Superhero film

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A superhero film is a genre centered on superheroes and their adventures, with characters often possessing superhuman abilities or exceptional skills. Superhero films typically blend elements of action, adventure, fantasy, or science fiction. The first film about a particular superhero character often focuses on the hero's origin story and typically introduces the hero's nemesis, or their main enemy.

Many superhero films are adaptations of existing works. Superhero comics from publishers such as Marvel, DC, and Dark Horse (the umbrella academy universe) have frequently been adapted into film. Others are based on television properties such as films from the Japanese Ultraman, Kamen Rider, and Super Sentai franchises. Both Underdog and The Powerpuff Girls are based on their respective animated television series.^[1] The Green Hornet is based primarily on the original radio series and its 1960s television adaptation. Anime superhero films are often based on manga and television shows. Some superhero films, like the RoboCop series, The Meteor Man, the Unbreakable film series, Hancock, Darkman and They Call Me Jeeg, were developed as original projects for the screen.

According to box office income figures from Box Office Mojo, the highest-grossing superhero film franchises since 1967 include Tsuburaya Productions' Ultra Series, Toei Company's Kamen Rider and Super Sentai, New Line Cinema's Blade, 20th Century Fox's X-Men, Sony Pictures' Spider-Man trilogy directed by Sam Raimi, the Amazing Spider-Man duology directed by Marc Webb, Pixar's The Incredibles, Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight Trilogy, the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), and the DC Extended Universe (DCEU). The MCU alone has earned over $28 billion.^[2][3][4]

The MCU film Avengers: Endgame (2019) is the highest-grossing superhero film to date, with over $2.7 billion worldwide. It briefly held the record for highest-grossing film of all time^[5] before being surpassed by Avatar.^[6]