The Avengers great predecessors

I've been hearing a lot of good reviews about The Avengers -Marvel's latest development in the comic movie genre, that combines the most important superheroes of the Marvel Universe. Staying true to myself of letting a bit of the hype pass by, I'm going to wait for a few more days to go and watch it. So for now, I'm going to talk about great comic movies from the past.

Characters from Marvel _Universe reunite for the first time

Let's face the facts: for the best of times, producing a comic/superhero/hero movie was seen as a gamble formula to create a popcorn movie that would be forgotten two years after its release. Only recently it has become a substantial investment that not only brings a great box office number but also great reviews and Oscar nominations.

To be fair and honest, in my mind there are three guys who deserve credit for making this happen: Tim Burton, Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson. The year was 1989 and the movie was Batman, set in a very goth-a-like Gotham City, featuring a novelty crazy clown Joker played by Jack, a superb Batman/Bruce Wayne portrayed by Keaton, and the great direction of Tim Burton. This was a movie that was dark, interesting, funny at times, but more than anything, it brought a story about a superhero who struggled with his emotions and was seen as a human who fight his way against crime.

A troubled Bruce Wayne, by Michael Keaton

Up until that point I would say that comic movies were close to utopic environments. Either the main character was "too nice", or the plot was "predictable", or the movie couldn't be taken seriously because of any detail that separated it from other films. Examples of this can be mentioned in Batman (1966) starring Adam West and Superman (1978) starring the late Christopher Reeve.

Superman and Louis in the 1978 classic

"Hand me the Bat-anti-repellent shark spray!"

Batman (1966) was an extension of the TV Series that was a major hit in the 60s. The movie isn't bad per se; in fact, it's a series of absurd situations that add up for a hillarious result. In one particular scene that shocks me every time I watch it, Batman is hanging on a ladder from the Bat-Chopper being bit by a shark, so he asks Robin to hand him the "Anti-Shark Repellent Spray." Superman on the other hand was a decent approach to produce a serious effort in a film. However there was still an idillic feeling you could get betwen Superman and Louis Lane, like nothing could get wrong between them. After all, she's with Superman.

Coincidentally, Batman opened the door for another comic movie to set new standards on the genre and even become a classic. In 2005 Chris Nolan ventured to direct Batman Begins, a film that tells the story of how Bruce Wayne became what he was destined to be, that is, Batman. Putting a hand on your heart, one should acknowledge that Batman Begins and Nolan's effort is better than Burton's. While Christian Bale is able to hold his own against Keaton's interpretation of the caped hero, the rest of the cast from Begins is superior than the one in the 1989 film. The script is also sharper.

Nolan's revival of Batman Begins brought incursion of most key characters from the comic books.
It also built the story more based on the comic books stories.

A handful of successful films both box-office wise and critic wise had preceded the nature of Nolan's vision, such as the X-Men franchise which was handled by Bryan Singer -another respected name when it comes to directing-. And just like that, another series of films followed suit diving deeper into the comic world, like Spiderman, Hulk, Superman Returns, the Fantastic Four, among others. Robert Downey Jr teamed up with Jon Favreau to power up the Iron man, in a cast filled with Oscar winners like Gwyneth Paltrow, Terrance Howard -eventually replaced by Don Cheadle in the sequel-. As Iron Man became another success for the comic world, Nolan stroke gold again in The Dark Knight -his sequel of Batman Begins-, adding up a memorable performance of Heath Ledger portraying the manic sociopath Joker villain. Equally impressive as its predecessor, the only flaw I find in TDK is the fact when watched in perspective and seen objectively, things seemed a bit rushed in the plot of the movie. It kind of lacks the smooth pace that Begins had, where every event has a reason and we get to see the why of that reason. Anyway, let's get back on topic.

Finally, the last couple of years saw the emergence of the character build up for what today we have been presented as The Avengers. To be fair honest, today, May 8th of 2012, I believe so far Batman Begins is the best comic movie, followed closely by The Dark Knight. In a few days I will watch The Avengers three or four times -like I always do when analyzing a movie- and I will likely blog a comparison between it and its great predecessors.

The Avengers' Cast