Wolverine is a tough guy. His skeleton is made of metal, and when he gets angry he can shoot metal claws out of his knuckles.

When he complains about his black leather outfit, Cyclops turns to him and smirks: “What would you prefer,” he asks, “yellow spandex?”

An inside joke for comic fans, this line from the 2000 film “X-Men” is a tongue-in-cheek reference to the original costumes of the characters. It highlights the kinds of changes comic-book movies make to the original comic material.

With “Blade: Trinity,” “Elektra” and “Constantine” heading the current crop of comic movies, and “The Fantastic Four,” “Batman Begins,” “Sin City” and “Superman Returns” set to be released, comic fans ponder two questions — why the sudden flood of comic movies, and how much is too much in the realm of change?

Bryan Bornmueller, employee at Mayhem Collectibles, says there are more comic movies than there used to be.

“Besides the big names, there are a lot of lesser-known comics, like ‘Constantine,’ being adapted into movies right now,” he says.

“I think studios find comics to be an easy source of inspiration and material. The translation from comics to movies is easy because comics can almost function as story boards for movies.”

As for changes, Bornmueller says they are necessary in order for comics to work on the big screen.

“In general, I don’t think it’s too much of a problem,” he says.

“Usually, a bad comic movie is bad due to it straying too far from the original material as well as having flaws that any bad movie features; things like bad pacing, weak plot and shallow characterization. Unfortunately, it seems so far, the number of bad comic movies outnumber the good ones. I watched ‘Catwoman’ for free, and I still felt ripped off.”

Leland Poague, professor of English, has a different view on the comic movie industry.

“I disagree with the notion that there are more comic movies currently,” Poague says. “It could be that they’re produced better these days, but I’m skeptical that there are more titles out now than in the past.”

Producing a good comic is one thing, but producing a good comic movie is a different story. Poague says changes to the original material is common because of the differences in the mediums.

“There are certain things you can do with print media that you can’t do in films,” Poague says. “Comics have the advantage of laying out the story in longer segments, while films have two hours to get a story told. Really, creators are going to be simplifying the hell out of things.”

Slimming down the original material is not necessarily a bad thing, Poague says.

“The main question you have to ask is, ‘What is the film doing?'” Poague says.

Bornmueller says as time passes, he hopes comic movies will continue to flourish.

“I’m really looking forward to ‘Sin City,'” Bornmueller says. “It seems almost a shot-for-shot adaptation of the comic, and I think comic movies will start emulating the exactness of comics more and more.”