Without... would there ever have been a...?

[Ambaryerno]

Nothing would have stopped the production of Spider-man at that point.

Nothing guaranteed it would have been the same film, either.

[Username taken]

Why do people keep repeating this myth that Marvel went bankrupt because of comic sales?

That never happened. It was Marvel's acquistion of Toy Biz and some other bone headed decisions by their chief executive that got them into that hole.

When comic sales fell, ALL their sales fell- X-men and Spider-man included. The licensing of those movies did help them immensely though. They actually made the most from Spider-man, the first two made over $1.6 billion combined but the movies only generated $62 million for them.

Considering how "little" Marvel made from their licensed properties, it made a lot more sense to make their own movies. Granted it was an IMMENSE risk (considering they used the rights to Iron Man as collateral for the movie) but it's paid off massive for them.

[Username taken]

Nothing guaranteed it would have been the same film, either.

Of course.

It could have been more like the original script treatments where Spider-man would have been more like Seth Brundle than Peter Parker.

[simbob4000]

Fair riposte. I could argue that Buck Rogers is also a John Carter derivative (adventurous modern Euro-American thrown into a Sci-Fantasy environment), but the lines are not nearly as clear as they were Flash Gordon.

I don't, I mean there's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court and Looking Backward: 2000–1887 before John Carter.

[simbob4000]

Blade is irrelevant to the modern superhero boom. There. I said it. Most people at the time didn't even realize it WAS a superhero/comic book movie. It certainly wasn't marketed that way, and it owed a LOT more to the beginnings of the vampire craze kicked off by Interview with a Vampire. I'd also recheck Spider-Man's development cycle, as you didn't even have Raimi brought on board until 2000 (the year X-Men was released). Had X-Men failed it's entirely plausible Sony might have completely reexamined the direction of the project, if not shelved it. It's impossible to say that Spider-Man would have been as big of a hit as it was if X-Men had failed, because THAT film was the gamble, and the one that had to prove that a comic book movie could still work (thus in part why they made the conscious effort to tone down the more outlandish aspects after Schumaker ran wild with them, and killed the genre the first time). Had X-Men bombed it may have taken a big part of Spidey's audience with it.

Any kid that watched Spider-Man on FOX in the '90s knew Blade was a comic character, (and unlike modern Marvel cartoons on Disney XD, lots of people actually watched those Fox cartoons) the movie version showed up there before the movie even came out. I don't think I knew one boy when I was in school that didn't already know who Blade was when that movie came out, because we all knew him from Spider-Man.

We aren't talking about if something failed, we're talking about if something never happens. And if X-Men never happens in 2000 Sony still does the Spider-Man movie they had been working on for a few years.

[simbob4000]

If X1 fails, they stop that development, real quick like. That would be another major failure after B&R, and Marvel would be potentially killing themselves financially if that movie failed.

Also, no FoX-Men Magneto = no Loki, aka the only good MCU villain. Feige has come out and said that Singer's Magneto is his favorite CBM villain/antagonist, and that's who they tried to emulate with Loki.

Even if X-Men failed, Sony probably still does Spider-Man. X-Men was like a mid-budget film with a completely different tone and style to it.

[Username taken]

Even if X-Men failed, Sony probably still does Spider-Man. X-Men was like a mid-budget film with a completely different tone and style to it.

Yeah, Spider-man was just a bigger project from the day one.

It was always attached to big directors like James Cameron.

Whether X-men failed or not, Sony was always going to make their big budget Spider-man movie.

[DrNewGod]

I don't, I mean there's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court and Looking Backward: 2000–1887 before John Carter.

I can see the connection you're proposing, but I think it's tenuous. Twain's work was more comedy than adventure.

[simbob4000]

I can see the connection you're proposing, but I think it's tenuous. Twain's work was more comedy than adventure.

That doesn't matter at all.

[DrNewGod]

That doesn't matter at all.

You left out "to me."

[simbob4000]

You left out "to me."

No, it just doesn't matter at all. John Carter didn't invent characters being whisked away to weird worlds and different times for adventures, it was a thing you could find in a number of different earlier stories, and some of those earlier stories where huge...and probably the reason both John Carter and Buck Rogers have that as a thing.

[Midvillian1322]

Never woulda been a Flash/Arrow/Supergirl tv show without Smallville. People forget the first two seasons ratings put Flashs nunber to shame. Smallville averaged about 7million viewers at this point in flashs run. People bash smallville but it opened the door for alot of CB shows

[CJStriker]

Without Star Wars, there would be no Battlestar Galactica

Without Science Ninja Team Gatchman, there would be no Super Soldier Sentai, Sailor Moon, or any other colorful team of 5 super hero show.

Without Zorro, there would be no Batman.

Indeed, in Japan WITHOUT The Super Sentai Series there would have NEVER Been a Sailor Moon!

Naoko Takeuchi, the Creator of Sailor Moon and Sailor V Even SAID she Drew Direct Inspiration in making them from the Super Sentai Series!

Also Interesting History Going on that, IF their was NO Power Rangers Series in the United States, their be no Sailor Moon brought to American Audiences!

Also, IF it was not for The Shadow as well, their be No Batman!

[DrNewGod]

Also, IF it was not for The Shadow as well, their be No Batman!

Agree, but the same can be said of Zorro, and the Scarlet Pimpernel. It seems to me that both Batman and Superman have quite a few antecedents in the roots of their family trees.

[simbob4000]

I'll say if there wasn't a Shadow Batman would still exist. Now, what you wouldn't get is The Case of the Chemical Syndicate exactly as it is, or at all; but that doesn't mean you don't get Batman, that just means they pull stuff from another place for Batman's first story. Now, you don't get Batman without The Bat. The Shadow, and a whole hell of a like of pulpy crime noir stuff might not even look the way it does without that movie and Roland West.