Spiderman | JAMIES PAGES

Rebooting the Spiderman franchise so soon after the very successful Sam Raimi trilogy was never going to be an easy task for Director Marc Webb. The three films, featuring Toby Maguire as Peter Parker/Spiderman are the fifth, sixth and seventh highest grossing superhero movies ever – a testament to their popularity.

While Webb did introduce a few new elements into the story, including a more confident Peter Parker played by Andrew Garfield, and a continuing subplot concerning Peter’s parents, it did not reach the heights of its predecessors.

That may also turn out to be the case with The Amazing Spiderman 2: Rise of Electro. If so it will be through no fault of those involved in
the film, for they have done – if you’ll pardon the pun – an amazing
job.

The chemistry between Garfield and Stone was one of the positives to come out of the first film, and that has continued, and even improved in the second. So too has the performance of Garfield. His honest portrayal of Peter Parker, of the highs and lows he goes through as a teenage superhero, have you investing in the character as the movie progresses.

He takes the time to talk to those he has rescued, even while chasing a truck through the city, and when he catches up with the criminals is never short of a wise crack.

Despite this sometimes teenage brashness, Peter Parker is a nice kid, and warming to Garfield was not difficult.A scene in which he protects a young boy from bullies is a fine example of this. His conversation with the boy could easily have been condescending, instead it was as I said – honest.

There are better villains, and more of them. Jamie Foxx is a bit over
the top as Electro, but as the whole concept of an electrified glow in
the dark villain is too, that can certainly be forgiven. Dane Dehann is
suitably creepy as Harry Osborne, and later the Green Goblin, while the always delightful Paul Giamatti makes a short, but memorable appearanceas the Rhino at the end of the film. Both should be back for the third installment.

The special effects, as expected are excellent, and not particularly
overused considering the genre. The story is cohesive and interesting, giving the cast something to work with, and they all do their jobs well. Too often, a decent story is neglected due to the overuse of CGI. That certainly isn’t the case here. In fact the two Marc Webb films are two of the few I would actually recommend seeing in 3D, particularly when Spidey is swinging through New York.

While Marc Webb’s first foray into the Marvel universe was not as successful at the box office as both he and Marvel would have liked, I am certain this one will do a lot better. It certainly deserves to.

Who is the biggest superhero in the world? Finding the answer on the internet is not as easy a task as one might think. The results are as numerous as they are varied. Most, are based on the writer’s opinion, while others, although based upon evidence, only concentrate on one aspect of media that superheroes appear in. Very few, if any, actually take into consideration, all forms of media through which fans can access their favourite superhero.

For example, a child may spend their pocket money on Superman comic books. However the same child will most likely have seen ‘The Man of Steel’ at cinemas at least once. Owns the DVD or bluray of that film – which is probably stored on the same shelf as their Superman and Justice League animated feature films. They also more likely than not, watch Superman cartoons on television, play Superman video games, and have all manner of Superman paraphernalia scattered about their bedroom.

Therefore to truly answer the question of who the biggest superhero in the world is, four forms of media must be looked at – comics, television, film and merchandising.

Superheroes were of course, introduced to us originally through comic books. During the ‘golden age’ of comics in the 1940’s, individual issues featuring Superman, Batman and Captain Marvel, regularly sold over a million copies each in the United States alone.

Although global figures are hard to pin down, over a billion comic books were sold in the US in 2013, up five percent from the previous year. This created over 3.7 billion dollars in revenue for publishers. The two most successful of course being Marvel, with 36.97 percent, and DC with 33.35 percent.

The three biggest selling individual issues sold were Justice League of America #1 (326,000), Superman Unchained #1 (259,100), and Guardians of the Galaxy #1 (221,200). Superior Spider-Man #1 sold 216,700 copies to come in a close fourth.

However the individual superhero that sold the most comic books by far in 2013 was Batman. Batman comics (excluding Justice League and Superman/Batman), had 17 entries in the top 100, selling 1.96 million copies.

Spiderman came in second, having nine entries in the top 100, registering sales around 900,000 copies, while Superman came in third with five entries, and 740,000 copies sold.

Of all the mediums that superheroes are now presented through, the closest relation to the original comic book is the animated cartoon. Becoming popular in the late sixties, superhero cartoons have become an institution on children’s television.

Although there are no real figures to use as evidence, an internet search of the most popular cartoon featuring a superhero, will show that nine times out of ten, Batman: The Animated Series is rated number one on any given list. The majority also have Batman Beyond in their top ten, so given the overwhelming anecdotal evidence in his favour, Batman comes out on top again.

Using that same evidence, Superman is the next most popular, followed closely by Spiderman and Wolverine. Ensemble cartoons featuring The Justice League, X-Men and the Avengers also feature prominently.

Ever since DC’s Justice League first made their debut in 1960, publishers have recognised the enormous popularity in uniting individual superheroes into teams. That popularity has translated to film. Marvel’s The Avengers, released in 2012, is the highest grossing superhero film to date, having taken in more than 600 million dollars at the box office.

Coming in second, and the first of the individual superhero films is The Dark Knight (2008), having grossed 535 million, followed at three by the Dark Knight Rises (2012) with 448 million.

However when assessing who is the biggest superhero, box office figures alone cannot tell the complete story. Since Superman premiered in 1978 the world’s population has grown by a third, and there are so many more cinemas from which to watch movies. Also Batman has been in far more films than any other superhero, so he would naturally come out on top.

Buzzfeed.com have come up with a formula that does not just rely on box office receipts. Considering many different factors, they have given each superhero ‘a weighted film rating’, and come up with a top twenty.

The top five on that list are Batman (3.4), Spiderman (3.26), Ironman (2.98), Superman (2.93), and Wolverine (2.13).

In all, the top 20 superhero films have grossed an astounding six billion dollars at the box office worldwide, however that same figure is generated every year through superhero merchandising. DC and Marvel each made three billion dollars from merchandising last financial year, placing them both in the top five merchandisers globally.

According to the Chicago Tribune, Batman sells the most merchandise. In 2012 when the competition for superhero merchandise was at its fiercest following the release of The Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises and The Amazing Spiderman, Batman merchandise outsold the other two comfortably. DC produced more than 1000 different licenced products for the Dark Knight Rises alone.

From the evidence presented here, there is no doubt who the biggest superhero in the world is. While Spiderman and Superman have tried hard, Batman has come out on top of every category, and when he celebrates his 75th birthday next month, he will do so as the biggest superhero in the world.