The superhero movie has become a staple of our summer blockbuster viewing and has brought characters only seen by those with a love for comics or kids Saturday morning cartoons to a much, much wider audience. It has also increased the critical appeal of many of the characters and their defining stories. This summer has seen the two biggest superhero releases so far which will be a task to match but, as the money rolls in, the extended plans for the genre are plotted further and further into the future.
But what comes next for the whole superhero cinema circus? Let’s take an educated guess, shall we?
7. Academy Recognition?
For a long time superhero films were present in the sound and visual effects sections of the Academy Awards but with The Dark Knight the possibility arose to achieve so much more.
However, The Dark Knight and Heath Ledger’s Joker have been unparalleled and other great examples of the genre, for example, X2, have been totally ignored. There’s been some great characters since TDK acting-wise (e.g. Tom Hiddleston’s Loki) but how likely is it that superhero movies will take things to the level where Best Actor, Best Director or Best Picture becomes attainable?
There has been buzz around ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ and how it could mimic ‘The Lord of the Rings’ franchise and bag Best Picture for its being the third outing and ending to what was a defining trilogy and ‘The Avengers’ is bound to pick up nominations yet it’s doubtful that they’ll be for any of the big 3.
Which other characters in the superhero world could merit a Best Actor nod other than Batman and the Joker? The pictures that win these awards can often be a pretty sombre and serious affair and that can be a little difficult to pull off when your lead is wearing y-fronts on the outside of tights. Not impossible, but very, very difficult.
To be honest it’s hard to see any of the superhero films coming out any time soon bagging any of ‘the big three’ awards but with that said ‘Man of Steel’ seems to be attempting to go for an angle where it has a strong message about morality (great trailer) so who knows . . .
1979
Superman
Won the Special Achievement Award
Nominated for Best Film Editing
Nominated for Best Music, Original Score
Nominated for Best Sound
1990
Batman
Won for Best Art Direction-Set Direction
1993
Batman Returns
Nominated for Best Makeup
Nominated for Best Effects, Visual Effects
1996
Batman Forever
Nominated for Best Cinematography
Nominated for Best Effects, Sound Effects Editing
Nominated for Best Sound
2002
Spider-man
Nominated for Best Sound
Nominated for Best Visual Effects
2005
Spider-man 2
Won for Best Achievement in Visual Effects
Nominated for Best Achievement in Sound Editing
Nominated for Best Achievement in Sound Mixing
2006
Batman Begins
Nominated for Best Achievemnet in Cinematography
2007
Superman Returns
Nominated for Best Achievement in Visual Effects.
2009
The Dark Knight
Won for Best Achievement in Sound Editing
Won for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Nominated for Best Achievement in Art Direction
Nominated for Best Achievement in Cinematography
Nominated for Best Achievement in Film Editing
Nominated for Best Achievement in Makeup
Nominated for Best Achievement in Sound Mixing
Nominated for Best Achievement in Visual Effects
Iron Man
Nominated for Best achievement in sound editing
Nominated for Best Achievement in Visual effects
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
Nominated for Best Achievement in Makeup
2011
Iron Man 2
Nominated for Best achievement in visual effects
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3 Comments
Great article, very well written.
For your Academy Awards section, I would like to point out, that while it isn’t a movie adapted from a comic book, just a comic strip, 1990′s Dick Tracy was nominated for seven awards, taking home three.
Won for Best Original Song (“Sooner or Later”- music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim)
Won for Best Art Direction
Won for Best Make-up
Nominated for Best Supporting Actor (Al Pacino)
Nominated for Best Sound Mixing
Nominated for Best Cinematography
Nominated for Best Costume Design
I think from the Marvel perspective we have seen the cream of the crop, and with the success of Avengers, the studio has smooth sailing for at least the next ten years. For DC, WB is putting a lot of weight on the success of The Man of Steel. If it succeeds, and all signs so far suggest that it will, then WB can use that in the same way Marvel used Ironman to introduce the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe. Should Man of Steel succeed, then WB has two options in my opinion. Follow the Marvel route of introducing stand alone characters like The Flash and Wonder Woman. And have them all come together for a Justice League. Or if WB thinks The Flash and Wonder Woman wouldn’t work without first introducing them in the Justice League, then the studio should make Justice League then spin off solo franchises based off of those members. For Batman, it sounds like we won’t see him again until the Justice League movie.
My hope in all of this is not to see, what some have been whispering, the solo films and the Justice League containing different actors. It causes too much confusion and makes the Justice League seem less important.
Cheers for the comments,
There were other films like ‘Dick Tracy’ or, for example, ‘A history of violence’ that were comic book films but I didn’t include because I was working under the title ‘what’s next for the superhero movie’ rather than ‘comic book movie. I did find a few films I didn’t know were graphic novels during research which is cool.
Eric, right on the nose. Agree with everything you said.