Film being a hugely expensive medium that needs to reach a mass audience the movies will never break the mold the ways the comics have.  At least not while its studio heads and bean counters behind the projects.  Both Nolan and Del Toro’s first stab at superheroes follow the origin movie structure slavishly and while they are likely to cut loose with the sequels they aren’t likely to deliver storytelling structure anywhere near as radical as what they’ve done in their previous films.  Meanwhile the comic book continues to find new ways to do the superhero story while the film medium has reduced it to a simple formula not likely to diverge from one film to another.  Surprisingly the postmodern superhero story, a take that has become very popular in the comics has rarely been tried on screen.  Only M. Night Shaymalan’s Unbreakable has managed to do it successfully but even failed attempts like Ivan Reitman’s My Super Ex-Girlfriend don’t appear often.  

Perhaps one or more of this summer’s superhero movies will finally give us something substantial to chew on but it’s doubtful.  The real litmus test to whether superhero films will become a viable genre in their own right will come early next year when Frank Miller’s adaptation of Will Eisner’s The Spirit is released.  Eisner’s comic book broke all the rules and the movie seems to be going for the same tactic.  Miller has refused to give viewers an origin story instead deciding to construct a new story that will bring the world of the comic book to life.  Having already rewritten the rules for comic book adaptation while working with Robert Rodriguez on his own Sin City, Miller may be the first comic book creator to have as much impact on cinema as he did on funny books. 

Following soon afterwards is Zach Snyder’s adaptation of Watchmen.  Many of the most successful comic book adaptations have been adaptations of specific stories and graphic novels and often with the original creator’s input.  Watchmen writer Alan Moore has already been soured by past experiences adapting his work but Snyder has already gotten artist Dave Gibbons onboard and plans to adapt Watchmen as he would a big sprawling and complex novel.  Nobody has done superheroes this way but having turned Frank Miller’s 300 into a big hit movie Snyder seems to up to the task.  If anybody can get all of the original comics complex mix of superheroes, political conspiracy and alternate history onto the screen then Snyder can but an even bigger question remains.  Will audiences line up to see a superhero movie that is this cerebral.

To use the famous line "who will watch the watchmen" and what will the nest year mean for superhero movies.  As a comic book fan I would hope that these movies would attract more people to the books and to a certain degree they have but in other respects the dumbed down movie versions have confirmed in many people’s minds the unfair stereotypes they had for comics to begin with.  If Watchmen is a success it could mean that more smart and complex superhero movies are on the way but it could also be the end of comics.  If movies can do what comics do then why should we read.  If it fails it could contribute to the comic books continued station as ghettoized low literature.  "Who will watch the watchmen" and what will it mean for the future of movies, comic books and the superhero genre.