Superhero film as action, horror, fantasy, comedy etc. Almost immediately after superheroes rose to prominence in comic books, they were adapted into Saturday film serials aimed at children, starting with "Mandrake The Magician" (1939). Serials such as "Adventures of Captain Marvel" (1941), "Batman" (1943), "The Phantom" (1943), "Captain America" (1944), and "Superman" (1948) followed. In the following decades, the decline of Saturday serials and turmoil in the comic book industry put an end to superhero motion pictures, with the exception of "Superman and the Mole Men", starring George Reeves, which was a trial balloon for the television series "Adventures of Superman", compilations
Superhero film (which debuted in Marvel Comics) and set the stage for further comic book film adaptations. After the comic book boom and the success of several comic book adaptation films (including superhero films) in the 1990s, the first decade of the 21st century brought increased interest in the genre and some of the most profitable superhero franchises, many from Marvel Enterprises. The success of the "X-Men" TV series had made 20th Century Fox license the film rights in 1994. After the success of "Men in Black" in 1997, Columbia Pictures licensed the film rights of "Spider-Man" in 1999. 20th Century Fox's