The math here is quite clear. Superhero movies sell, so if you can come up with your own superhero for a movie instead of having to license it from a comic book company, you could potentially make even more money. The key is, of course, that you have to be able to come up with a superhero as good as the ones they have in the comic books. That is a much trickier thing to do. Here are four films that used their own superheroes.
1 The Incredibles. This is a bit of a cheat; while there is certainly a prototypical superhero ideal that most films use, the Incredibles were much more specific than that. Here, filmmaker Brad Bird essentially appropriated the idea of the Fantastic Four (a family of superheroes) and made them a literal family of superheroes, with Mr. Incredible, Elastigirl, Violet, and Dash (and later Jack-Jack). However, Bird did such a good job that you could make a strong argument that he surpassed his source material.
2 Hancock. Vincent Ngo came up with the character that would ultimately become Hancock in 1996. Ngo was a big Superman fan, but was interested in seeing a version of Superman that was more “real.” Eventually, his script was adapted by Vince Gilligan and John August into Hancock, about a superpowered alien (played by Will Smith) who cannot seem to quite get the hang of using his powers for good.
3 Green Hornet. It would surprise many people to learn that Green Hornet is not a comic book hero, and in fact, Green Hornet predates the very idea of a comic book superhero! Green Hornet actually made his debut in 1936 on the radio. His show was created by George Trendle and Fran Striker, the same people behind the popular Lone Ranger radio series. Green Hornet has been adapted into movies and films on a number of occasions, with Seth Rogan’s turn as the Hornet in 2011 being the most recent.
4 Darkman. Darkman’s origins lie with The Shadow and Batman. Not only was Darkman clearly inspired by these characters, but he was created only after director Sam Raimi could not secure the rights to adapt either of those other two characters into a film in the late 1980s.