Somebody save me: Superheroes on DVD

collage by Danielle!

I cannot wait to see Iron Man 2, which comes to theaters May 7. The first Iron Man movie was awesome not only for its action scenes but because of Robert Downey Jr.'s charismatic, humorous, and grounded performance as millionaire Tony Stark. Downey again teams with director Jon Favreau and co-star Gwyneth Paltrow for the next installment, which finds villain Ivan Vanko aka Whiplash (Mickey Rourke) looking to knock Iron Man down to size. Other cast additions include Scarlett Johannson as Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow and Don Cheadle, who replaces Terrence Howard as Col. James "Rhodey" Rhodes.

Plenty of other superheroes have been given the big screen treatment, sometimes going through several incarnations and visions within a short time period. The Batman films, which kicked off with Tim Burton's Batman in 1989, petered out with Joel Schumacher's Batman and Robin in 1997; the Batman franchise was then re-started with Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins in 2005. And of course, even before those Batman films Adam West played Batman in the 1966-68 Batman TV series and 1966 movie. Ang Lee's Hulk (2003) starring Eric Bana was a disappointment; in 2008 director Louis Leterrier took over with Edward Norton smashing things up in The Incredible Hulk. Three Spider-Man films directed by Sam Raimi have been made during the years 2002-2007. Shortly after the announcement that a Spider-Man 4 would be made came the news that the movie would follow Peter Parker in high school, meaning the search was on for an all new cast (bye bye Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst).

Other superhero films in development include The Green Hornet starring Seth Rogen (coming January 2011...in 3-D), Thor starring Chris Hemsworth and directed by Kenneth Branagh(!) (May 2011), Green Lantern starring Ryan Reynolds (June 2011), The First Avenger: Captain America starring Chris Evans (July 2011), The Avengers (May 2012), and The Flash (still in early stages of development).

In celebration of superheroes I tried to compile as thorough of a list that I could from DVDs available at Dundee Library. DVDs are divided alphabetically by superhero.

• Batgirl

Batman & Robin (1997)
DVD SCI-FI HORROR BATMAN
Find it in the catalog!

• Batman

Batman (1989)
DVD HORROR SCI-FI BATMAN
Find it in the catalog!

Batman Returns (1992)
DVD HORROR SCI-FI BATMAN
Find it in the catalog!

Batman Forever (1995)
DVD HORROR SCI-FI BATMAN
Find it in the catalog!

Batman & Robin (1997)
DVD HORROR SCI-FI BATMAN
Find it in the catalog!

Batman Begins (2005)
DVD FICTION BATMAN
Find it in the catalog!

The Dark Knight (2008)
NEW DVD HORROR SCI-FI DARK
Find it in the catalog!

Scooby-Doo Meets Batman (1972)
J-DVD FICTION SCOOBY-DOO
Find it in the catalog!

• Elektra

Elektra (2005)
DVD FICTION ELEKTRA
Find it in the catalog!

• Fantastic 4

Fantastic 4 (2005)
DVD HORROR SCI-FI FANTASTIC
Find it in the catalog!

Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007)
DVD HORROR SCI-FI FANTASTIC
Find it in the catalog!

• Hancock

Hancock (2008)
DVD HORROR SCI-FI HANCOCK
Find it in the catalog!

• Hellboy

Hellboy (2004)
DVD HORROR SCI-FI HELLBOY
Find it in the catalog!

Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008)
NEW DVD HORROR SCI-FI HELLBOY
Find it in the catalog!

• Incredible Hulk

Hulk (2003)
DVD HORROR SCI-FI HULK
Find it in the catalog!

The Incredible Hulk (2008)
DVD HORROR SCI-FI INCREDIBLE
Find it in the catalog!

• Iron Man

Iron Man (2008)
DVD HORROR SCI-FI IRON
Find it in the catalog!

• Robin

Batman Forever (1995)
DVD HORROR SCI-FI BATMAN
Find it in the catalog!

Batman & Robin (1997)
DVD HORROR SCI-FI BATMAN
Find it in the catalog!

• Spider-man

Spider-Man (2002)
DVD HORROR SCI-FI SPIDER-MAN
Find it in the catalog!

Spider-Man 2 (2004)
DVD HORROR SCI-FI SPIDER-MAN
Find it in the catalog!

Spider-Man 3 (2007)
DVD HORROR SCI-FI SPIDER-MAN
Find it in the catalog!

The Spectacular Spider-Man. Volume 4 (2008)
J-DVD FICTION SPIDER-MAN
Find it in the catalog!

• Superman

Superman (1978)
DVD HORROR SCI-FI SUPERMAN set
Find it in the catalog!

Superman II (1980)
DVD HORROR SCI-FI SUPERMAN
Find it in the catalog!

Superman Returns (2006)
DVD HORROR SCI-FI SUPERMAN
Find it in the catalog!

Legion of Superheroes. Volume 3 (2006)
NEW J-DVD FICTION LEGION
Kids WB program
Find it in the catalog!

Smallville
DVD TELEVISION SMALLVILLE
Season 1 (2001-02): Find it in the catalog!
Season 2 (2002-03): Find it in the catalog!
Season 3 (2003-04): Find it in the catalog!
Season 4 (2004-05): Find it in the catalog!
Season 5 (2005-06): Find it in the catalog!
Season 6 (2006-07): Find it in the catalog!
Season 7 (2007-08): Find it in the catalog!
Season 8 (2008-09): Find it in the catalog!

• Watchmen

Watchmen (2009)
NEW DVD HORROR SCI-FI WATCHMEN
Find it in the catalog!

Watchmen. Tales of the Black Freighter (2009)
NEW DVD ANIME WATCHMEN
Find it in the catalog!

• Wonder Woman

DVD TELEVISION WONDER
Season 1 (1975-77): Find it in the catalog!
Season 2 (1977-78): Find it in the catalog!
Season 3 (1978-79): Find it in the catalog!

• X-Men

X-Men (2000)
DVD HORROR SCI-FI X-MEN
Find it in the catalog!

X2: X-Men United (2003)
DVD HORROR SCI-FI X2
Find it in the catalog!

X-Men. The Last Stand. (2006)
DVD HORROR SCI-FI X-MEN
Find it in the catalog!

X-Men Origins. Wolverine (2009)
NEW DVD HORROR-SCI-FI X-MEN
Find it in the catalog!

X-Men. Volume 1
TV series from 1990s
NEW J-DVD FICTION X-MEN
Find it in the catalog!

X-Men. Volume 2
TV series from 1990s
NEW J-DVD FICTION X-MEN
Find it in the catalog!

• Zoom: Academy for Superheroes

Zoom (2006)
DVD FAMILY ZOOM
Find it in the catalog!