Comic book adaptations, superhero films, are not new, but their current hegemony is impressive. The Avengers thus squat three places in the top 10 biggest hits of all time, and Marvel Studios has released more than 20 films in 10 years, not to mention the Marvel adaptations of Sony ( Spider-Man ) and Fox (X-Men , Deadpool , The Fantastic Four ), and of course the various incarnations of Superman, Batman and now The Joker at DC Comics.
After 80 years of Superman in 2018, Batman celebrated his own at the Angoulême festival with an incredible exhibition in 2019. And Marvel, the House of Ideas, also, this time at Comic Con Paris, in the presence of three comic book legends, the screenwriter and designer Jim Starlin, screenwriter Chris Claremont, and author and editor Roy Thomas. The opportunity to ask them what they thought of the adaptations of their works, and not the least. Avengers, Thanos, X-Men, Wolverine… They are them!
Jim Starlin, creator of Thanos and author of the Infinity War saga
“I remain impressed with the work of Marvel Studios. They did not resume the comics identically, but they kept the spirit. The context and the universe were also not the same, with almost 20 films already and tens of millions of dollars spent. If you think that the film adaptation will be a carbon copy of your story and your character, you put your finger in the eye. They kept a lot of my ideas, even if they changed Thanos' motivations, and removed for example the character of Death.
My only problem may be Thanos' new double-bladed weapon, which is a direct reference to his horrible helicopter [or ThanosCopter, originally created for a children's book] that I thought was forgotten by all ( laughs ) . Otherwise, it's all good, it's even an honor. You should know that at the time, nobody believed in this idea of the Glove and the Infinity Stones and that we were not allowed to use all the desired superheroes. But after the publication and success of the first issue, they wanted everyone to be partying, and we had to deal with characters I didn't even know existed. "
Chris Claremont, reference author of the X-Men and the Black Phoenix Saga
"We must not forget that more than 20 years ago, the world only knew the Superman with Christopher Reeves and the Batman made in Tim Burton. Great movies, but worse and worse sequels, where the only question was just how many bad guys you could get in one movie. People have lost faith. Then the movie X-Men changed the game in 2000. The Fox had bought the rights to a Marvel in bankruptcy, but did not necessarily trust. I remember writing a memo at the time, I was an executive at Marvel, who said: this is not a story of superheroes, but of foreigners, exiles and especially people. Against all odds, especially from Fox, the film made $ 160 million in revenue in the United States, 300 worldwide. Without this success, not sure that Sony would have given Spider-Man to Sam Raimi, or that Iron Man could have seen the light of day at Marvel Studios.
Which does not prevent failures. The Saga of the Black Phoenix has been adapted twice to the cinema, and I cannot say that I am satisfied with it. The first, X-Men: Brett Ratner's Final Clash in 2006, is a total disaster. Maybe you can take some pleasure in it, like when you eat popcorn ... The second, X-Men : Dark Phoenix by Simon Kinberg in 2019, is another story, a heartbreaker. The film found itself at the heart of Disney's takeover of Fox, and as Dark Phoenix had the same last act as Captain Marvel , and their heroines almost had the same powers, it was postponed, the end returned.
The film may be called Dark Phoenix , and the character Jean Gray is not my story. The opportunity to honor him therefore always exists in my opinion, I would like to try my luck, or participate in it, for example in the form of a mini-series. Sophie Turner did not have time to develop Jean Gray as his character from Sansa Stark in Game of Thrones. It should have taken a full season, twelve episodes. Director Simon Kimberg had originally pitched two films. You meet her, fall in love with her in the first, then you break the hearts of the spectators in the suite. Dark Phoenix is a tragedy, it is this story that must be told. "
Roy Thomas, successor of Stan Lee at Marvel Comics (1972-1974) and co-creator of several famous superheroes (Wolverine, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Ghost Rider…)
"The real surprise is not that Marvel is finally adapting its stories on the big screen, but that they have managed to do it well. Other films have tried before, and let's say that up to Blade with Wesley Snipes and especially X-Men by Bryan Singer, it didn't work, in every sense of the word. Why ? Because they were asking other people to take care of it, the wrong people. Fortunately, Hollywood has changed and evolved. When I started working in the cinema, writing screenplays, I went to meetings with the studio executives and they knew nothing about comics. They didn't care.
When we tried to sell the idea of Conan the Barbarian in film, the producer replied: "When you read a comic book, what do you read first? Bubbles?" The trigger came with Star Wars , it opened a breach, it made it possible, all these universes, possible. The doors have started to open for geeks, a new generation has arrived. Steven Spielberg, himself, tried to adapt several superheroes: Plastic Man or Blackhawk [he just signed thirty years later to produce or even realize it ».
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