10 Things We Loved About Pre-MCU Comic Book Movies
2. The Director Was King
Auteur theory stipulates that the final author of a film is the director. During the early years of the comic book movie genre, filmmakers were given complete creative control of the particular character they were tasked with adapting to the big screen.
At Fox studios, Bryan Singer was given carte blanche of the X-Men resulting in some of the finest films in the series. Correspondingly, Sony Pictures provided Sam Raimi with the resources he required to create two of the finest comic book movies of the decade.
While this approach differs from today's producer-led approach to comic book fare, one can't deny that the results reflected a more singular vision less beholden to shared universe requirements.