After wrapping up the Avengers Adaptation series last week, I started wondering what was in store for adaptations of comic books. If you’ve followed along here at MuseHack, you’ll have noted the posts about the movie meltdown coming. From Spielberg to Cracked.com, the current bubble is predicted to pop, possibly as early as 2015. Meanwhile, Marvel Studios and Warner Brothers have a number of big screen adaptations in planning. Add in companies like Dark Horse Comics, and the comic book movie looks to be a mainstay until the pop.

First, Marvel Studios has a number of sequels related to The Avengers, including Thor: The Dark World and Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Outside the Avenger titles, Marvel’s taking a risk with Guardians of the Galaxy, based on an older title of space-faring heroes. Another risk, though linking back to The Avengers, is the Ant-Man movie. Marvel did succeed with the movies leading to The Avengers despite the characters being lesser known. What may help is Marvel Studios using existing storylines from the comics. That still leaves the question on whether audiences are willing to give the non-sequel movies a shot. Summer of 2013 has audiences not turning out for the big-budget blockbusters as they had in the past.

Marvel Studios isn’t the only studio adapting Marvel titles. Fox has the rights to the X-Men and related titles and characters and have released The Wolverine and is working on X-Men: Days of Future Past combining the original X-trilogy with X-Men: First Class. Sony has the rights to Spider-Man and has rebooted the series.

Over at Warner, owner of Marvel’s Distinguished Competition, the success rate of movies depends on whether it centres around Batman. Man of Steel underperformed at the box office. The Green Lantern fizzled. Catwoman bombed. The Dark Knight trilogy did do well, though. The advantage Warner has is that it holds all the rights to the DC characters. If they need a character, they have the access. However, the lesson that Warner learned is that dark, grey, and gritty is the way to go, leading to Man of Steel. Warner’s next adaptation is based on World’s Finest, a Batman-Superman movie. Meanwhile, a Justice League movie may be on its way, thanks to the success of The Avengers, but this would put Warner into the position of catching up with Marvel. With The Green Lantern‘s middling success and the studio having no idea what to do with Wonder Woman, that leaves the rest of the classic team in limbo. Aquaman would need a Dini-verse makeover. The Flash would mean trying to pick which Flash* to use. There is a Flash movie in the works for 2016, though.  The character does not work in a grim and gritty story. Other than Batman, the Green Arrow has had some success through the TV series Arrow

Adding to the movie implosion of 2013 is R.I.P.D., an adaptation of a Dark Horse comic of the same name. The comic doesn’t have the same name space in pop consciousness, so the failure of the movie shouldn’t impact the title. However, by being off the pop culture radar, the movie had to rely solely on marketing, a problem plaguing several releases over the past few years, including John Carter. While Marvel Studios, Fox, Sony, and Warner have the money to get word of a movie out to everyone if they wish**, a lesser movie won’t get the money behind it. R.I.P.D. did have marketing, but audiences stayed away.

Marvel managed to capture attention using the Avengers Initiative and high quality movies. Warner needs to play catch up without looking like a Marvel imitator, making the success of a Justice League movie difficult.

Next week, Blade Runner

* Jay Garrick, Barry Allen, and Wally West have all taken up the mantle of the Flash in DC Comics.
** For a counter-example, see John Carter. Please.

Finally! The last of the Avengers Adaptation series!

Previously:
Iron Man
Incredible Hulk
Thor
Captain America

Also, of note, Adaptations and the Superheroic Setting, which discusses the creation of a separate universe for different media. The Avengers and the movies leading up to it are a good example of creating a separate setting that shares common elements with the original work but still allows for creative interpretations. Otherwise, the nitpicking on minor details will get annoying and detracting.

In 1963, Marvel decided to pull together a team to challenge DC Comics’ Justice League of America. DC’s JLA comprised of the company’s heavy hitters – Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, Green Arrow, Green Lantern, Aquaman, the Martian Manhunter, and the Atom. Marvel’s first attempt to counter the JLA resulted in The Fantastic Four. While The Fantastic Four succeeded, the team wasn’t what the publisher wanted. Stan Lee pulled together Marvel’s top tier characters – Iron Man, Thor, the Incredible Hulk, Ant-Man/Giant-Man*, and the Wasp – to create a competitor. The characters came from Marvel’s top books; Iron Man’s Tales of Suspense, Thor’s Journey into Mystery, The Incredible Hulk, and Tales to Astonish, featuring Ant-Man and the Wasp.

The first issue of The Avengers brought the team together. Loki, wanting to exact revenge on Thor, lured the Hulk into attacking a railway car. When the call for help went out, Loki diverted it to Thor, inadvertently sending it to Iron Man, Ant-Man, and the Wasp as well. All four heroes converged and, setting the tone for not only the full Avengers run but also spin-offs, misunderstood each other to the point of in-fighting. Thor worked out the illusions and that his brother was behind them, allowing the heroes to team up and assemble as the Avengers.

The Hulk left in the second issue, leading to a fight against the Sub-Mariner. The fight, though, broke a chunk ice free from an ice floe, leading to the return of Captain America, who took the Hulk’s place on the team in issue 4. Hawkeye, who had appeared as an Iron Man villain in Tales of Suspense #57 joined the Avengers in issue 16. The Black Widow, another of Iron Man’s rogue gallery**, joined the team in issue 29.

In 2000, Marvel launched a new imprint, Ultimate Marvel. The original goal was to update backgrounds and clear out continuity snarls*** that caused potential new fans to be locked out from the regular universe’s titles. In the Ultimate line, the Avengers became The Ultimates, a team brought together by the head of S.H.I.E.L.D., one General Nick Fury****. The team comprised of Captain America, Giant-Man, the Wasp, Bruce Banner, and Iron Man; Banner would go on to inject himself with the super-soldier serum to become the Hulk, who the rest of the team stopped with the help of Thor. The second Ultimates series introduced Loki, who arranged for Thor to be put away as an escaped mental patient.

This leads to the movie, Marvel’s The Avengers+. Marvel Studios had an ambitious plan to release a number of movies leading up to one about Marvel’s mightiest team, the Avengers. The first movie in the Avengers Initiative was Iron Man, one that had fans wondering until the announcement of Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark. Iron Man performed beyond expectations, allowing the rest of the series to continue. Each movie in the Initiative acted as the origin story for the title character, allowing The Avengers to get to the heart of its story without having to explain who all the characters were. SHIELD first appeared in Iron Man, although after the end credits, and reappeared in Iron Man 2. Hawkeye, Agent Clint Barton, appeared in Thor. During this, Disney bought Marvel, sending panic among fans. The first movie released with Disney as distributor was The Avengers.

The movie mixes mainline Marvel and Ultimate Marvel continuity. Changes were made to both line’s story on how the group formed and the composition of the team, but Loki remained the element that brought the team together. The heroes are brought to squabbling amongst each other, distrusting, as Loki tweaks each hero’s sore spot. The bickering becomes an all-out brawl on board the SHIELD Helicarrier, allowing Loki’s team of agents on board while the fighting disrupts and almost destroys the vessel. With the death++ of a SHIELD agent, the heroes pull together as a team to defeat Loki and his minions.

The Avengers isn’t a pure adaptation. However, especially in light of Lost in Translation #54, the creators bring in a number of elements from both the main Marvel continuity and the Ultimate line, blending the elements to let the movie stand as its own continuity. The movie also blends together the different themes from previous movies, from techno-thriller to Shakespearean drama to pulp heroism, turning The Avengers into a work of its own. With the exception of Edward Norton, casts from the previous movies reprised their roles; Norton was replaced with Mark Ruffalo as Banner. Humour came naturally from characters and situations instead of being forced. The Avengers felt like both a serious comic book and a step back from the dark grey of the Batman movies without going too far the other direction as seen in Flash Gordon or Street Fighter: The Movie.

Next week, a superhero round up.
* Hank Pym changed his hero code name at the start of The Avengers #2 to Giant-Man. He’d later take several other names. — Scott
** Natasha first appeared in Tales of Suspense #52, five issues before Hawkeye’s first appearance. Fittingly, she first appeared in Marvel’s cinematic universe in Iron Man 2 — Scott again
*** Some snarls include the Summers family tree, which involves time travel, and Spider-Man’s Clone Saga — Yep, it’s Scott
**** General Fury was redesigned early in production to look like Samuel L. Jackson, who gave his permission to use his likeness. Made him the perfect actor to cast as Nick Fury in the movie. — Trivia Scott
+ As opposed to the remake of the TV series that starred Patrick McNee and Diana Rigg. — Still Scott
++ Maybe. We only have Nick Fury’s word on it. — Doubtful Scott