Box office money flies in faster than a speeding bullet.

Byline: Mark Baker The Register-Guard

Like a caped crusader swooping down from the top of a skyscraper, "superhero" movies based on comic books have descended into theaters in the new millennium with a vengeance, and never more so than this year.

There was "X-Men" in 2000 and "Spider-Man I' in 2002. Both were huge money-makers. Then came "Daredevil" and "The Hulk" in 2003, followed by another "Spider-Man" movie, "Cat Woman" and "The Incredibles" last year. (Actually, "The Incredibles," the animated story of a family of superheroes created by Corvallis native Brad Bird, wasn't based on a comic book, it was more of a spoof on superhero films. But now, there are comic books based on the film - so there.)

This year, superhero films based on comic books have given us "Elektra," "Constantine," "Batman Begins," "Fantastic Four" and "Sin City."

And you better get ready for more. Many more.

Get ready for "Iron Man" and "Aquaman," for "Watchmen" and "Wonder Woman" in the coming years. For "Captain America," "The Flash" and the "Black Panther." And don't forget about "Thor," "Doctor Strange," the "Silver Surfer" and "Namor the Sub-Mariner."

Hollywood discovered, with "Spider-Man" and "X-Men," what it already knew about "Superman" and "Batman" - that it can make money, a lot of money, off comic book heroes that were created years ago.

"The script's already written," says Dennis Hooker, owner of Hooker's Sports Cards in Eugene, which also sells and buys comic books. "And nothing succeeds like success. It's cashing in on a story that's already there."

Darrell Grimes, who opened Eugene's Emerald City Comics in 1972 and now has a second store downtown, Nostalgia Collectibles, has a two-prong theory about why we're seeing more films based on comic-book superheroes: A lack of role models in American society today and technological advances.

"We really don't have heroes anymore," Grimes says. With the exception of Lance Armstrong, on the verge of winning his seventh straight Tour de France, American athletes are better known these days for the trouble they get into, rather than heroics, Grimes says. And American children certainly don't have many heroes in political office, he adds. But they can go to the movies and watch Batman rid Gotham City of crime.

"And it's never really been done in this amazing way," Grimes says, referring to high-tech computer graphics. "Now they have the technology to do it."

Whereas Christopher Reeve looks a bit silly when we watch 1978's "Superman" on television as he zips through the sky at the speed of a bullet, Spider-Man really does look like he's swinging through the canyons of New York City at lightning speed, and the Human Torch in "Fantastic Four" really does look like he's flying while on fire, Grimes says.

"Comic books and movies now are similar to the 1940s," says Stuart Bracken, the manager at Emerald City Comics. "There's more violence, which came from the mind-set of World War II. We're at war again, so we've got a mind-set where it's OK to kill people in movies - for superheroes to kill people anyway. So I think it's a change in society."

Whatever it is, American theatergoers are buying into it. After grossing $56.1 million in its opening weekend to lead all films that week, "Fantastic Four" fell behind "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and "Wedding Crashers" last weekend but has still grossed more than $100 million despite poor reviews. And "Batman Begins" has grossed more than $183 million in five weeks, trailing only "Star Wars: Episode III," "War of the Worlds" and "Madagascar" in all films for the year.

But then, as Bob Parr, aka "Mr. Incredible," says: "Who wants to be 'super' all the time?"