Superheroes aren’t just invading cinemas.

With Daredevil opening on 14 February and Bulletproof Monk, X-Men 2, The Hulk and The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen all arriving later in the year, comic book characters really are dominating cinemas in 2003.

Of course, comics themselves continue to sell, but that's not where the money's at. These days it's all about franchises. The Marvel movies (Spider-Man, Daredevil, X-Men, The Hulk) are the result of the company licensing characters to film studios. Marvel owns 4,700 characters, so there are plenty more development opportunities. Indeed, if Daredevil is a hit, it'll prove that even lesser-known characters can prevail in the cinema marketplace.

Of course, it helps that the likes of Spider-Man are ready-made brand names: in business terms, they are essentially logos with stories attached. The company that is currently taking biggest advantage of this is Marvel, which is largely thanks to one man: Avi Arad, who has transformed himself from a toy manufacturer to a key Hollywood player.

Arad's company Toy Biz had gained a perpetual toy-making licence from Marvel, but after the comics company went bankrupt, it became the owner, in 1998. Arad's tenure has seen the less-than-superpowered live-action efforts of the late 70s and 80s (Von Trapp Spider-Man, body-painted bodybuilder Hulk and The Punisher) and the iffy experiments of the 90s (Spawn, Judge Dredd) firmly replaced by enormous hits, resplendent with nifty CGI and big names.

2002's Spider-Man is already ranked the eighth highest grossing film ever, with a haul of nearly $807 million worldwide. The fact that Marvel publishes comics is almost beside the point, given the profits to be had from movies. As well as TV spin-offs, DVDs, lunch boxes, cereal, T-shirts, video games. And toys. Daniel Etherington 13 February 03

Daredevil, on national release 14 February 03.