It all depends on whether the studio decides to actually handle an ensemble superhero movie correctly. None of them have, yet. We always end up with two or three characters that get all the screen time, with the rest just acting as plot dispensers; and the plot's designed around set pieces instead of, you know, being "organic".

The Avengers was pretty sloppy, but it had its good bits. I credit all the good in it to Joss Whedon, and anything crap to the studio and the material. Let's face it, he didn't have great material to work with. That team and its stories have needed rebooting for a loooong time.

I actually felt the ending of the Batman trilogy was pretty terrible. The whole Robin forced character ruined it for me. Everything IP until that point in the movie was amazing.

+9000

"I don't like it and anyone that does has poor taste" is basically what you're saying when you say something is "overrated" unless you're talking about something that can be objectively anolyzed. If it can't be objectively anolyzed then you're just implying that your opinion is more "right" than those of others.

I just watched Iron Man 1 last night in preparation for 3 this weekend. I skipped 2 as I felt it was pretty inferior compared to 1. My daughter was watching it will me, she says to me, 'Daddy, I like Iron Man.' then got scared when he was testing the Mark II and it iced over and he started to fall. She threw her hands up as if to catch him and was saying, 'No! No! Don't Fall! No!' I had to reassure her that Iron Man would be fine. I can't wait for 3.

Same thing with Anne Hataway in the movie..

I can't wait to see it, Iron Man is my favorite gadget-based hero.

Not this again.

I wonder if superhero ensemble type things would work better as a TV show? That way, there'd be plenty of time to fully explore each character and have their relationships develop more believably. Heroes was quite good (well, the first couple of series at least). Of course, all the money is in the big budget Hollywood movies, so that's unlikely to happen with the likes of Marvel or DC.

All that lore and drama would put the people that came to the move to see 'splosions to sleep. I think it might be hard to sell a lot of super hero movies to studios if they can't position them as summer action films, which have a quota for 'splosion-to-actual-content ratio.

I find this comment to be overrated.

Would be too expensive. Actors would want millions per episode, special effects would be expensive, half season dvd/blu ray box sets would be $200

Well I don't really mean trying to get Christian Bale or Robert Downey Jr. on board - just having a whole new series unrelated to the current slew of movies. As for special effects, there are plenty of shows out there with great effects. It wouldn't have to be on par with The Dark Knight, as a TV show wouldn't revolve so heavily around huge, action-packed set pieces.

I feel that Anne Hathaway's appearance in the film was for the absolutely HORRID casting decision to put Maggie "Train Wreck Face" Gyllenhaal as Rachel in TDK. I mean Katie Holmes was a poor choice for Bruce's love interest but at least she was easy too look at. So, Nolan was probably like...'Ok, I had to kill Rachel because the fans are complaining that the new Rachel looks like a foot. How do I make peace with them. Ok, we need Catwoman..that'll make the fans happy. Well...she really doesn't fit with the Knightfall and Knightsend story arc, she only had a small part in the comic. Ok....well...let's just put her in leather, have her sit on the Batcycle and we'll show her ass. BRILLIANT!!'

I was OK with Anne Hathaway's ass in the movie.

I'm ok with Anne Hathaway's ass in any aspect of my life, but I agree that Catwoman didn't really fit into the movie very well.

Joss Whedon worked a miracle with Avengers. It's a testament to his skill as a writer/director. That said, super hero movies are tough to film. Even tougher for ensemble casts, because you've got to get people like RD Jr. to take a step back so as not to outshine everyone else in the picture.

The key really is getting an experienced director that knows the material and that can get a group of prima donnas to work together. The reason Green Lantern wasn't a success was because the studio made a poor choice in directors (Martin Cambpell is not a good choice for sci-fi/fantasy) and leading actor (Ryan Reynolds is no Robert Downey Jr.). But what do I know? I'm just a guy on a pc.

Agreed. Anne Hathaway was fan service. Good fan service, but fan service nonetheless. John Blake at least made some sense, because someone had to hold Gotham down while Bruce was in Morocco.

In the Batman comics Johnny Blake is a kid who has his report card stolen by the Joker. The story never goes any further than that. Having John Blake in the movie made little sense to me.

I meant within the context of the film not DC continuity.

It would've made more sense if they had the GCPD officer named Todd. Then at the end he could say Jayson. Or even better, Richard even though if they had been running around saying Greyson it'd be a dead give away. At least with Todd it may have given people some time to figure it out. Hell, they could've even used Damien but then it would've been too obvious. Plus then it would've screwed up the story something fierce. LOL I guess Blake was the non-obvious choice but I still didn't like him.

Jason would be an awful choice to replace Bruce has Batman (I love Jason he is a great Anti_hero but a terrible Robin.) Grayson would be too obvious I agree and Damien is also an awful choice. So Tim Drake is the only who would have fit into the film (He was the best at being Robin after all.) I honestly liked the idea of Blake, mixing in different aspects of each Robin.

I totally forgot about Tim Drake, he was my favorite Robin. As for Damien, I never cared for him so it was no loss to me when he was killed. Though I am waiting for Death in the Family to come out as a collection so I can read it.

Death of the Family* Death in the Family is where Jason meets the crowbar.

I grew really attached to Damien when Bruce was lost in time for a bit.

Anyway I need to stop talking about Batman in Iron man topics. I'm going to be seeing it again on Wednesday see if I can spot any easter eggs I missed.

Yes, Death of the Family...there have been so many Robin deaths it's really hard to keep track. You'd think Wayne would frickin' learn.

The only person who benefited from being Robin was Damien, everyone else was a mistake.

Oh, I thought it was primarily the really terrible script. It's a story whose second act consists of the Green Lantern being emo- not riveting storytelling.

As for B3 ... there really was no reason to have Catwoman there. Nolan didn't have his heart in it, and it shows. He didn't want anything to do with Batman after Heath Ledger's death, but the studio begged him and gave him enough money that he changed his mind. He phoned it in for B3.

That was most of the old Spider Man movies.