These days, there’s not a lot of Marvel/DC content on Netflix, seeing as Disney Plus has hoovered up most of the Marvel TV shows and movies and HBO Max and DC Universe take care of the Distinguished Competition. A few older titles manage to slip through the cracks, though. Case in point: two forgotten comic book films from the mid-00s, one from Marvel and one from DC, are arriving on the streaming service in October.
Amongst the haul dropping on the first day of the month is 2006’s Superman Returns and 2007’s Ghost Rider, two movies that aren’t seen as sitting with the best that superhero cinema has to offer, but they both have their fans. And if you haven’t caught either one of them in a while, you’ll get your chance to next week.
Superman Returns was the first pic to star the Man of Steel in 19 years. Instead of rebooting things, though, it served as a loose continuation of the Christopher Reeve quadrilogy, with Brandon Routh stepping into the cape and tights. He was overlooked for a while there, sure, but Routh’s performance has been reappraised in recent years, especially as he got the chance to play Supes again in “Crisis on Infinite Earths.” And maybe he’ll do so once more in The Flash.
The following year saw the release of Sony’s Ghost Rider, starring Nicolas Cage as Johnny Blaze, a stunt motorcycle rider who’s transformed into the titular supernatural bounty hunter. This was Cage’s long-awaited first comic book role after nearly playing Superman in the 90s. Four years later, he returned to the part for 2011’s Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance. Unfortunately, however, neither film did particularly well with critics and now, fans are waiting for Marvel Studios to reboot the character.
Tell us, though, are you going to be checking out either Ghost Rider or Superman Returns on Netflix next month? Let us know in the usual place.