What Was the First Modern Comic Book Movie?

[Fritzo]

Tim Burton Batman still pretty corny, although in more of a creepy way that Burton is famous for. However the latter 2 Batman films from that era completely reversed any progress that Burton might have made, of which we could even argue that Burton's 2nd Batman movie started that all...

But as far as modern era comic movies, X-Men definitely takes the cake, the Burton Batman was practical effects, and the fact that it failed to spurn a golden age of comic movies soon after its debut is pretty much all the proof in the pudding we need to write it off. Important? Definitely, it helped pave way for comics with a darker tone. Turning point? Not really. The 90s was completely devoid of any major comics other than the downward spiral of Batman. The best comic book movies in the 90s were the likes of The Crow, Spawn, and Blade, all who might owe thanks to Burton's Batman, but at the same time definitely did not establish a trend we would see starting with X-Men in 2000.

When I say corny, I mean making the film a tongue in cheek comedy. Batman was actually a serious movie. Even Superman in 1978 was full of slapstick. Batman was the first movie that took a superhero completely seriously.

 

[Mr.IncrediblyBored]

Anybody mention X-men yet?

 

[angminas]

http://www.the-numbers.com/movie/records/All-Time-Inflation-Adjusted

Now think like a studio exec, because in the end it's all about $.

Batman owes little to Superman, but without Batman there would have been no X-Men. Batman was a tremendous critical surprise and massive financial breakthrough, while X-Men was neither. It is because of Batman $ that all later big-budget superhero movies were even attempted. At first they didn't realize that they had the golden goose, and they kept trying new stuff (cheesiness of B&R, small names of The Crow and Blade) instead of using the household name + gritty Batman formula.

However, the missing piece came in 1999. The Matrix took ridiculous high-flying comic book bullshit and made it cool and "realistic" while sprinkling in just the right amount of thought-provoking technobabble and keeping the tone deep rather than bleak. It finally fleshed out the nerd savvy of the average moviegoer enough that you could hang a more complex story on them without them getting too distracted by the action to know what was going on. It made viewers feel like part of the world rather than simply observers by accentuating the realness of the characters and setting, like at any moment you might get a call from Morpheus too. This "everyman superman" feeling was a large part of what made X-Men work...a lot of people wanted to be Batman, but few could really identify with him. The leap forward was even greater and broader-reaching than what Batman had done a decade earlier, and arguably Stan Lee owes more to the Wachowskis than he does to Tim Burton.

But The Matrix isn't really a superhero movie. As far as those go, Batman is the sine qua non, while X-Men is the first child of Batman and The Matrix and therefore probably answers the OP's question best. Spider-Man got kids back into the picture and upped the financial stakes a bit, but it was simply the result of applying to a more bankable character the lessons learned in earlier films.