[Narrator] Superhero films are dominating the box office.

Let's take a look at the history of the genre

by way of stop motion paper animation.

Great news, comic book fans!

Marvel and DC will release 19 superhero movies

in the next four years.

Some critics say that we're reaching a saturation point.

As if.

The modern superhero era began in 1978,

when DC comics and Warner Brothers released Superman.

At the time, it was the most expensive movie ever made.

It's success spawned three sequels

and paved the way for Batman, a decade later.

But while DC was dominating the box office,

Marvel struggled to make a dent.

Marvel's first foray into film

was the George Lucas produced Howard the Duck,

a lemon that cost 37 million dollars,

but made back less than half that amount.

A string of failures followed,

that contributed to Marvel filing for bankruptcy in 1996.

The company sold the rights to many of their

prized characters for 5% of the box office licensing fee.

Things were looking grim, comic book fans,

until Marvel licensed Blade to New Line Cinemas,

which became a modest hit.

Then came the X-Men, licensed to 20th Century Fox.

And finally, Spider-Man to Columbia Pictures.

The success of these franchises drove Marvel

to form its own studio.

The Marvel cinematic universe is now

the most financially successful franchise in movie history,

surpassing James Bond, Harry Potter, and Star Wars.

When Captain America: Civil War recently opened

at number one at the box office, it give Marvel

an unprecedented 13 number one movies in a row.

Before this year, the highest market share superhero films

had on the film industry on a whole, was 13.7%.

2016 is on pace to shatter that figure.

Of all consumer dollars spent on movies this year,

27.6% will go to superhero films.

But not everyone believes in the longevity

of the superhero film.

Steven Spielberg said,

We were around when the Western died,

and there will be a time when the superhero movie

goes the way of the Western.

There will come a day when the mythological stories

are supplanted by some other genre that possibly

some young filmmaker is just thinking about

discovering for all of us.

And, if that doesn't happen, with over 17 thousand

superpower characters in their libraries,

Marvel and DC could be making movies at their current rate

for the next 3,400 years.