Superheroe Movies

I'd like to make a point with this post that has been needed ever since Marvel started making superhero movies. Superhero is its own separate genre. I like science fiction a lot. I like fantasy fiction too, more to read, less to write or watch. However many people used to lump fantasy fiction into science fiction for some reason. There's really not a great reason for doing this in my opinion, but it happened never the less. My local used bookstore does this too, and I don't mind when it comes to what books I can buy with my credit there. But they lump horror into it too, and horror is a separate genre and most people won't disagree with that. If you think about it, Lord of the Rings and Star Wars don't belong in the same genre either, even though there may be similarities in the storyline. Just as this is true of sci-fi, fantasy and horror, it is true for superhero fiction.

Superhero fiction has come a long way since the breakout 2000 movie X-men. This launched the new renaissance of movies that doesn't show any sign of slowing. From the successes of Spiderman and Batman to the less than spectacular Elektra or Punisher, there certainly have been more superhero movies over the last decade than at any other time in the past. Because of the popular nature of these movies, even the ones with less than sparkling reviews, the whole superhero genre has had a considerable resurgence.

Now I'm not totally limiting my superhero post to the movies, but that is definitely where the superhero genre is moving to. There is of course Smallville, which I'll post about separately soon. This has been such an improvement over some of the crummy superhero cartoons from decades past. Of course I'm not talking about Justice League or Justice League Unlimited. Those rock. And I will officially go on record saying that the Joker from the Justice League Franchise is the best Joker ever. Lois Lane from JLU is really awesome too, and even though I'm starting to come around to Erica Durance, the JLU Lois Lane is the best Lois too. Most of the other animated stuff sucked though, except for maybe the animated movies, the Avengers and Doomsday.

I think some other movies kinda fit into this genre even though they might not be obvious. Mystery Men and Ultraviolet obviously fit into this genre, but I think the Laura Croft and Indiana Jones movies also fit into this genre too, though not perfectly.