Complete with an astonishing $60 million opening weekend, the blockbuster made a success of Marvel’s flagship franchise while cementing the name of comic books in Hollywood’s mind. After a long line of flops like Mystery Men and the atrocious Marvel films from the late 80’s, X-Men became the first classic comic film based on a well known property. Successes like Blade, Men in Black, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles films had little association with the comics, but X-Men couldn’t escape its predecessor. Because of the film’s success, numerous comic movies went on the fast track. Spider-Man went on to become the fifth highest grossing film in history while Daredevil, X-Men 2, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and the Hulk will be released before July 2003. In addition, hundreds of other comic book films are in the works waiting to capitalize on the millions of movie goers who proved their loyalty with the X-Men.

Annoying brothers and sisters affect even the greatest heroes and villains of comic book world.  These pairs (and quartet) of spandex wearing freaks make sibling rivalry a moral lesson for us all, and page filler until the next battle.  These are the siblings worth watching fight and frolic, no matter the awkwardness.

7. Starmen, Jack and David Knight

The original Starman, Ted Knight, had two loving sons with different take’s on their father’s career choice. David quickly followed his father into super heroics while Jack looked down on the colorful profession. After their father’s old foe, the Mist, murdered David did Jack take over the Starman mantle. With the Cosmic Staff and a pair of goggles, Jack Knight fought crime with the annual assistance of his brother’s ghost, who imparted wisdom from the beyond to help Jack foil the doers of evil.

6. Northstar and Aurora

Canadian super-siblings Northstar and Aurora spent most of their youth separated after their parents’ death. The two coincidently reunited as members of Canadian super-team Alpha Flight, discovering they earn bonus super powers when in physical contact. When the two touched, they emitted a beam of light that made people feel happy and peaceful. How sweet. The power didn’t work on themselves, however, since they had a falling out leading Aurora to augment her powers so she never needed to touch her gay brother again. Homophobe.

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One of the greatest Star Wars video games owes it all to those little building blocks called Legos. Lego Star Wars gave the duel trilogy a hilarious and enjoyable romp through the galaxy with tons of collectables, vehicles, and playable characters. More Lego games including the just released Indiana Jones and upccoming Batman lead me to wonder what else can the franchise build.

7. Power Rangers

They might be campy and kiddy, but they still have awesome video game potential yet to be realized. Awesome martial arts moves with cool weapons and giant robots all to fight a bizarre assortment of monsters. With hundreds of monsters, Zords, and different kinds of Power Rangers over the years, there’s tons of unlockables to give this game long legs. Just remember co-op. This is a team effort.

6. South Park

Let’s see the mature side of Legos by turning the foul mouthed kids of Colorado into colorful blocks of fun. Let’s even risk the cliched sandbox approach, rebuilding the entire town of South Park in Legos with missions from the show, like fighting vicious turkeys and Mecha-Streisand.

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Being a teenager’s tough, but being a super-powered mutant sucks even more. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby introduced the strangest super-heroes of all time in 1963, a group a genetic freaks just trying to make their way in the world. The X-Men challenged racism and feelings of social alienation, making it captivating reading for geeks who no one loves. It took almost a decade, though, for the X-Men to conquer the comic book world. After barely escaping cancellation, Len Wein and Dave Cockrum launched the all-new, all-different X-Men in 1975 with a multicultural team. Chris Claremont took over the series for almost two decades, building the X-Men into one of the largest comic book franchises, penning the team’s greatest stories and defining its greatest characters.

One of the best parts of any geek movie is debating the casting. Fan favorites are chosen years before comics or books even get optioned by Hollywood, so we feel strongly about our opinions. While dreams can’t always come true, and rarely do, here are some of the best performances by actors portraying our favorite geek icons.

7. Chris Evans as Human Torch

Amid the bright and perky mediocrity that is the Fantastic Four movie, Chris Evans shines surprisingly bright. Even without being blond, Evans played the arrogant, womanizing, spotlight stealing narcissist as if he lived the role everyday. Every funny like came from this man’s mouth. On top of that, but this guy has a real super-hero’s body, and filmmakers didn’t seem to mind showing off that fake, regulating Evans to nothing but a towel or spandex for the majority of both films.

6. Mickey Rourke as Marv

Innovative film techniques alone didn’t make Sin City one of the greatest comic book movies. Mickey Rourke portrayed Sin City’s most recognizable hero with all the subtly of a fist to the face, just the way he should. Rourke mixed Marv’s self-hatred with a chiseled exterior, eventuated by the awesome visual effects, creating the perfect movie representation of the modern film noir bad ass.

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The first X-Men movie proved good comic books films could be made.  Then X2 made X-Men 1 sit in the corner and think about what it had done wrong.  X2 propelled itself into comic book movie godliness when it unleashed Wolverine on an unsuspecting army of soldiers with flashlights and tranquilizers.  Refusing to pull punches, Wolverine slashed and claws people, actually killing them, in wild berserker rage.  Sadly, no blood was shown, I guess to keep the kiddies safe and sheltered, but the ruthless onslaught was still a moment of comic book movie glory that will forever be remembered.

The early 1980s saw a radical change to the comic book industry.  Comic books were originally sold through magazine distribution companies allowing newsstands and drug stores to return unsold comics.  Fan convention organizer Phil Seuling thought about trying something different.  He made agreements with comic publishers to distribute comics to specialty comic shops for higher discounts but without the ability to return them.

Known as the direct market, specialty comic book stores catered to comic enthusiasts with more niche publications and a better audience for independent publishers.  So thanks to the direct market, we have all those limited series, one-shots, weekly series, and more and more money drainers.  Awesome.

Wolverine didn’t make friends his first day of school.  The metal clawed mutant joined the X-Men in 1975 as part of a series revamp.  But writer Chris Claremont struggled to write him and artist Dave Cockrum hated him.  No one knew this Canadian anti-hero would become the best at what he does - selling comic books.

Wolverine’s breakout moment came during the Dark Phoenix Saga.  Hellfire Club fat man, Harry Leland, increased Wolverine’s mass so he crashed through the ground into the sewers, left for dead.  With the X-Men captured and hope dying away, Wolverine emerges from the sewer, more pissed off than if Cyclops had beat him in snarling match.  Wolverine single-handled claws (well, two-handedly) through the Hellfire Club’s henchmen, freeing the X-Men and saving the day, until of course the Dark Phoenix tries to kill everybody, but that’s a moment for another day…

The fun of the playground finally came to the arcade.  Six players could join forces as the heroic X-Men fighting to stop Magneto and his Brotherhood of ironically Evil Mutants.  You and your friends could play as Wolverine, Cyclops, Storm, Colossus, Nightcrawler, and Dazzler, each with mutant abilities and fun beat ‘em up combos.  The thrill truly came when six people crowded around the huge, wide screen arcade replicating the epic mutant battles we’d always dreamed of.

Geeks love casting geek movies.  One of the biggest debates for the X-Men movie revolved around Wolverine who had every gruff actor linked to him at one time or another.  But one hero took no argument or thought.  Possibly the greatest comic movie casting ever, Captain Jean-Luc Picard, a.k.a. Patrick Stewart, earned the part of X-Men mentor Professor X.  Fans who once had serious concerns over the movie’s unproven director and leather costumes could be reassured with this single piece of flawless casting.