Comics in 75 years....

[DR.MID-NITE]

I am just wondering what mainstream comic characters(ie-Superman, Bats, Spidey) will be like in 75 years. Will they be the same or different? With the changes in society and technology how will things change? Look at Batman for example. 50 years ago. Bats used a chemistry set in the trunk of the Batmobile. Today, he has supercomputers and infrared sensors and equipment in his batsuit. In 75 years will Batman be more like Batman Beyond?

[Anthonynotes]

I am just wondering what mainstream comic characters(ie-Superman, Bats, Spidey) will be like in 75 years. Will they be the same or different? With the changes in society and technology how will things change? Look at Batman for example. 50 years ago. Bats used a chemistry set in the trunk of the Batmobile. Today, he has supercomputers and infrared sensors and equipment in his batsuit. In 75 years will Batman be more like Batman Beyond?

Hmm...

Assuming the characters (and *humanity :-)) are still around in 75 years, and assuming that the 20th century phenomenon of superheroes are even still popular at all then (and not rendered in the same category of popularity/recognizability as, say, pulp novel characters or vaudeville are today, or overshadowed by whatever legendary characters are sure to come to the fore in this century...), I'd suppose it depends on what people are entertained by 75 years from now. Given such a broad timescale, I doubt Batman and Superman at that point would be very recognizable to modern readers. I'd assume they'd be mainly appearing as TV/movie/Internet/whatever new media format will inevitably come along in the next 75 years characters instead of as comic characters ("Oh, yeah----my grandpa said those things used to be the main place to find stuff with Superman in 'em...guess they didn't have holovid-novels then...").

I'd assume that Superman at least, being the biggest superhero icon and one of the most recognizable Western media creations on Earth (along with Mickey Mouse and Sherlock Holmes), stands the best chance at still being around in 75 years---*perhaps* Batman as well, though I suspect nearly all the other heroes (even ones popular now...) won't be well remembered...sorry, mutant fans. :-) Still, given stuff like the "Matrix" and whatnot wowing audience these days, I wonder if the people of 2080 AD will even be impressed by Superman's super-feats of strength, x-ray vision, etc. (unless those get a radical makeover in the next 75 years)...

One more factor: in 75 years, barring more obscene biased-toward-media-conglomerates changes to copyright laws, it's likely Superman (and a lot of the earlier superhero characters) will be in the public domain by that, point... which might also influence how he's used/seen that far in the future...

-B.

[wonderfly]

To me the real question is: do you think in 75 years, they'll still be recycling the same old stories? Do you think Batman will still be fighting the Joker? How many times can superhero comics tell the same plot?:confused:

[Xurk]

Unless villains stay dead, I think they'll [classic villains] still be around.
If you think of it, Spider-Man is over 40 years old now, and the villains from the very beginning are still around. The Chameleon, Vulture, Doctor Octopus, Sandman, Lizard, Electro, Green Goblin etcetera. They're all still going strong a good 40 years down the road.
The Joker has been around even longer! And the Superman comics [dating back to Action Comics #1] are around 75 years old, aren't they? I'm not that familiar with Superman hisory like I am with Spidey, but I'm assuming Luthor has been around for many decades.

What I would like to see, is for villains to be introduced and still get used in 75 years. Not be forgotten after one arc or one or two years. Venom is the most succesfull 'new' villain [along with Carnage] in Spider-Man that I can remember [after thinking for only 10 seconds :p], which is kind of sad, seeing as he already dates back to the late eighties...

[Casey Mack]

you guys assume to much, whos to say comics will even be still around. Do you guys reallly beleive people will sit down and read SOMETHING 75 years from now, let alone a comic book?!:sad: Comic books are sinking awhile back DC an Marvel were almost BankRupt if i recall. People are just not reading comics like they used to, with stuff like the internet it would take a miracle to save comics from dieing even 20 years from Now! The real truth is, if the people of Earth haven not killed each other with Nuclear missles, then i damn sure don't expect comics to be around let alone Comics book Characters. Superman i can see being around, since he is beyond simply comic books at this point.
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[Anthonynotes]

you guys assume to much, whos to say comics will even be still around. Do you guys reallly beleive people will sit down and read SOMETHING 75 years from now, let alone a comic book?!:sad: Comic books are sinking awhile back DC an Marvel were almost BankRupt if i recall. People are just not reading comics like they used to, with stuff like the internet it would take a miracle to save comics from dieing even 20 years from Now! The real truth is, if the people of Earth haven not killed each other with Nuclear missles, then i damn sure don't expect comics to be around let alone Comics book Characters. Superman i can see being around, since he is beyond simply comic books at this point.

Only Marvel filed for bankruptcy; DC's owned by media conglomerate Time-Warner.

I still think people will be *reading* in 75 years, along with the artform of comics/cartooning sticking around (which has already been around since at least the 19th century... further back if one wishes to follow Scott McLoud's arguments). They probably just won't, as you said, be plunking down money for a 22 page pamphlet to do so, but probalby get comics in some other form. The general public (vs. those on here) *do* still like, and have always liked comics---just not really superhero ones anymore (but do like stuff like "Get Fuzzy" or "Peanuts" or "Calvin and Hobbes," just as 75 years ago the general public liked "The Katzenjammer Kids" and "Blondie"...).

As for villains, in 75 years, going by my assumption that Superman (and maybe Batman) are the only two superheroes people would like to read about in 75 years from now (since the general public today is most familiar with these two characters), then I'd assume the only two villains with potential to last that long would be their biggest/most famous enemies---namely Lex Luthor and the Joker (who the general public, i.e., my mother and father, would also recognize). As amusing as, say, Electro or Venom are, they aren't exactly someone the general public readily recognizes as easily as, say, the Joker or Lex Luthor, a good sign of their not being more than footnotes in your great-grandkids' day in 75 years (just as the Shadow's enemies don't immediately ring a bell with *us*...).

And since you asked:
Superman first appeared in 1938, with Batman in 1939, making them a bit over 65 years old today. The Joker was introduced in "Batman" #1 in 1940 (the same issue that introduced Catwoman), and Lex Luthor was introduced either in the same year or a year later.

-B.

[Happy]

Well if the comics/TV shows/whatever are continually published then I doubt they will change much. I mean Superman and Batman look basically the same after 75 years.

[EinBebop]

That depends on which future you're talking about. Don't forget about hypertime.

[shoujoaifan]

Some come and go, while other have staying power. I could definately see Superman and Batman, and possibly even Spider-Man.

YES, years from now the Spider-Man movie franchise won't be as popular, BUT if they peridocally make a new franchise, like they're doing with Batman Begins, then I could see it happening. Also, there has to be the childhood memories for different generations and pop culture to influence everyone. Almost everyone knows a "Doing what a spider can....he has radioactive blood!", and alot remember the sound of "Spider-Man and His AMAZING Friends!". Plus, guys like Superman and Batman were around since the Golden Age, they had a longer time for shows, PLUS the first to do things is always remembered, like the Fleischer Superman cartoons, old movie shorts of the two, and of course the Adam West TV show "Quit Robin, get me the bat-shark repellant!"

And about how they'll be public domain if corportions don't screw the system up even more: Don't count on it.

[Anthonynotes]

Some come and go, while other have staying power. I could definately see Superman and Batman, and possibly even Spider-Man.

YES, years from now the Spider-Man movie franchise won't be as popular, BUT if they peridocally make a new franchise, like they're doing with Batman Begins, then I could see it happening. Also, there has to be the childhood memories for different generations and pop culture to influence everyone. Almost everyone knows a "Doing what a spider can....he has radioactive blood!", and alot remember the sound of "Spider-Man and His AMAZING Friends!". Plus, guys like Superman and Batman were around since the Golden Age, they had a longer time for shows, PLUS the first to do things is always remembered, like the Fleischer Superman cartoons, old movie shorts of the two, and of course the Adam West TV show "Quit Robin, get me the bat-shark repellant!"

And about how they'll be public domain if corportions don't screw the system up even more: Don't count on it.


Well, if corporations don't do anything to screw the system more, they *will* be in the PD at some point---it's the law (as unfair as current copyright laws are right now), and *will* have to happen someday (even if we're all old and grey/dead). Of course, the public domain hasn't hurt other cultural icons, or companies---Disney didn't get where it is without it (for all those fairy tales)...

All this applies to the copyright on the characters, and their original stories of course; DC could easily keep and defend the trademark on their characters through regular use (i.e. if I'm getting this straight, I can do my own movie version of the public domain fairy tale "Cinderella", but Cindy can't look like Disney's Cindy---since Disney owns the trademark). Hence (IIRC again---someone might know more about this than I do), under trademark and copyright laws, I could reprint the earliest Superman or Batman stories that fell into the public domain, and/or make my own Superman or Batman stories, but DC would retain trademark on whatever it is the characters looked like at the time (and I'd have to use either my own made up versions of Supes/Bats or a version they hadn't regularly used of late---say, an earlier version or something)...

-B.

[90'sCartoonMan]

YES, years from now the Spider-Man movie franchise won't be as popular, BUT if they peridocally make a new franchise, like they're doing with Batman Begins, then I could see it happening.
Agreed. There will probably be more Crises and retcons and updating and whatnot for both Marvel and DC.

So while the stories will be changed and updated for the times, the characters remain the same. Although Peter Parker may not like singing "Bohemian Rhapsody" in the shower, he'll still have the whole bitten-by-a-spider-get-powers-dead-uncle sort of thing.

I'd like to see how Captain America, who has ties to a specific historic event (World War II) is dealt with when he has to be in suspended animation for a hundred years.

[DR.MID-NITE]

I'd like to see how Captain America, who has ties to a specific historic event (World War II) is dealt with when he has to be in suspended animation for a hundred years.
The same could be said starting now with some of the heroes of the JSA. Who in current continuum who were around during WW2.

[titanic_sux]

with the rate that they're killing off the "b" characters, in 75 years I don't know how many superheroes we'll have left.

[EinBebop]

The same could be said starting now with some of the heroes of the JSA. Who in current continuum who were around during WW2.The JSA? You mean those Cold War heroes? And wasn't Tony Stark in Operation Desert Storm? :p
with the rate that they're killing off the "b" characters, in 75 years I don't know how many superheroes we'll have left.Nah, we can always make more. Or bring in 'successors'. Ted Kord wasn't the first Blue Beetle.

[jameslogan]

batman would last another 75 years because he is the world greates detective and you still can bulid around batamn character and personality and the villians he has still last he keep fighting but i think it might change like joker may have a kid or batman have a kid to keep it fresh because batman always use the latest techology . Superman would last another 75 years because he powerful and he always do the right thing he can so many things with his powers. spiderman and wloverine would last because they always trying to find who they are in the world andthey fight against being a superhero and living a normal lives. x-amen last so with the fantastic four and jla you still can put more new villans and reshaped the old villans who would ever thought x-men last this long

[halinar]

I don't think comics will still be around in 75 years. Sales are steadily dropping as the older crowd gives up on the hobby for whatever reasons and the number of people starting new into the hobby is next to 0.

I'm sure the characters will live on in some format (movies, novels, or whatever the media form of the day is) but I don't see the comic book as we know it still being around. (besides they would cost about 25$ by then at the rate they are going up in price too)

[EinBebop]

I think I'll throw in a serious answer:

Comics will be dead, and replaced with graphic novels. Forget 75 years; I'm thinking more along the lines of 25 years.