From comic books to film, superheroes soar to new heights

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Comic books have been a popular source of reading material for generations and films featured around the characters of these stories have followed closely behind.

However, as technology develops and the film industry gets slightly more creative and visually friendly, the idea of images and words displayed on a page to becoming larger than life on a screen is more so common, if nothing short of a tradition, for comic book franchises.

From Superman and Spider-Man, to Ant-Man and Aquaman, new comic book films continue to launch into theatres right, left and centre and there doesn’t seem to be any sort of stopping them from continuing in the future.

The Interrobang spoke with Cineplex pre-show host Tanner Zipchen to get his thoughts about the evolution of books to film, why it’s still a growing trend and if he could choose one superhero or villain as his favourite, who would it be.

Zipchen, who himself is a comic book and superhero fan, said the appeal and success of the two mediums merging has to do with strength.

“I just think it speaks to the strength of the stories and the strength of the characters and these comics and the fact is that people have also grown up with these characters as well through their life and somebody who may have grown up on the Spider-Man cartoon or reading Batman comic books, now to see that on the big screen is totally mind blowing to see the sense of nostalgia and some of your favourite characters brought to life in a whole new way,” Zipchen said.

Zipchen, who’s been able to interview a number of stars who’ve appeared on screen in comic book-themed movies, such as the legend Stan Lee, Margot Robbie, Chloë Grace Moretz, Christian Bale, Michael Keaton, Ryan Reynolds, Tom Holland and Lou Ferrigno to name a few and previously hosted Comic-Con panels, said that the actors themselves who played these comic book and superhero characters on the big screen all have one thing in common about their role.

“It’s just that being part of this universe is very cool,” Zipchen said.

According to Zipchen, it’s about the fan dedication and how some of the actors have either grown up with these characters and have made them “dear to their hearts”, but it’s a “cool niche” to be in.

“It is a little daunting, it’s a little intimidating too, sometimes it’s tough to play a character like that, being the next Spider- Man, it comes with its own stresses as well, you don’t really want to let people down.”

Zipchen credits the “amazing” storylines of the films with a mix of humour as what draws even the most unlikely person to come see a film based on comics. He also said that by this point, whether it be a Marvel Comics or a DC Comics film, it’s almost like common knowledge where most people are familiar with the basic characters of the films, such as Batman or Spider-Man.

“Some of the more successful comic book movies we’ve seen, sometimes haven’t even been the bigger hero such as Guardians of the Galaxy and Doctor Strange. I think that just speaks to people, they’re going in their open-minded and they’re not sure what to expect but they’re falling in love with these characters that maybe aren’t the front runners in the Marvel universe, but I think it speaks about the characters that they play,” Zipchen said.

Zipchen also credited the fact that the film industry doesn’t aim to please only the diehard fans of these comics, but rather make the movies understandable for everyone, which is also why they’ve become so popular and seem to have a steady presence in the film and entertainment industry

“The whole movie is not just based on the philosophies of certain things, it’s beyond that and it’s the humanity in these characters that people can relate to. It’s not like it’s too hard to wrap your mind around, which is cool,” Zipchen said.

According to Zipchen, the culture of seeing these films in the theatre is also an experience not to miss, because just like at Comic-Con, fans are all waiting in line together, some might be dressed up and overall everyone is there to enjoy the film and experience.

“It just makes it a little bit more exciting too. People are so passionate about these movies, so it’s a really cool experience in general to go to a movie like that.”

Even when there’s a big push to see these films on opening weekend, it’s not necessarily due to spoilers in the media or online, but rather because the culture of the pandemonium of this culture.

“It’s always been a part of the atmosphere, at least that’s why I like to go the movies like that, it’s just these fans all show up and maybe some will be dressed up, and just the passion in people’s eyes is the coolest thing to see,” Zipchen said.

Zipchen doesn’t see this trend and shift of comics to film dying down anytime soon since the industries keep reinventing themselves with different characters and new developments.

“They keep developing and it’s not necessarily the same thing in the same world all the time, they’re completely changing the game,” Zipchen said.

Zipchen used the new Spider-Man movie Spider- Man: Homecoming slated for release this year, as an example of reinventing a new storyline from an old character.

“This could be one of the best Spider-Man movies we’ve seen. I know a lot of fans are excited about seeing a Spider-Man, where we’re not going to see the origin story again, that we’ve already seen a million times, so even when it comes to something like that they’re not necessarily making the same movie over and over again. Now this Spider-Man is a whole new Spider-Man we’ve never seen so it’s always knew, it’s always fresh and I think as long as they can keep doing that I think there’s definitely some staying power for these films,” Zipchen said.

Zipchen said the fact that the film industry is able to incorporate all these characters such as Ant-Man is a plus.

According to Zipchen, these films are something people are invested and dedicated to, which is also why he doesn’t think they will diminish any time soon.

“You’re kind of dedicated to it, so if you’re one of those people who have watched all the Marvel movies from the beginning, it’s like you got to see the next thing, [and] you got to keep up with it,” Zipchen said.

Zipchen also said some of the characters correlate with one another.

“So if you see Ant-Man, you get that much more out of seeing Captain America: Civil War because you understand what’s going on and the backstory and these inside jokes that they’re making, that makes sense because they tie into other movies. It’s this one massive universe that you just get thrown into. You got to keep up,” Zipchen said.

Though many characters have been shifted from books to the screen, Zipchen is hoping to see Scorpion from the Spider-Man series will pop up or Daredevil, who is on Netflix now, but perhaps can make the jump on the big screen.

With his admiration for the comic and film world, Zipchen said his favourite character is Spider-Man, since he’s one of the original superheroes and because Stan Lee would agree with him.

“ [ S p i - der-Man] is like the coolest guy, he’s just always got that cool attitude, he’s such a cool role model for kids, he’s a young guy who’s kind of found his own identity while he’s becoming this superhero,” Zipchen said. “Iron Man is cool too, but then especially with the new Spider-Man, having the Iron Man-influenced suit anyways, it’s kind of like the best of both worlds.”