Now we live in a world where the global film economy is largely built on them.
In the nearly two decades since, successful caped-crusader movies started trickling, then flooding, into theaters. The picture earned more than $131 million worldwide. On August 21, 1998, Blade was released and audiences watched Snipes don the shades of the titular vampire-stabbing superhero (a longtime Marvel Comics staple). Then Wesley Snipes came along and changed everything. Superhero movies had been few and far between throughout cinema history, and the then-most-recent superpowered flick had been 1997’s Batman and Robin - a movie so derided that George Clooney has spent 20 years apologizing for it. Hell, the idea of an “industry” for movies about costumed heroes was ludicrous. In 1998, predicting a fiscally and artistically rich superhero-movie industry would’ve gotten you laughed out of your local comics shop. This list was first published in 2014, and has been updated periodically to reflect new superhero movie releases. Photo-Illustration: Maya Robinson/Vulture