20 years of Super: '07-'11

2007: This is arguably, the start of the super recession. Ghost rider, Fantastic Four, and Underdog. The aftershock of the realization that the movies of the past fucking suck. Hell the best movie to come out this year was Spider Man 3. People finally caught on that they were scammed into going to these movies that they didn’t even enjoy that much.

2008: This is kind of the bottom of the trough. But the “Stimulus” is firing up and even though it might not make a huge impact, it is stopping the downward spiral. In a perfect summary of the crap of the past, Superhero Movie comes out. It mocks the horrible films of the past. But the light is starting to shine though in two huge, industry defining ways. 

Iron Man and The Dark Knight come out.  They are game changers. They are a new thing for the industry. They are actually good. The Dark Knight is one of the best films of the last decade, including all films.

Iron Man laid the groundwork for the next 20 years of marvel movies. They will come to define a new era in movies. 

Another movie I want to point out is Hancock. I feel it is significant because it takes a realistic approach. At this point, the makers of superhero movies are learning that realistic, gritty, believable stories and characters are better than cheesy stuff. Hancock is an extreme version of that and I think it set the flank of the industry. It is the most real, and believable superhero movie I’ve seen that is worth mentioning.

2009: Watchmen and X-Men Origins: Wolverine are the two best movies out of a very narrow field. I’ve already mentioned it before, sometimes a year off can be a good thing. Those two movies are good, both follow the new gritty approach to super. They aren’t remembered all that much but they held the line in a time when they easily could’ve been passed up or simplified into stupidity.

2010: Another off year. Iron Man 2 came out. I feel it was rushed. It was good, but could’ve been much better. I think this might have been a slight resurgence of the inflation from the mid 2000s. It was okay though. Kick-Ass also came out. It comes close to the far flank of Hancock for its realness.  It also is one of my favorites. Another off year, but better than before.

2011: This is a huge year for Superhero movies. Marvel takes off. Thor and Captain America come out. They return to the middle ground. Halfway between cheesy and gritty. They take on real issues and they are both very good. Thor wasn’t earth-shattering and the fanboy inside me is dying but Cap’s movie wasn’t either, but they set a precedent for future improvement. 

Marvel also pushed out First Class. My personal favorite for X-Men movies. DC took a step back from Batman by making Green Lantern. We won’t talk about that but it was an attempt to go back to the old ways. If green lantern came out in 2003 it would’ve been one of the best that year, but it came out in ’11 and was one of the worst.

After the downward spiral came some pretty damn good movies. We've come a long way from '96. Superheroes are back in the swing of things and for the first time, possibly every, they compete with other movies and in many cases, win.