The Spider-Man films, The X-Men films, and Fantastic Four films are based off of their widely popular comic book series from Marvel Comics. These superheroes and their stories have become a significant part of pop-culture because they are used in a variety of movies, comic books, TV shows, and video games that people continually use today.

The Origins of Spider-Man

Created by Stan Lee and Steve Diko Also to be accredited: Jack Kirby and Joe Simon

First appearance: August 1962 in Amazing Fantasy
First television appearance 1967-1970: Spider-Man cartoon series on ABC

1977: Live action TV series The Amazing Spider-Man
Released three movies with episodes from the show: Spider-Man (the original TV-movie pilot from 1977), Spider-Man Strikes Back (1978), and The Dragon's Challenge (1981).
1980: Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends cartoon series for NBC
1994: Spider-Man, the Animated Series made for Fox
1999- Spider-Man Unlimited TV series
2003- Spider-Man, the New Animated Series; new use of computer animation

Spider-Man was a revolutionary hero because he broke the superhero mold with the creation of Spider-Man. Peter Parker is an average teenage kid with the same problems all teenagers have, with the exception of superpowers and the responsibility of protecting New York City. Spider-Man won massive appeal because of his lovable, relatable character:

“Spider-Man, despite the fact that he was not originally intended to star in a series, became the epitome of the radical innovations that characterized The Marvel Age. Lee used him to challenge the very concept of the super hero. Spider-Man was neurotic, compulsive, and profoundly skeptical about the whole idea of becoming a costumed savior. The Fantastic Four argued with each other…but Spider-Man had to struggle with himself” (Biography 2).

Spider-Man (2002): Total US Gross $403,706,375; Worldwide Gross $821,700,000
Spiderman 2 (2004): Total US Gross $373,524,485; Worldwide Gross $783,924,485
Spiderman 3 (2007): (not released yet)

Spider-Man timeline from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider-Man_on_television

The Origins of the X-Men

Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
“A precursor to the concept of a school for feared genetic mutants appeared in the 1953 science fiction novel Children of the Atom by Wilmar Shiras, which has been credited — though never officially confirmed — with inspiring the X-Men” (wikipedia.org).

First appearance: September 1963 in comic series The X-Men
1975- Giant-Sized X-Men comic book series
1978- Uncanny X-Men comic book series
1983- The New Mutants comic book series
1992-1993: X-Men, the Animated Series on Fox
2001- X-Treme X-Men (cancelled) comic series
Also printed a variety of X-Books or comic novels

Each new series of comics introduced new characters, which added to the diverse dynamic of the X-Men.

X-Men (2000): Total US gross $157,299,717; Worldwide Gross $295,999,717
X-Men 2 (2003): Total US gross $214,948,780; Worldwide Gross $406,399,599
X-Men 3 (2006): not released yet

X-Men timeline from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_X-Men_comics

Origins of the Fantastic Four

Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Comic book publisher Martin Goldman saw the success that publisher Jack Liebowitz had with his comic book series The Justice League, so he was inspired to coin idea to Stan Lee about creating a team of superheroes rather than just one lone hero.

First appearance: November 1961 in The Fantastic Four comic book magazine
2003- Ultimate Fantastic Four comic book series
Three animated TV series called Fantastic Four:
1967-1969, aired on ABC; Hanna-Barbera Productions
1978-? aired by NBC, Marvel Productions Ltd
1994-1996, made into DVDs by Walt Disney Company

Fantastic Four (2005): Total US Gross $154,695,569; World Gross $329,495,56
Fantastic Four (2007): not released yet

Fantastic Four timeline from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantastic_Four

All stats about movie grosses: http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/

Photos courtesy of:

Spider-Man: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider-Man

Fantastic Four: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantastic_Four

The X-Men: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_X-Men