What’s your take on the superhero movie reboots?

It seems that two of the most popular superheroes are getting something of a fresh start in their next cinematic outings. Both Spider-Man and Superman are officially getting new movies. However, neither movie will be directly related to their previous installments.

It has been recently announced that Spider-Man’s next movie will be a reboot, bringing Peter Parker back to his high school days – a retelling of his origin story. This isn’t exactly surprising given the scorn that Spider-Man 3 received. Many people (yours truly included) felt that the storyline was over-saturated. Comparing to the feel of Spider-Man 1 and 2, Spider-Man 3’s villains didn’t hold the same ’super villain-ey’ intrigue. The Green Goblin and Doc Ock just felt more threatening on their own. Also, I don’t recall the black suit making Peter Parker prance through the streets like a Backstreet Boy in the comics.

The new Superman movie is going to be made with Chris Nolan (insert schoolgirl squealing here) overlooking the process. It also will not be an origin story; we’re getting a straight up Superman flick, featuring Brainiac and Lex Luthor as our public enemies. Superman Returns was something of an epilogue to Christoper Reeve’s interpretation of the DC icon. The casting was based more around the looks of today’s actors to be similar to those who had parts in the previous Superman movies. That being said, I think Kevin Spacey did a great job as Lex Luthor. Actors aside, this sequel was also part origin story. It’s subtle, but it’s there; the flashback Clark has while hanging out at his home in Smallville is your clearest evidence.

Is it a huge cop-out that these stories are getting reboots so soon? Did the old storylines really deserve to get ditched on the curb?