Batman (TV series) crime-lab at the Batcave, rushing to the villain's secret hideout, falling into the pre-arranged trap. By relying heavily on a formula, it became easy to spoof various elements of that formula. The typical story begins with a villain's caper (such as stealing a fabulous treasure, kidnapping a prominent person, or attempting to take over Gotham City). In his office, Commissioner Gordon, along with Chief O'Hara, learn of the crime and the culprit. Helpless to stop the villain, they contact Batman via the Batphone – a bright red telephone that provides a direct phone link to Batman (be it at Wayne
Superhero fiction and financially, stunting the growth of superhero films for a time. Hit films such as "Blade" (1998), "X-Men" (2000), "Unbreakable" (2000) and "Spider-Man" (2002) have led to sequel installments as well as encouraging the development of numerous superhero film franchises in the 21st century, both successful (such as the 2005 reboot of the Batman film franchise) and unsuccessful (such as 2004's "Catwoman"). Although the genre's commercial appeal has been relatively uneven, the subgenre have become a major element of mainstream film production with outstanding successes like "The Dark Knight" in 2008, "The Avengers" and "The Dark Knight Rises" in 2012,