Stop us if you've heard this one before. Britt Reid, the owner of a media empire, has all the money and perks of a cosseted existence, but there's something missing in his life. So, with his trusty sidekick, he decides to fight crime as a masked vigilante called The Green Hornet. But the criminal underworld isn't happy, and gathers itself together to crush the meddling do-gooder.
In the seemingly endless parade of superhero movies, it all sounds rather familiar, doesn't it?
But The Green Hornet, directed by the ever-stylish Michel Gondry and released this month as a film, isn't just another Batman, Superman or Spider-Man clone. Not least because George W Trendle and Fran Striker introduced an enraptured radio audience to the escapades of Britt Reid in 1936, a full two years before the first Superman comic. Since then, there have been two Green Hornet movie serials in the 1940s, a television series starring Bruce Lee in the 1960s and intermittent comics spanning the decades - including a storyline written by the cult writer and filmmaker Kevin Smith.
So why has it taken until 2011 for The Green Hornet to get its big break on the silver screen? It's not because the idea is poor - far from it. But the adventures of an ordinary guy who uses his fists and a gun that sprays knock-out gas are hardly the stuff of legend. Such "attributes" don't, on the whole, fit in with the accepted idea of a superhero and the extraordinary powers he or she uses to save the world. The Green Hornet may have been first but, by that rationale, any cultural history of the superhero has to begin with Superman.
The clue was in the name: Clark Kent might have appeared to be a jobbing hack for the Daily Planet but he hid a secret. He was from Krypton, and while he wasn't a bird or a plane, he could certainly fly. In fact, Superman's powers seemed limitless. He had X-Ray vision, he could literally move mountains, and flying into the middle of the sun wasn't a particular problem. And he was just what Great Depression era America needed; a cult hero who would take on evil businessmen and politicians. But Superman remains the greatest comic book character of all time because this archetypal superhero has always remained relevant and iconic. Post 9/11, for example, there was something stirringly poignant about this superhero roaming the destroyed streets in Superman Returns as the panicked populous looked on. We still need our heroes, it seems.
Yet it doesn't quite follow that the more down-to-earth Green Hornet has struggled to capture the imagination because he didn't have spectacular abilities. After all, the other great comic book character introduced in the 1930s was just as unburdened by super powers. In fact, he had a very similar background to Britt Reid; an American playboy called Bruce Wayne hellbent on fighting crime in a strange costume. As Batman, he had to rely on his physical attributes, supreme intellect, sleuthing skills and impressive technology to defeat his enemies. But Batman endured while The Green Hornet faltered because of the brilliant writing stable from which it emerged: DC Comics. Batman may have taken on many guises - including the infamously camp television series of the 1960s - but generally there's been a continuity and a quality of storytelling which The Green Hornet could never match. He also looked really cool.
The era of Batman also saw the creation of Captain Marvel, Wonder Woman and Captain America. This period, from the late 1930s to the early 1950s, was later called the Golden Age Of Comic Books, and it's not difficult to see why - at a time when the world was riven with wars, everything boiled down to heroic acts of good versus evil. So Captain America was the perfect role model: the alter ego of a frail young man who is injected with serum and becomes a perfect human specimen - rather useful in the fight against Nazi Germany. Of course, when the war was over Captain America wasn't so necessary - but his place in history had been assured. This year sees an eagerly-awaited blockbuster film - still set in World War II - starring Chris Evans and featuring script work from Joss Whedon.
Captain America's powers reflected broader obsessions with science and technology which would only manifest themselves in comics a generation later. Marvel introduced the world to Spider-Man in 1962 - science whizzkid Peter Parker's powers of super strength, agility, and, er, the ability to shoot spider webs, derived from an arachnid bite. But it was Marvel's recognition of the burgeoning teen culture at this time which changed superheroes for good. Parker was battling baddies like The Green Goblin and Dr Octopus, but also his own demons: rejection, loneliness and the awkwardness of adolescence.
Marvel continued the idea of the flawed, morally ambiguous hero in The Incredible Hulk. Even on the Iron Man DVD extras, Stan Lee says "I thought it would be fun to take the kind of character that nobody would like, none of our readers would like, and shove him down their throats and make them like him." And as for the X-Men - Marvel's band of superheroes - Wolverine, Rogue and Storm all have incredible powers derived from the special genes, but also battle with insecurity and anxiety.
So it's not surprising that nearly all of the Marvel superheroes created in the 1960s have, decades later, been given the blockbuster film treatment. The characters aren't virtuous or pure of motive, but conflicted and confused, which, naturally, makes for much more interesting storytelling - even if not every adaptation has been as successful. It was telling that when Pixar dabbled in the superhero tale with 2004's The Incredibles, the backdrop was an unhappy family situation. That it was also nominated for Best Original Screenplay Oscar alongside a Mike Leigh film proved how far the superhero tale had come. And when Batman resurfaced in 2005 as Christopher Nolan's grittily spectacular Batman Begins, it was based on Frank Miller's much darker tales of the caped crusader from the late 1980s.
That's the beauty of the superhero - he can always be adapted to suit the prevailing mood of the times. Perhaps that's why, with the notable exceptions of Alan Moore's Watchmen series (also featuring psychologically damaged 'heroes'), the irreverent Kick-Ass, and The 99 - the monthly comic featuring superheroes based on Islamic culture and religion - there haven't been many new comic characters to crossover in recent decades. Frankly, there's no need: just like James Bond, every generation has their own take on its favourite fictional heros.
Still, it was the success of Matthew Vaughn's Kick-Ass adaptation last year which, one suspects, has been the prime motivator behind the return of The Green Hornet. Unlike Batman, this won't be a dark, brooding 'reboot' of the series. Instead, comic Seth Rogen (who has co-written the screenplay too) plays Brett Reid for laughs, in the same way that Kick-Ass was a knowingly funny, post-modern take on the superhero movie. The trailer looks fun - although it would be surprising if Gondry and Rogen have fashioned a huge, all conquering franchise with their take on The Green Hornet. But the, ahem, buzz around this intriguing film proves that the superhero story, in whatever guise, is still in rude health.
The Green Hornet is scheduled to be released in the UAE next week
