At this point it's hard to remember what summer movies were like before the rise of comic book movie adaptations. My mother always says, "what did the word ever do without cell phones" and I feel the same way about superhero movies. Just in 2011 we have had The Green Hornet, The Green Lantern, Thor, X-Men First Class, Captain America not to mention movies made just like superhero movies Sucker Punch and I Am Number Four. I can remember a summer when we were enjoying material like Gladiator, Erin Brockovich or Road to Perdition (which was ironically based on a comic book). Today however it's about what tights wearing figure we can put on the big screen or in many cases, bring back to the big screen. Don't get me wrong Christopher Nolan's re-invention of The Dark Knight is some of the greatest work we have seen on screen in years, however the "re-boot" concept that is being applied to The Amazing Spiderman and the upcoming Superman film is nothing more than the downfall of American cinema.

 Already this summer in the midst of the super-heroic summer all the trailers are for next years super hero films. When I was a kid collecting comic book trading cards all I wished for was movies like we are seeing today. It was always a dream to see the X-Men on the big screen, four films later while those movies were impressive, and generally credited with starting this whole comic book to movie craze I wonder if it will ever stop. I just saw an amazing film called Sarah's Key starring Kristen Scott Thomas which is based on a bestselling book. I thought to myself, will we ever get back to a time where these types of movies that actually make us think will be more available at the box office?

 There are more of these super hero movies that fail at the box office than succeed. The amount of money that goes into these projects really depend on a huge audience following or they face a huge loss in profit (i.e. Green Lantern). One of the reasons, especially this summer, we have seen more comic book films than usual is because of next years The Avengers flick. A movie that I am predicting could be one of the most expensive projects in movie history, which of course means it could be the movie industry's sinking Titanic. The Avengers will feature Iron Man, Thor, Black Widow, Hulk and more.

 According to Warner Bros. and director Christopher Nolan, The Dark Knight Rises will be the third and final of the Batman films. Of course I am worried in less than five years the studio will seek someone else to reboot the Batman film for a third time. The Dark Knight is the most successful of all the superhero films, racking up over $500 million at the box office and even taking home two Academy Awards. You could ask why Batman Begins and The Dark Knight have been so successful both critically and financially, but its because Nolan's screenplay doesn't treat the crime fighter like a superhero, because he isn't. All major actors understand that the new super hero craze is required to sustain momentum in Hollywood, even the most unlikely of actors are appearing in super hero films, because unfortunately it is the way of the future, and even the most insignificant of comic books are now being optioned for the big screen.