Guinness World Records 2018

FIRST SUPERHERO MOVIE

It is possible to credit the earliest cinematic

superhero if the term “superhero” is narrowly

defined. Not until

Adventures of Captain Marvel

(USA) in Mar 1941 had moviegoers seen an ordinary

man, Billy Batson (played by Frank Coghlan

Jr),

change into a costumed hero with superhuman

powers (Captain Marvel, played by Tom Tyler, above).

HIGHEST-GROSSING FEMALE SUPERHERO

The most successful superheroine to star in her

own movie is Catwoman/Patience Phillips in

Catwoman (USA, 2004), which earned $82,102,379

(£45,525,000) at the global box office. In the lead

role was Halle Berry (USA), who earned herself the

dubious prize of a Golden Raspberry (Razzie) as the

“Worst Actress of 2004”, an award that she famously

picked up in^ person at the ceremony.

HIGHEST-GROSSING

SUPERHERO “ORIGIN” MOVIE

According to The-Numbers.com, Sam

Raimi’s Spider-Man

(USA, 2002)

had grossed $821,706,375

(£534,235,000) as of 8

Dec

2016. The storyline explains how
      student Peter Parker (played
      by Tobey Maguire) develops
      superhuman abilities after being
      bitten by a radioactive spider.
      The franchise revisited the story in
      The Amazing Spider-Man

(USA, 2012),

starring Andrew Garfield. A second

reboot, Spider-Man: Homecoming

(USA),

is set for a Jul^ 2017 release.

In the real world,

the suit Tony

Stark wears in

Iron Man^3 (USA,

2013) would set

you back well over

$100^ m (£80.2^ m),

according to

mashable.com.

And that’s before

paying for the

mind-control

technology to

operate it!

First superhero

on television

Superman was the first

comic-book superhero to

appear in his own television

series. Adventures of

Superman, which began

in 1952, starred George

Reeves as the Man of Steel

and was sponsored by

cereal company Kellogg’s.

Most-portrayed

superhero on television

The character of Superman

has featured in four live-

ON SCREEN

action TV series and been

played by five different

US actors: George Reeves

(Adventures of Superman,

syndicated, 1952–58);

John Newton and Gerard

Christopher (Superboy,

syndicated, 1988–92); Dean

Cain (Lois & Clark: The New

Adventures of Superman,

ABC, 1993–97); and Tom

Welling (Smallville, Warner

Bros., later CW, 2001–11). A

sixth actor, John Rockwell

(USA), played the character

in The Adventures of

Superboy (1961), an

untransmitted

pilot for a series

that was never

aired. The character

of Superman has also

appeared in numerous

films, cinema serials

and animated TV

series ver the years. o

Highest-

grossing

superhero actor

The six films to date

starring Robert

Downey Jr (USA) as

Tony Stark, aka Iron

Man, have earned

$6.5 bn (£5 bn) at the box

office – more than that for

any other actor playing a

superhero. See right for a

costing of Iron Man’s suit.

Highest-grossing

movie superhero

According to

The-Numbers.com,

Batman tops the

worldwide box-office

grosses, with films

totalling $4.573 bn

(£3.61 bn), as of

14 Dec 2016. The

Dark Knight’s closest

competitor is

Spider-Man, whose

five films have

brought in $3.963 bn

(£3.12 bn) as of the

same date.

Longest runtime for

a superhero film

The Dark Knight Rises

(USA/UK, 2012) claims

the record

for longest

runtime at

164 min. Close

behind is another

film featuring the

caped crusader:

Batman v Superman:

Dawn of Justice (USA,

2016) clocks in at 151 min.

Highest-grossing

movie reboot

Of the movies that have

been “rebooted” – i.e.,

had their continuity

discarded and started

anew – The Amazing

Spider-Man (USA, 2012)

is the most successful,

SUPERHEROES

Helmet with

projected

head-up display

$54,100,000

Shoulder-mounted

guns $400,000

Gold-titanium

exoskeleton

$10,000,000

Hand-mounted

stabilizing jets

$2,000,000

Arc nuclear

power source

$36,000,000

Boot-mounted jets

$3,800,000

Wrist-mounted

missile launchers

$1,500,000

Hip-mounted

battery packs

$2,000