Superheroes, mofoes (I'm glad my Chrome dictionary has the proper plural spelling of mofo)

[seriousfic]

1. I kinda wonder how much the popularity of the superhero movie is A. a historically populist brand of storytelling finally being accessible to the average joe in terms of explaining the basic premises (even in the DC reboot, which reset the entire universe, you still had multiple books going "Last time, on Green Lantern...") or B. the fact that the heroes actually act heroic and fight bad guys instead of fucking around and quarreling. "That big Marvel event where rational adults who have worked together peacefully for years suddenly decide to resolve a mostly black and white issue via death-match" -- am I talking about Civil War or Avengers Vs. X-Men?

The Avengers movie did have fun with that trope, but it made sense. Thor and Iron Man are the two most hot-headed team members, so they come to blows when Thor is all hormonal over seeing Loki again and Tony is being Tony. Hulk's nature is to smash everything--Thor is a thing. Hawkeye vs. Black Widow, Hawkeye is brainwashed. There's no scene where Tony turns on Rhodey and goes "You know what, old friend? Fuck your mother."

2. Ya know, it's amazing that for all the problems that DC has had getting a Superman movie right, especially in terms of not grittying the character up for no reason (something the comics are now guilty of), Marvel pretty much nailed the same archetype in Captain America. And there isn't even the same affection for Cap. Yet, in the middle of a twenty-year stretch of DC having Superman stand for everything but truth, justice, and the American Way, Marvel pulled off a guy who calls himself Captain America. And his costume looks pretty good. (Except for maybe the mask. Maybe we should just can that.)

The Superman movie should just rip off Captain America mercilessly. Hell, it canonically has a leg up. For Cap to have a snarky repartee partner, they have to bring in Tony, but Clark has always gone with Lois Lane. Plus, Lois and Clark can make out without it boring everyone to tears (seriously, Steve/Tony has become like Tim/Kon--it's so big, it actually is the vanilla canon het pairing that slashers claim to despise YEAH I SAID IT).

Comments

[left-of-weir.livejournal.com]

DC shouldn't have pissed off Joss over the Wonder Woman thing. They could have had the pre-billions. (I contributed 5 viewings to that and will be there when Marvel puts out the extended director's cut.)

[colonel-green.livejournal.com]

What little he said about his take on the character didn't really sound that great to me.

[sinanju.livejournal.com]

I think the popularity of superhero movies mostly has to do with the science of special effects reaching the point where such things can be portrayed seriously without the audience laughing. I mean, have you seen some of the early efforts? Especially the cheap-ass Marvel tv movies they did in the 70s or 80s? Nobody could take them seriously. And I say that as a comic book fan from way back.

I think the reason superhero comics continued for so long after most other genres fell away--and there used to be* western comics, mystery comics, crime comics, horror comics, romance comics, war comics, and more--is because you could create believable stories in all those other genres on television or in the movies. But the spectacle inherent in superhero stories couldn't be done well in live action at all until recently, unless you were prepared to spend a few boatloads of money. But comic book artists had an unlimited special effects budget; no spectacle was beyond their reach.

The Superman film in 1978 was a big deal, and they worked very hard (and at great cost) to pull that off. It's gotten a lot easier since, and will only get easier as time passes. Which, along with the rising cost of printing comics, may mean a death knell for superhero comics. You can do almost anything onscreen now that you can do in the comics, and while it costs a lot more, if you do it right, you'll make immensely more money in return than you'll get from comics with ever dwindling readership. Plus, you know, major movie studios own DC and Marvel now, so it's not like they don't already own the rights to all those characters.