While Marvel films today bring in hundreds of millions of dollars in box office revenue, are plentiful in theaters, and are generally of good quality, things clearly weren't the same before the 2000s. That's why we decided to look back at the Marvel films released in the 20th century. And beware, it's heavy stuff (in the bad sense of the word).
10)Fantastic Four (1994)
We've already told you about it in the past, this film Fantastic Four is simply a scam. In fact, this film was born because of a rights issue. During 1992, producer Bernd Eichinger realized that if he didn't urgently produce a Fantastic Four film, he would lose the rights to these famous Marvel characters. The rights were about to revert to Marvel Comics. Bernd Eichinger then launched, in the greatest secrecy, an adaptation of Fantastic Four, which wasn't even really intended for theatrical distribution. Except that he didn't tell anyone. He then hired a technical team, actors, and a director in the person of Oley Sassone. The latter had to make do with an extremely limited budget, mediocre equipment, and second-rate actors. The film was made in four weeks, was shown once in a special screening, and was never released in theaters. And that's not a bad thing, as Fantastic Four is simply unwatchable. For those who are curious, the film is available for free and in its entirety on YouTube.
9)Captain America (1990)
And yes, before Chris Evans, there have been other Captain Americas in the past. Directed by Albert Pyun, this 1990 Captain America is a film 20 years behind its time. Led by Matt Salinger, it's a no-budget, cardboard, and completely amateur blockbuster. A strange, bizarre, and instantly obsolete work. While the story is fairly faithful to the comics, Captain America feels like it came straight out of the 1970s, whether in its cartoonish tone, its mediocre makeup, its failed special effects, or its incredibly banal dialogue. To give you an order of comparison, Terminator was released in 1991 and Batman Returns was released in 1992.
8) Doctor Strange (1979)
Many have forgotten, but at the end of the 1970s, the CBS channel, which held the rights to several Marvel characters, attempted to launch a true connected universe ahead of its time. The Incredible Hulk, Spider-Man and Doctor Strange were part of their stable. It was with this in mind that the network produced a TV movie about Stephen Strange in 1979. Peter Hooten plays the character in a forgotten adaptation that is surprisingly cult among old-school fans of the Marvel universe. It's worth noting that the film also featured an antagonist that we haven't yet seen in the MCU: the Fairy Morgan. Initially, this TV movie was supposed to be a pilot for a Dr. Strange series, just like Spider-Man and Hulk, but poor ratings forced the network to abandon the project.
7)Captain America and Captain America II: Death too soon (1979)
Directed by Rob Holcomb, these two versions of Captain America, also produced by CBS, put Reb Brown in the shoes of Steve Rogers. Kitsch films, these two Captain America TV movies aimed to rejuvenate the character. Here, there is no question of World War II or freezing, Steve Rogers is a guy of his time, who owns a van, a motorcycle, listens to funk music and plays Avenger in the City (in a softer version, of course). It's period, and it should interest fans of the super soldier. It's an attempt to make Captain America cooler and more accessible to a younger audience. Note that Christopher Lee plays the antagonist of the second film.
6) The Spider-Man saga (1979)
Derived from the 1970s series The Amazing Spider-Man , led by Nicholas Hammond, Spider-Man (1977), Spider-Man: The Dragon’s Return (1979) and Spider-Man: The Dragon’s Return (1979) Challenge (1979), released directly on CBS, are a complete continuation of the series created by Stan Lee himself. Over time, this series has gained a cult following. First, because it was the first live-action appearance of Spider-Man. Second, because both the show and the films are dripping with the pleasant, pop atmosphere of the 1970s.
5) Howard the Duck: A New Breed of Hero (1986)
And yes, as crazy as it may seem, Howard the Duck got his own feature film. In addition, Howard… A New Breed of Hero was produced by Lucasfilm, much to George Lucas's regret. Faced with the feature film's mediocrity, the father of Star Wars even tried to make the film by Willard Huyck (writer of American Graffiti and Indiana Jones 2) disappear by keeping the last copies in a vault. Howard the Duck is a deeply kitsch work that must be approached with a pinch of salt. Punctuated by bad dialogue and situations that are at best absurd, at worst unhealthy, this infamous Marvel adaptation is wrapped in a layer of nostalgia. The character is more sanitized than in the comics, but certain references will not escape aficionados. With its Ghostbusters-style special effects, its Back to the Future-style music, its George Lucas-style direction and a little Who Framed Roger Rabbit-style cartoonish feel, Howard the Duck is very much in tune with the times. But the film was a financial and critical disaster... At the same time, we will never be able to erase from our minds the unhealthy and embarrassing sex scene between a giant duck and a young woman...
4) Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. (1998)
Released directly to television, this 2-hour TV movie focuses on the adventures of Nick Fury. At the time, it was David Hasselhoff who played the character. Nick Fury: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is a somewhat old-school and dated adaptation, but one that understood its source material rather well. David Hasselhoff plays an ambiguous Nick Fury, bordering on the rules, and quite violent, in a universe generous in terms of Marvel references. We can notably come across characters that are now better known to the general public, such as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, Viper, Dum-Dum Dugan, Baron Strucker and Alexander Pierce, characters now respectively played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Svetlana Khodchenkova, Neal McDonough, Thomas Kretschmann and Robert Redford.
3) The Incredible Hulk saga (1977 – 1990)
Of all the CBS productions, it was the The Incredible Hulk saga that worked the most. A cult series broadcast from 1977 to 1983, it starred Billy Bixby as Bruce Banner and the famous bodybuilder Lou Ferrigno as Hulk. An iconic series, where Hulk was simply a muscular guy painted green. Despite everything, the magic works. In addition to the series, 4 TV movies were released from 1977 to 1990, with the same duo of actors. TV movies that were just as cult. While the first served as a pilot for the series, the following ones were more ambitious and allowed for the connection of the different Marvel/CBS series. We could then meet characters like Thor, Daredevil, Dr. Strange, Spider-Man or even The Kingpin in the cult The Trial of the Incredible Hulk (1989) in which Stan Lee already made a cameo, the genesis of his future tradition. In short, it's cult!
2) Punisher (1989)
Before Thomas Jane, Ray Stevenson and Jon Bernthal, the immense Dolph Lundgren was the face of Frank Castle. A classic actioner from the 1990s, this Punisher is also just a sanitized version of its namesake in the comics. Rather mainstream, this adaptation is especially worth it for the presence of Dolph Lundgren, the new darling of Hollywood thanks to Rocky IV and Masters of the Universe. A rather effective entertainment, in the era of its time, which, obviously, has fallen into oblivion. Afterwards, let's not lie to ourselves, it's still the worst adaptation of the Punisher...
1) Blade (1998)
In fact, Blade is the first good Marvel film in the history of cinema. Directed by Stephen Norrington, the feature film redefines the codes of the superhero film in cinema. Darker, more mature, more violent, Blade creates a split with the previous Marvel films, colorful and childish, geared towards young audiences. Blade was even the launch pad for films like X-Men and Spider-Man. Gothic and bloody, the feature film largely respects the comic book character, here played by Wesley Snipes. Blade is the first Marvel film of the modern era, and the first to define the new codes of the genre, which would become popular with the sagas of Sam Raimi and Bryan Singer. For comparison, at the same time, at DC, audiences had to make do with the ridiculous and cartoonish Batman of Joel Schumacher.
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