Howard the Duck (1986) was a legendary bomb. Marvel Comics had yet to truly enter the cinematic arena. Only Men In Black (1997) could be considered a comic book film success story, but most people didn’t know it was based on a comic. Memories of the Phantom (1996), Judge Dredd (1995) and The Shadow (1994) were still fresh. The year 1997 also saw the disappointing releases of Spawn and Steel. Other superhero films didn’t fare much better. The last Batman film was the intentionally “toyetic” Batman & Robin which, one year before 1998, set the gold standard for superhero film awfulness. DC then created a cultural touchstone with Tim Burton’s Batman (1989), but had also destroyed that cinematic property over three sequels. DC proceeded to drive that series into the ground in a stunning display of diminishing returns with three increasing terrible sequels and a failed Supergirl spinoff. The state of comics and comic book films in the summer of 1998 was dire.ĭC Comics were the only big name in the genre, having created the modern superhero film with Superman: The Movie (1978).
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