It brought in a new realm of violence absent in previous popular superhero films targeted at younger audiences and bridged a gap to the more modern action film. The success of The Crow catalyzed the release of a film version of Spawn (1997), Image Comics' leading character. After Marvel bought Malibu Comics (the company that owned The Men in Black comic series), Marvel and Columbia Pictures released the Men in Black film in 1997. The film became the first Marvel property to win an Oscar and the then-highest-grossing comic book adaptation. While a box office success, Joel Schumacher's Batman & Robin (1997) was critically panned for its campiness and it has strayed too far from the darker style of the series' first two Tim Burton films. As a result, it has sometimes been credited with nearly killing the superhero movie subgenre. Starting with the 1990s, original Ultraman films started being a regular thing. In 1996 Tsuburaya released Ultraman Zearth, which parodied the original TV series and later installments. The following year, the sequel titled Ultraman Zearth 2: Superhuman Big Battle - Light and Shadow premiered. 1998–present: Massive success and box office dominance In 1998, Marvel released Blade, a mix of a traditional action film as well a darker superhero film, with the title character having vampiric powers as well as carrying an arsenal of weaponry. The success of Blade began Marvel's film success and set the stage for further comic book film adaptations. Meanwhile, thanks to the popularity of Ultraman Tiga TV series, several films based on it and later installments were produced. These include Ultraman Tiga & Ultraman Dyna: Warriors of the Star of Light (1998), Ultraman Gaia: The Battle in Hyperspace (1999) and Ultraman Tiga: The Final Odyssey (2000). The Matrix (1999) also had an impact on superhero films. Influenced by comic books, cyberpunk fiction, Japanese anime, and Hong Kong action films, The Matrix effectively "reinvented" the superhero film, according to Adam Sternbergh of Vulture.com, crediting The Matrix with setting the template for modern superhero blockbusters and inspiring the superhero renaissance in the early 21st century. John Kenneth Muir in The Encyclopedia of Superheroes on Film and Television called the film a "revolutionary" reimagination of movie visuals, paving the way for the visuals of later superhero films, and credits it with helping to "make comic-book superheroes hip" and its bullet time effect effectively demonstrating the concept of "faster