Even super powers can't always speed the pace at which a comic-book hero becomes a movie icon.
Spider-Man, one of the cornerstone characters in the Marvel Comics franchise, starred in a couple of TV series and a made-for-TV movie, but even James Cameron, the self-proclaimed king of the world who directed "Titanic" and "The Terminator," couldn't find a way to get the web-slinger to the big screen.
It was beginning to look like the only way Spidey would get into the megaplex was to buy a ticket. But he's here, finally, with Tobey Maguire in the title role and Sam Raimi directing.
The earliest of the costumed crusaders didn't have to wait as long as Spider-Man to make their screen debuts.
Most appeared first in serials -- a string of 12 to 15 episodes that ran weekly, with cliffhanger endings to keep you coming back.
Superman, Batman and Captain Marvel appeared in serials during the 1940s. The deliberately campy "Batman" TV series of the 1960s spawned a big-screen movie version.
But the genre burst into the mainstream with the 1978 release of "Superman," the first of four movies starring Christopher Reeve as the Man of Steel. The overwhelming box-office success of "Batman" in 1989 turned these comic-book creations into super heroes among Hollywood executives.
Now, costumed crusaders are hotter than the Human Torch among movie producers. A new "Batman" movie is in the works, and Warner Bros. keeps trying to find a way to resurrect Superman without busting the budget. Several Marvel characters are on the fast track, including Daredevil, the Fantastic Four and the Incredible Hulk, the latter to be directed by Ang Lee, who made "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon."
For the moment, the question is whether "Spider-Man" will be good enough to take its place among the pantheon of comic-book super hero movies.
What are the top 10? Here's one man's opinion, with a little help from his friends.
1. "X-Men": In the best Marvel tradition, Bryan Singer's movie about young mutants -- some under the influence of the benevolent Professor Xavier (Patrick Stewart), some who are followers of the malignant Magneto (Ian McKellen) -- contains not just super action but also young people struggling with their identities and intelligent social commentary about fear of those who are different.
2. "Superman 2": The best movie in the Christopher Reeve series finds the Man of Steel battling on equal terms with three villains from Krypton who escape from another dimension and try to conquer Earth. Director Richard Lester infuses the film with his trademark humor but doesn't skimp on the action. One of the few sequels better than the original.
3. "The Mask": This is the smartest of Jim Carrey's comedies, although that's not saying much. The rubber-limbed comic portrays a nebbish bank clerk who finds an ancient mask. When he puts it on, he turns into a manic hipster in a zoot suit who helps foil a nefarious plot. Like a Tex Avery cartoon, his eyes literally pop out of his head at the sight of sexy singer Cameron Diaz (in her movie debut). Isn't this why nerdy young boys worship super heroes, so they can imagine themselves turning into way-cool dudes?
4. "Batman: Mask of the Phantasm": Say what you will about the live-action Batman films, they are mostly about the villains. This animated film, based on the stylishly drawn TV series, is the only one that really delves into the tortured psyche of the title character.
5. "Men in Black": A huge box-office hit, this was also a very funny movie with just the right mix of goofiness and sarcasm. Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith are a perfect team as deadpan, black-suited agents who hunt down illegal aliens -- the kind from space -- and try to keep their fellow humans from knowing about the legal ones, like Dennis Rodman. As the movie points out, Elvis didn't die. He just went back to his native planet.
6. "Batman": The first of the live-action features (not counting the campy 1966 version) benefited from director Tim Burton's somber, off-center aesthetic, lead actor Michael Keaton's ability to make you see the brooding emotions behind the bat-mask and Jack Nicholson's over-the-top portrayal of the villainous Joker. Nicholson gave him a maniacal laugh and shot daggers from his eyes to the point where he was actually scary, a character misplaced from a horror film.
7. "Superman": The first of the Reeve films helped create the modern genre but also paid tribute to the source material by giving a mythic cast to the story of the baby Kal-El rocketing to Earth from the doomed planet Krypton and being reared by farm couple Jonathan and Martha Kent. The movie takes on a completely different and more irreverent tone when the adult Clark Kent moves to Metropolis and becomes Superman, but the movie has already worked its magic.
8. "Mystery Men": A cast of talented comic actors including Ben Stiller, William H. Macy, Hank Azaria and Janeane Garofalo portray this group of grade-Z heroes with powers somewhat less than super who must save the world from a supervillain portrayed by Geoffrey Rush. Played for laughs, but these guys have more in common with the great flawed Marvel super heroes than either side would like to admit.
9. "The Crow": The movie took on legendary status in large part because its leading man, Brandon Lee, was killed during filming in an accident involving a firearm. He, of course, was the son of Bruce Lee, the martial-arts superstar who also perished before his time. Ironically, the Crow is a character who was brutally murdered along with his girlfriend and comes back to life to avenge the crime.
10. "Blade": Wesley Snipes plays a vampire hunter who is himself half vampire, featuring plenty of action and plenty of gore and filmed in a style true to the comic book on which it is based.
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