When “golden age” comic book heroes first made the transition to the big screen, they did so with near superhuman speed. Superman, who debuted in the first issue of Action Comics in 1938, was by 1941 already the star of a series of animated shorts; a 15-episode, live-action movie serial starring Kirk Alyn would follow seven years later. Fawcett Comics’ Captain Marvel – famous for his shape-changing cries of “Shazam!” – had his own live-action serial only a year after his first print appearance in 1940. The Batman, introduced by Detective Comics in 1939, became the subject of serials in 1943 and 1949. Timely Comics’ Captain America, launched 1941, made his serial debut in 1944.

THE TOP COMIC BOOK MOVIES!! (domestic grosses in millions) 1. Spider-Man (2002) $405 2. Batman (1989) 251 3. Men in Black (1997) 250 4. Men in Black II (2002) 192 5. Batman Forever (1995) 184 6. Batman Returns (1992) 162 7. X-Men (2000) 157 8. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990) 135 9. Superman (1978) 134 10. The Mask (1994) 120 11. Superman II (1980) 108 12. Batman and Robin (1997) 107 13. Road to Perdition (2002) 104 14. Casper (1995) 100 15. Blade II (2002) 81

The first “feature-length” superhero movie appears to have been the 58-minute 1951 cheapie “Superman and the Mole Men,” which was actually a big-screen spin-off of the still-gestating “Adventures of Superman” TV series starring George Reeves. The second superhero feature, 1966’s “Batman,” was similarly a spin-off of the Adam West TV franchise popular at the time.

The era of the big-budget superhero movie didn’t arrive until 1978’s “Superman,” a smash with critics and audiences alike. Shot for $55 million (large hunks of it earmarked for the salaries of top-billed Marlon Brando and Gene Hackman), the special-effects extravaganza came to gross more than $300 million worldwide.

The phenomenal success of “Superman” didn’t set off so much a drive toward comic book adaptations as it did a drive toward more “Superman” movies. The 1980 sequel, actually filmed concurrently with the 1978 original, was well-received; 1983’s “Superman III,” co-starring Richard Pryor, was not. A muddled 1984 spin-off, “Supergirl,” remains almost universally disdained, as does 1987’s “Superman IV: The Quest For Peace,” which essentially nailed the franchise’s coffin closed for a decade and a half.
The only other notable comic book adaptation before 1989 was Lucasfilm’s “Howard the Duck,” a 1986 commercial and critical dud that nonetheless marked the first big-screen adventure of a Marvel Comics character.

Things changed dramatically in 1989, the year “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” became New Line’s most successful movie ever and Tim Burton’s “Batman” did what no “Superman” movie could: emerge as its year’s top grosser. (With a worldwide take exceeding $400 million, “Batman” actually turned out to be the biggest moneymaker since 1985!)

Perhaps because Batman and the Ninja Turtles illustrated so dramatically that “Superman” wasn’t the only comic-book hero capable of spawning a blockbuster, studios all over Hollywood began licensing scores of 4-color do-gooders. Where a total of five movies based on comic-books – mostly “Superman” sequels – were released in the 1980s, at least 20 comic-spawned epics graced big screens in the subsequent decade (more if one counts “Captain America,” “The Punisher” and “The Fantastic Four” – stillborn productions, all based on Marvel properties but never released to U.S. moviehouses).

Surprisingly, most of the ‘90s comic-book movies greenlighted in the Caped Crusader’s wake were not based on properties published by the giants DC and Marvel, but by smaller independent companies. The biggest comic-book movie of the decade, “Men in Black,” was based on a title from tiny Malibu Comics. Miramax’s “The Crow” series nested at Kitchen Sink Press. “Casper” and “Richie Rich” are Harvey Comics titles. “Spawn” emerged out of upstart Image Comics. “The Mask,” “Timecop,” “Barb Wire” and “Mystery Men” all originated at relative newcomer Dark Horse Comics.

Warner Bros., which – thanks to a 1969 merger with DC Comics owner Kinney National Services – enjoys exclusive access to dozens of the most iconic characters in comicdom, shockingly hasn’t released a superhero film since 1997, the year “Batman & Robin” and the Shaquille O’Neal vehicle “Steel” both stumbled at the box office.

Nature abhors even a superheroic vacuum, and one could argue persuasively that the movies’ “Marvel era” began in 1998 with New Line’s “Blade,” the first bona fide movie hit based on a classic Marvel property. The superpowered vampire slayer garnered a domestic gross of $70 million, and last year’s “Blade II” outgrossed its original by more than $10 million.

2000’s “X-Men,” based on far better known Marvel characters, took in more than twice as much as “Blade”: a muscular $157 million.

And “Spider-Man,” based on another high-profile Marvel property, grossed more than twice as much as “X-Men”: more than $405 million, making it not only 2002’s top earner but also the fourth-highest-grossing movie of all time.

Which means, as the following feature illustrates perhaps too vividly, it’ll be a while before the movies are done with men and women in brightly-colored tights.