After Richard Donner’s Superman became the first superhero movie to receive a wide release in 1978, Hollywood began to look at superheroes in a different light. No longer were comic books simply a collector’s item for geeks and dweeboids. Rather, they became an opportunity to market to the masses, complete with ready-made franchises and Happy Meal product integrations.

A slow and steady increase of superhero movies in the 1980s turned into the trigger-happy 1990s when it seemed like any superhero script was green-lit, no matter how poorly it was written (ahem, Batman & Robin). Of late, more care has been taken in the development and casting of superhero movies, resulting in historic financial and critical dividends. In 2008, the universally acclaimed The Dark Knight became the first superhero movie to gross over one billion dollars worldwide.

The popularity around superhero movies has unsurprisingly bled into original web entertainment, with two shining examples “Chick” and “Johnny Raikou” featured on KoldCast TV. While the two were not exactly produced on the same scale as The Dark Knight, they are definitely chock full of entertainment.

The following graphic details the evolving history of superhero movies, from the original Superman to this year’s most recent crop. Who knows what the future will hold for cinema’s cape crusaders.

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