There was a Golden Age of Comic Books which was around 1930s to 1950s, but i am talking about the Golden Era of Comic Book Movies that we are living it should be Called Golden Era of Comic-book/based Movies. Why ???...Lets See !!!
Richard Donner's Superman Era
Now Let's wind the clocks back to 1978, 'The Superman' was released & at that time it was great to see a person flying and saving people, it was a dream come true for the Comic Book fan or any Fan. 'Christopher Reeve' portrayed Superman and was great. Then Came Superman II which was even better, Superman III & IV were forgotten Movies.
Tim Burton/Joel Schumacher Batman Era Now Move on to 1989, After Superman III & IV didn't do well, The Batman(Tim Burton) played by 'Michael Keaton' in 'Batman' came and was quite good and Jack Nicholson was sensational as Joker, Then Batman Returns was quite dark for comic book lovers, Danny DeVito was amazingly freaking cold blooded 'Penguin'. Then there was Batman Forever & Batman & Robin, We wont Discuss about these two movies cause the latter was a dark spot on all CBMs and Batman Forever was OK but very cheesy in terms of villains.
2000-2004: Era that Started The Craze The Start of New Millennium, started a new Era of Comic based Movies with X-Men Directed by 'Bryan Singer'. It was a great movie and Mutants started it all... Then Came the much awaiting Our Friendly Neighborhood 'Spider-Man', Everyone was overwhelmed with joy and it indeed exceeded all our expectations of this movie.This movie started the chain reaction of CBMs like X2, HULK, Daredevil, HellBoy, Spider-Man 2 which was a spectacle and Doc Ock was Superb. these releases brought a big smile on CBM Fanboys especially Spider-man 2.
2005-2007 We move on to Tim Story's 'Fantastic Four' which was first Superhero team movie, it was a great movie but wasn't upto the mark. That same year some thing great happened- 'BATMAN BEGINS', this movie showed the world about what is a Origin Movie, Even though we see Batman after nearly half of the movie but it didn't make you left your seats, it was a Just perfect movie with as perfect cast. Batman/Bruce Wayne perfectly done by Christian Bale, Michael Caine was great as Alfred, so as Ra's Al Ghul(Liam Neeson), Gordon(oldman),Fox(Freeman). After that came X-men: the last Stand which was not bad but it was overloaded and many favorite characters were given less screen time, that became its downfall. the second outing of Fantastic 4: rise of siver surfer didn't do well as FF characters are expected to go to different world's and realms or portals but it was lacking all these fun elements which is associated with FF. coming to Spider-Man 3, A great movie which was ruined by Director's less interest or whatever it may be, whether Sandman being the killer or hardly 10 mins of VENOM or non-tough guy playing Eddie otherwise this movie would've rocked.
Now, the Reason Why i Call our current movies as Golden Era of CBMs is
'The Dark Knight', sequel to Batman Begins, TDK was an Epic in all terms but what stands out is 'JOKER' played by late Heath Ledger, he gave us a joker we never expected and he gave its all to this Character, i often forget that he is not with us, and yes he is present in our hearts. he showed, how to be villain !!!.
Fox wasn't behind ass they came up with a amazing movie X:Men:First Class which is the best X men movie till now & Magneto played by Michael Fassbender as Magneto was Epic, James McAvoy as Professor X was perfect. DC Comics had a failed attempt to my favorite character in 'Green Lantern'
This year also started a new universe i.e. Marvel Cinematic Universe with 'Iron Man'. At that time Iron Man was one of the Coolest Super Hero Movie ever made. Marvel Cinematic Universe started what fan had ever dreamed of i.e. movies inter-related to each other with other movies with different characters & Stories of the various Marvel characters like Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Captain America etc.
The Main Reason for which MCU was started was 'The Avengers' and boy, it's the ultimate movie. The Hype of Avengers was of the highest magnitude. it was an event in Cinema Industry. a never seen before spectacle and it lived on its expectation and became 3rd highest grossing movie of all time.
The Spider-Man started his new journey the Same year with 'The Amazing Spider-Man' personally i liked Andrew Garfield & Lizard, with ASM2 in corner and its announced about Sinister Six & Venom Movie.
'The Dark Knight Rises' came with batman retired for 8 years for Bane who was Superb & the movie was as intense as its predecessor which sets up the end to a fine trilogy. MCU Phase 2 started with Iron Man 3 which was superb until Mandarin was Revealed. After that the Much awaited 'Man of Steel'directed by Zack Snyder who gave us the Superman that was never seen before & Action Sequence which was of the Xtreme Level & stands in compare to any fight/action Sequence in any CBMs. MCU Phase II continued with Recently Released Thor: The Dark World that continues the journey of Thor after the events of Avenger.
So, you See So Many CBM based on The Avengers,X:Men,Spidey,Batman vs Superman, Fantastic Four(upcoming) are coming..what more we want..Few months of wait & we are getting a CBM here and there & in coming 20 years we will be able to see Live version of almost all type of villains , heroes, Anti-heroes. the only feel that we are going to see all favorite characters live that makes us feel good & That's The Reason i say its GOLDEN ERA OF CBMs.