1990s should have been era of been decade of superhero.
PG-13 was cool as success of Independence Day showed.
CGI was good as Terminator 2 showed in 1991.
Arnie, Chuck and Sly were getting old. Bruce Willis was trying to diversify. JCVD and Steven Seagal had limited non-fighting skill.
Kids were important audience now as success of Jurassic Park showed.
Videos games were of better graphic.The world was globalized.
So what happened ?
In starting , everything was nice.
Dick Tracy was a hit in 1990.
Rocketeer was critically hit in 1991.
Batman Returns was also a hit in 1992.
However by 1994, things started to change.
The Crow was a flop.
The Shadow was bad.
Only silver lining was Mask.
However Mask was a cartoonish comedy. It’s success forced Hollywood to stop making dark movies like Batman, Crow and not take the genre seriously anymore.
Which is why in 1995;
Judge Dredd had to add Rob Schneider for comedy element.
The ‘dark’ and ‘serious’ Batman films now turned wacky with introduction of characters like Riddler
Less we talk about 1996 ‘s Barb Wire, better it is.
Superhero movies was talking wrong direction despite all the advantage it had.It needed to stop.
Thankfully , Arnie saves the day. No, I am not kidding. If Arnie killed superhero movement in 1982, he will do it again in 1997. He totally does, when he decides to star in already horrible Batman and Robin and turn it into most punful – I mean – painful movie ever made.
“Let’s kick some ice”
“What killed the dinosaur ? The ICE AGE!”
“The iceman COMETH”
They were actual lines.
The message was clear. Hollywood studios need to take superhero seriously if they have to milk a cow called comic book.
No wonder Batman and Robin turned out to be last of cheesy superhero movie in 1997.
But it had to be replaced with something else. But what it will be ?
Enter 1998. Or let’s say enter Blade.
It was change superhero genre definitely needed. It was violent unlike PG-rated Dick Tracy. It had good costume unlike Steel. It was serious unlike ‘funny’ Judge Dredd. It had scary villains unlike Batman and Robin.
It was the injection that superhero genre needed for good.
Blade would help in kickstart of superhero movement we are seeing today. However it cannot be father of modern superhero movement.It was R-rated. Superhero need to be PG-13 to earn more money for studios.
So who would be the father ?
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