
• Marvel found success with its films
beginning in 2000 with X-Men and 2002
with Sam Raimi’s Spider-man series
• The new wave hit in 2008 when Iron-Man
was released
Marvel’s Jump to Film
• X-Men - 2000
• X-Men 2 -2003
• X-Men: The Last Stand – 2006
• X-Men Origins: Wolverine – 2009
• X-Men: First Class – 2011
• The Wolverine – 2013
• X-Men: Days of Future Past – 2014
• Fantastic Four – 2005
• Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer – 2007
• Captain America: The First Avenger – 2011
• Captain America: The Winter Soldier – 2014
• Iron Man – 2008 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYrxSQ_Y2Iw (Clip)
• Iron Man 2 – 2010
• Iron Man 3 – 2013
Marvel Films
• The Hulk – 2003
• The Incredible Hulk – 2008 after a reboot of the series
• Spider-Man – 2002
• Spider-Man 2 – 2004
• Spider-Man 3 – 2007
• Amazing Spider-Man – 2012
• Amazing Spider-Man 2 – 2014
• The Avengers – 2012
• Guardians Of The Galaxy - 2014
• Blade – 1998
• Blade II – 2002
• Blade: Trinity – 2004
• The Punisher - 2004
Cont.
• Superhero films are popular because superheroes come in all shapes and sizes – there is something for everyone
• People look for an escape from their everyday lives
• With the fear of terrorism, epidemics, and financial instability, superhero movies provide viewers with hope and allow them a few hours to forget what is going on in the real world
• New technology gives comics fans a chance to see their favorite superheroes in live action in a way they never could before
• The ongoing “war” between DC and Marvel means only good news for the fans as both companies continue to release film adaptations of their properties
The Superhero Genre
• The films tend to draw large crowds and a huge box office take
• The Dark Knight grossed domestically $448,139,099
• The 3 Iron Man films grossed $1,039,859,426
• Guardians of the Galaxy was based on a little known comic and many didn’t expect the film to do well –Domestic gross is $331,062,044
• Based on the success of the previous films, DC and Marvel have released the lineups for each company’s future films
The Numbers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_Comics_1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/franchises/chart/?id=ironmanfranchise.htm
http://marvel.com/
http://www.dccomics.com/
https://www.wikipedia.org/
References