The Golden Age of Comic Book TV and Movie

We are living in an era which I like to refer to as
"The Golden Age of Comic Book TV and Movie".
I know - It's a mouthful. It's just how I like to refer it. It's simple and self explanatory.

The following is a list of recent Comic Book Live-Action series and Movies :

* Live-Action :

1. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D
2. Agent Carter
3. Powers
4. Daredevil
5. Arrow
6. Gotham
7. The Flash
8. Constantine
9. iZombie

* Movies (2010 onwards) :

1. Iron Man 2
2. Thor
3. X-Men : First Class
4. Captain America : The First Avenger
5. Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance
6. The Avengers
7. The Amazing Spider-Man
8. Iron Man 3
9. The Wolverine
10. Thor: The Dark World
11. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
12. The Amazing Spider-Man
13. The Amazing Spider-Man 2
14. X-Men: Days of Future Past
15. Guardians of the Galaxy
16. Avengers: Age of Ultron
17. Jonah Hex
18. Green Lantern
19. The Dark Knight Rises
20. Man of Steel
21. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
22. Kick Ass
23. Kick Ass 2

As evident from the list above, we are living in a geek fantasy world. So many movies and series based on comic books. Let's analyse each category.

1. Live-Action Series :
   
   Live-Action series have been there since the 1950s. A reminder of the good ol' days - Adam West, everybody !!!
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   So what makes THIS time so SPECIAL??
   
   The answer is the number of Live-Action series that are being aired simultaneously. To prove my point I would be sharing some statistics.

   

   Marvel Live-Action Series
   
   

   
   

   DC Live-Action Series

   
   
   
   
   
   As you can see, there has never been a time when 9 Live-Action series have been aired at the same time. These shows are being watched all over the world, not just by the Comic Book fans but everyone. These shows are hits. Everyone's enjoying them.
   
   I believe that the creators of such superhero shows no longer focus on the "Nerdy" demographic, but everyone in general.
   
   
2. Movies :
   
   There's no denying the fact that superhero movies are hot right now. But this wasn't the case before 2010. I say 2010 because that's when Iron Man 2 was released. That movie marked the beginning of this "Golden Age."
   Iron Man 2, as we all know, was a small part of the line up of superhero movies leading to The Avengers. After that another line up of movies leading to Avengers : Age of Ultron. Plus, the X-Men movies saw a reboot (Well, not exactly a REBOOT reboot. A prequel and a sequel leading to an all new X-Men universe. So, yes, a roboot.) Also, Gaurdians of the Galaxy was a huge hit. Other movies include Green Lantern, Dark Knight Rises and Man of Steel.
   
   After reading the above list of movies, you can see that Marvel has dominated so far. They're the ones who started this amazing era. DC tried to chip in with Green Lantern and Man of Steel. They OBVIOUSLY haven't been successful.
   
   How did the Golden Age for Movies come to be?
   
   Let's start from 2008. Iron Man came out that year. I was in Delhi when this movie was released. Boards exams were over and I was at my relatives' place in Delhi. Me and my cousins went to watch this movie in some movie theatre (I don't recall the name). During the intermission, my cousin, she asks me, "What's so special about Iron Man?" or something like that. And I tell her some information about Iron Man like - "Everyone knows who Iron Man is. Everyone knows his real identity." That's something that had always appealed to me. Do you know what she said?? She said and I'm quoting, "That's LAME."
   
   Now I ask you - Do you think Iron Man's LAME??
   
   Back in 2007, 90% (Don't qoute me on that number) of the Earth's population would've said a big "Yes" (Mostly because they wouldn't know who Iron Man was and if I told them that it's a comic book superhero, they would've called me a nerd and ignored me).
   
   Not a lot of people were fimiliar with Iron Man before that. That was Iron Man's 1st movie! You have to give credit to the director for making an awesome superhero action movie and Robert Downey Jr. for making Tony Stark's character his own. The movie was a huge hit. This got everyone waiting for Iron Man 2.
   
   This is when things get interesting. Iron Man 2 was more than just a sequel to Iron Man. It was but a small part of a way..... bigger plan - The Avengers. Each of the movies in the series, right from Iron Man 2 to Avengers : Age of Ultron, have given us awesome action and CGI effects. These movies would've been great even if they featured a Non-Marvel hero. But  they're all linked to one another as such that these movies have become so much more about the Marvel Universe. Kudos to Marvel for coming up with such an elaborate plan and executing it to perfection.
   
   DC tried to chip in with Green Lantern and Man of Steel. Unfortunately, they failed. Both the movies bombed at the box office. I don't consider Dark Knight Rises as part of this fad because this movie was part of Nolan's trilogy and it was supposed to come out anyways. It was just a matter of time.
   
   Marvel went as far as releasing a movie about a bunch of aliens, a talking tree and a racoon with a gun - Gaurdians of the Galaxy. You'd think they'd get away with it because of all this superhero craze. Guess again. They KILLED it !!! It was a huge success. It was the highest-grossing superhero film of 2014. And nobody, including me, had heard of it before.
   
   

So, why is it that suddenly everyone is into Superheroes?

Let's look at the key demographic of cinema audience today :

http://www.sawa.com/resources/audience

So the key demographic is ages 14 - 34 with most of the audience being above 25.
I believe, reader, you fall under this category. Lemme ask you this - What superheroes did you grow up watching??

I'm going to list down all the superheroes that I grew up watching. Maybe it'll jog your memory.

1. Batman - The Animated Series
2. Superman
3. Justice League
4. Batman Beyond
5. X-Men
6. Spiderman
7. Iron Man
8. Fantastic 4
9. Silver Surfer
10. RoboCop
11. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Now, let's Math.

Equation 1 : We are the key demographic for cinema audience.

Equation 2 : We grew up watching the animated series of the above 

                  mentioned superheroes.

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Solution    : Movies + Live-Action Series based on the superheroes we 

                  grew up watching.

Think about it. It makes sense.

You might say that I got to see these animated show at a latter time because these shows were aired in India when they went into syndication (when the show ended and was aired on different networks). But theses shows were originally aired between 1992 and 2004. So, probably I got to see these shows 2 - 3 years later. Doesn't make much of a difference.

The Upcoming Projects :

* Live-Action :

1. A.K.A. Jessica Jones
2. Luke Cage
3. Iron Fist
4. Defenders
5. Supergirl
6. Legends of Tomorrow
7. Lucifer
8. Preacher
9. #4 Hero

* Movies :

1. Ant-Man
2. Fantastic Four
3. Deadpool
4. Captain America: Civil War
5. X-Men: Apocalypse
6. Gambit
7. Doctor Strange
8. Untitled Wolverine film
9. Guardians of the Galaxy 2
10. Untitled Fantastic Four sequel
11. Untitled Spider-Man film
12. Thor: Ragnarok
13. Avengers: Infinity War Part 1
14. Black Panther
15. Captain Marvel
16. Avengers: Infinity War Part 2
17. Inhumans
18. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
19. Suicide Squad
20. Wonder Woman
21. Justice League Part One
22. The Flash
23. Aquaman
24. Shazam
25. Justice League Part Two
26. Cyborg
27. Green Lantern

Yes. There are 9 new Live-Action series and 27 new Movies based on our favourite Comic Book Superheroes lined up. That too by 2020. Wow!!!

All this Superhero movie CRAZE has created a Comic Book Movie BUBBLE!!!

Yes, it's a bubble. And, it's going to pop one day. I predict that it'll pop in 2022. Let's see. I will be writing about it in another post.

                                      " Right time... it is NOT.... hmmmmm "