Transformers? Fast Five? That alien invasion thing? No, no and puh-leeze. Proving once again that you can’t improve on an original, Captain America: The First Avenger is getting the most Twitter mentions after its trailer aired during Super Bowl XLV. Captain America was one of Marvel Comics’ first superhero creations — predating Spider-Man by a good 20 years — and was actually conceived during World War II. In fact, the first issue of Captain America came out prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor, and the creators, Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, actually received death threats over it. It seems that an isolationist America wasn’t ready for a hero whose first issue featured him slugging Adolph Hitler in the jaw.
Here’s a chart on the movie-themed Super Bowl ads (there were 17 of them, which I hadn’t realized) that created the most action on Twitter last night and today. The top five:
Captain America 17,998 tweets; Transformers 3 14,727; Thor 12,635; Cowboys & Aliens 7,873; Fast Five 6,341.
Last place? A tie between Just Go With It and The Adjustment Bureau, 243.
Yep, the world definitely has its geek on, as the top four are all movies that Comic Book Guy would likely see three or four times each.
As for Captain America’s popularity: Three things. 1. Nazis. As the Hitler Channel, er, History Channel has shown, we love to watch shows about guys in shiny boots. 2. Marvel brand. The first two Spider-Man and Iron Man movies have given reason for people to take a chance on anything with Marvel on the label. 3. The Indiana Jones factor. Director Joe Johnston compares the tone of the film to Raiders of the Lost Ark, which are bold words indeed. But SlashFilm’s Russ Fischer wrote that the franchise could be “a real successor to Indiana Jones.”
I’d be careful with grand hyperbole here; retro fantasy efforts such as Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow and The Rocketeer also opened to great buzz, and we haven’t heard anything of them since. Let’s hope Super Bowl viewers’ tastes are more discerning.
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Which films captured the most Internet buzz during the Super Bowl [Mashable]
