The hot new trend in franchises, meanwhile, is the superhero film. The modern comic book adaptation really began with 2000's X-Men, which was something of a risk for Fox when they put it out. Turns out they had nothing to worry about, and that first film was followed by six more (and counting), whilst also paving the way for movie versions of Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four, as well as a new entry in the Superman series over at Warner Bros. This first wave of contemporary superhero flicks peaked with Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy, which told a single, complete Batman story which was designed to have no further sequels. So where do you go from there? Well, the model that studios are now looking to imitate are Marvel's. After funding the Iron Man film themselves and finding a surprise hit on their hands, the comic publisher's film production wing has played the long game, slowly unfolding a rich cinematic universe, each film a bigger hit, culminating in the huge crossover Avengers, which was the third highest-grossing film of all time (just behind Titanic and Avatar). Now everybody wants to get a piece of that action, no matter how bad an idea that is. People were already talking about the superhero movie market getting oversaturated before Fox revealed their plans to carry on the X-Men series into eternity, along with their intention to reboot the Fantastic Four over again. Even worse, Sony are planning dozens of Spider-Man sequels and spin-offs which, on top of the DC side's plans for new Superman, Batman and Justice League films, you can't help but find indicative of more creative bankruptcy at the film industry's heart, but possibly also heralding superhero movie fatigue in audiences. And if people stop going to see these multi-million dollar special effects monstrosities, there'll be a heavy price to pay.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
