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From the Greek Gods of Olympus through radio serials in the early thirties, The Shadow Office draws in many a year and with the to the more earthbound heroes of the quickly made it onto newsstands, featuring in massive success of Christopher Nolan’s own modern Olympics, we earthlings have had strips and magazines. Batman may indeed Batman trilogy in mind - not to mention Zack an obsession with power, strength and all owe a little to this masked vigilante, himself Snyder’s forthcoming Superman reboot, things ‘super’, human or otherwise. So, a wealthy young man fighting city crime, The Man of Steel - it’s surely likely DC will born of our own troubles, fears and hopes, albeit with psychic powers and a nice hat. eventually gather its own hero collective, the a cast of characters has been created many Justice League, for a film outing? of whom are as vital and embedded in pop Marvel Comics, while stretching back to culture today as they were when they were the late thirties like DC, really came of age Of course DC and Marvel aren’t the only kids first sketched, painted and printed onto the in the sixties when a writer called Stan in town, with the likes of Dark Horse, Pacific newspaper and comic books of their geneses. Lee appeared on the scene. The early part Comics and 2000 AD having spawned their While some of those heroes have come of that decade saw the genesis of some own heroes, including the latter pair’s The and gone, others have stayed the course of today’s most popular icons, including Rocketeer and Judge Dredd respectively. and enjoyed rebirth after rebirth (or is that Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, The Incredible The non-comic book heroes can trace their reboot...). Of course not all our screen heroes Hulk, Thor, X-Men and Iron Man. While lineage back to the classics though, with can trace their origins to the printed page, they are all enjoying on-screen popularity Xena: Warrior Princess owing as much to some are created for the screen - though they today, it is the web-slinging Spider-Man who Wonder Woman as she does Hercules, the share a certain DNA with their inky cousins. has continued to capture the imagination television series from which she was spun- of generations. Marvel’s true answer to off. Hollywood’s Hancock was very much an Two heroes in particular dominate the Superman might well be Captain America, anti-hero created in the mould of Superman landscape, their presence on screen reaching who originally appeared in the early forties. and Batman, whether he liked it or not, right back to the forties; I am of course He, like most of the Marvel heroes, enjoyed and bits of all the classic franchises can be referring to Superman and Batman. Both screen time largely in animated form (except found in NBC’s popular teen series Heroes. were created at the end of the thirties, as for a couple of live action attempts in the British television favourite Danger Mouse is War began to rage in Europe, and both seventies) long before his story was brought perhaps more Bond than Batman, though appeared in DC Comics publications. From to vivid life on the big screen in 2011. That no less heroic, while the Transformers - born those flickering movie serials, through the and the immense popularity of the first two of plastic playthings - are here to serve and television series’ and blockbuster franchises, Iron Man films inspired Marvel to commit protect from beyond our galaxy and with far Superman and Batman set the bar for every to celluloid their popular Avengers comic, more metal than ‘The Man of Steel’. One hero - Super or not - that followed. One which sees their most famous heroes unite. thing is for sure, heroes come in all shapes hero who actually pre-dates Superman and Avengers Assemble (as it was known in the and sizes and they will dominate our screens Batman is The Shadow... Beginning life in UK) has been one of the most popular Box for a long time to come. There is something about the idea of a evokes memories of spandex and highly camp and Penguin. He too would leave the franchise Superhero that inspires a composer to bring villains - ‘THWACK!’ - while the themes for with Burton (and lead actor Michael Keaton), out the big guns, and by that I mean brass, Wonder Woman and The Amazing Spider-Man leaving room for pop director Joel Schumacher percussion and a theme you can hum while television series’ are truly of their time and and composer Eliot Goldenthal to take on walking down the street (or indeed running gems both. The exception to the rule in this Batman Forever and then Batman and Robin. with your coat clipped around your neck like period is The Incredible Hulk with Joe Harnell’s Goldenthal created his own signature march a cape). As usual we have a lot to thank John solo piano theme beautifully capturing the for the films; vigorous, gothic and with perhaps Williams for in this regard; his music for Richard solitude and sadness of an inflicted man. a little more muscle than Elfman’s, with the Donner’s Superman: The Movie just soared, rest of his music at times distinctly Elfman- lifting Christopher Reeve off the ground and The eighties were dominated by the Salkind’s esque. Batman and Robin spelled the end for truly making us believe a man can fly. His Superman franchise, which ran out of steam - the franchise as it was, but of course Batman triumphant fanfare and that rousing march just and money - in 1987, while the majority of our would begin again… oozing strength, honour and a little bit of ‘The heroes found their place in ongoing animated American Way’. Inspired as it was, a march for series’ that ran well into the next decade. The The decade also saw Sylvester Stallone this particular hero wasn’t a new thing, for the end of the eighties saw the rebirth of Batman, as Judge Dredd one of the few non DC/ likes of Mischa Bakaleinakoff and Leon Klatzkin with Tim Burton and Warner Bros. turning in Marvel comics to make it to the big screen. had previously gone down that route for both a film brimming with style, famous faces and Alan Silvestri turned in a powerhouse score Columbia’s Superman film serials and TV’sThe an impressive score by Danny Elfman. To think for the film, which still ranks among his Adventures of Superman respectively. A march, Batman was the composer’s first ‘serious’ very best work, while James Horner and with its military connections, connotes power score seems ludicrous today, given the weight Jerry Goldsmith created memorable musical immediately, so it’s no wonder they work so of the material. His main theme is not heroic in spectacles for films of The Rocketeer and well for Superheroes. Jerry Goldsmith revealed the Williams sense, but it remains true to the The Shadow. what he might have done for Donner when he character’s darkness and bold sense of duty. eventually scored Supergirl, the resultant title The noughties have so far been the most theme one of his best. If the eighties were Superman’s, the nineties fertile period for our heroes, with big budget belonged to the Bat as three more films were outings for almost all the Marvel characters, The sixties and seventies, before Williams produced by Warner Bros. Burton’s Batman some twice over, as well as reboots for both struck up the band, saw our heroes living Returns built on the look and feel of the first Superman and Batman. Sam Raimi brought life mainly on the small screen and with film, while exhausting the director and counting Spider-Man back across a trio of popular catchy theme tunes, usually with lyrics him out of further adventures. Elfman’s second films starring Tobey Maguire in the lead role spouting their names. The likes of Neal score re-used the main theme, while adding in and with Danny Elfman returning to musical Hefti’s immortal Batman theme immediately scintillating and furtive material for Catwoman heroics with a modern score befitting the youthful webslinger - one that has continued Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard, CREDITS to have an influence on other hero scores. however, turned the genre on its head with John Ottman supplied triumphant music for Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins. It’s true CD1 Tracks Published by: two Fantastic Four films as well as the X-Men to say that Batman isn’t your average hero; Tracks 1,2,3,5,6,12,13,14 Universal Music sequel X-2 before going full circle and utilising in fact he’s not even ‘super’. He is a man on a Tracks 4,8,9,10,15,16 Warner/Chappell Music Tracks 7 EMI Music Williams’ music as part of his score for Bryan dark path, fighting crime in a city infested with Tracks 11 Cherry Lane Music Singer’s Superman Returns. The ‘Young’ Man criminal scum. That darkness and conflict lies of Steel’s story was re-told on television too at the heart of the composers’ music, which CD2 Tracks Published by: in Smallville, with the theme song ‘Save Me’ leaves behind the glory of a hummable theme, Tracks 1,3,11,17 Warner/Chappell Music by Remy Zero opening each episode. Original substituting it instead with pounding rhythm Tracks 2,7,8 Sony/ATV Music scoring duties fell to Mark Snow and later and murky pathos.

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