Has Fox Redefined the Comic Book Genre (again)?

Published April 20, 2017

The views contained in this article are that of the author and should not be taken as the opinion of Geek Node as a publication.

Comic Book movies have become a mainstream genre at the movies with Marvel Studios reigning supreme (at least in my humble opinion with absolutely no shade being thrown at any other studio). The history of the comic book movie is a long and storied one and while DC’s Superman actually started it off decades ago, it was Bryan Singers X-Men in 2000 that kick-started the modern era of comic book movies.

X-Men showed us that a comic book movie can have the action we would expect, while still showcasing character development and depth. It was an instant box office hit and spawned a franchise for FOX. Still, Superhero flicks were largely set in a fantasy world where nothing really horrible happened to anyone really. The next game changer was Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight that was fully submerged in realism. This gave us a new breed of comic book film that showcased stellar acting and cinematography against the backdrop of the more fantastical elements you would expect of the genre. A far cry from the Joel Schumacher movies, or even that horrid Spawn movie.

All the while, Marvel was slowly moving their pieces into place and after laying the groundwork with Iron Man, Captain America and Thor standalone movies – checkmate, The Avengers became the event movie we all grew to love. Marvel/Disney has created the shared cinematic universe, an idea most studios (especially DC/Warner Brothers) are trying to emulate. Therein comes the rub. As everyone knows, in the 90s Marvel was in some deep financial trouble and sold off the movie rights to some of their properties to studios. As a result of one of these deals, the X-Men franchise belongs to Marvel, but Marvel is not allowed to include the merry Mutants in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As long as FOX keeps churning out movies every four years they can keep the rights to these characters as well as other properties such as the Fantastic 4.

Alas between some cringe-worthy Fantastic 4 movies and thoroughly botching up their X-Continuity, Fox has done a very good job of churning out some pretty dubious additions to these franchises to preserve these rights. I mean really, we have had X-Men Origins: Wolverine and that God-awful Fantastic 4 movie from a little while back. Seriously, who could blame us for lamenting and losing hope that we would ever see decent renditions of these characters on the silver screen?

Then, when all hope seemed lost, like a phoenix in the darkness Fox released Deadpool in 2016 and flipped everything on its head. Finally! A true-to-the medium, R-rated comic-book movie that dominated the box office! Once again, Fox managed to break every rule and made some new ones as well. With a microscopic budget and great writing and directing it showed that moola isn’t everything. Don’t get me wrong, I love the MCU and I enjoyed the DC movies to date for the most part – but they all seem a little empty and generic these days (especially Marvel).

Unfortunately (and for reasons discussed in an upcoming article) we still won’t get to see Marvel’s Mutants and first family in the MCU but things were looking up! Then Fox announced that it would be doing a rendition of the Old Man Logan storyline. The only means through which I can chart the emotional journey I went through from the moment I read the announcement to the moment I left my seat at the end of Logan not too long back is by paraphrasing the words of the immortal Gloria Gaynor.

“At first I was afraid, I was petrified… thinking that FOX could never get it right. But then Logan came along and showed me, I was wrong… all along.”

Logan is something we have never had before- a bona fide character piece. It is a thoughtful, emotional and well-paced movie that just happens to star comic book characters. This is unprecedented… With these two latest entries (peppered by the newer X-Men movies), FOX has forged a new sub-segment in the genre. It has injected some much-needed freshness to a genre that has become so formulaic. To my mind, all FOX has to do now is carry on this trend and they will be able to break the billion dollar mark. At the same time, they must be wary of beating this new stallion to death as is often the case.

So where does that leave the offerings from the other studios in a world where super powers are an allegory or metaphor for everyday issues?

Well, we still need our popcorn Iron Man, our Dark Batman, our quirky Guardians of the Galaxy and off-kilter Suicide Squad don’t we?

What are your thoughts on this new revolution brought on by FOX? Do you think it will last or will it fade just as quickly as it gained momentum? Leave your thoughts down in the comments below.

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Entertainment / Gaming Author at Geek Node

The possible result of lab experiment gone horribly wrong, a real life Anti-Hero with all of the sarcasm/attitude and non-of-the superpowers. Still tears up each time he sees Arnie lowered into the molten metal. Thinks he is super funny… others beg to differ. Was going to live his life ¼ mile at a time until he converted it to the metric system… and would choose the red pill every time. Driven by Dreams and Fuelled by Passion.