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It's Time to Kick the Superhero Genre in the Ass

By Brian Prisco | Posted Under Think Pieces | Comments (39)

jossavengers.jpg

Green Hornet. Green Lantern. Captain America. Spider-man Rebooted. Ghost Rider. The Avengers. Thor. Wolverine. Iron Fist. Nick Fury. Deadpool. Ant-Man. Silver Surfer. Daredevil Rebooted. Aquaman. Teen Titans. Superman. Batman. Adam Strange. Wonder Woman. The Flash. I’m not entirely positive, but I’m pretty sure that between now and 2014, there’s actually a superhero movie coming out every hour until someone’s cape get sucked into a fucking jet engine.

Matthew Vaughn declaimed the end of superhero movies after he made Kick-Ass , but before he did X-Men: First Class (do you see, they’re like cock-a-roaches!) But it looks like every motherfucker who ever slapped on tights and gave hisself an origins story is going to get their chance to shine on the screen. We’ve had a wave of the homemade superhero: Kick-Ass, Special, Defendor, and James Gunn’s upcoming vigilante flick Super. Now we’re going to literally be drowning in masked heroes.

I’ve recently been reading comics like a bastard, mostly things like Chew and Locke & Key, but I refuse to get involved with the cape and cowl crews. Frankly, the histories are too much. Where do you start? Every couple years, someone new comes along and retells the same origins story and then gives them a slightly different take on the same villains. How many fucking times do I need to see Bruce Wayne’s fucking parents die in front of that goddamn movie theater? And the heroes history can change from author to author. So many different people have donned different costumes. Aren’t there like 700 fucking Green Lanterns? How do you keep track? And if I read one origin about Deadpool and Weapon X, is that right, or is the entire origin story going to get turned on its head when some artists comes along and gives their spin.

What bothers me about most of these projects is that we’re not getting a new spin. It’s not like in the next Spider-man movie, he’s not going to get bit by a radioactive spider. In the next Superman movie, Ka-lel’s not gonna come to us from the red sun of Blorgk and have the ability to fire heat out of his fingers. Some folks might compare that to Shakespeare, the classics get retold the same way. But who wouldn’t have wanted to see Donald Glover’s Spider-man?

Now the one project that intrigues me is Garth Ennis’ The Boys. If you haven’t read this comic series, get on it. Superheroes are everywhere, drunk on their own powers, and essentially treating folks as if they were there for their own amusement. These are heroes who get drunk, rape, pillage, murder innocents with no more than a “My bad, bro.” And so the CIA enlists a group of five folks, shoots them up with a serum, and sends them out to deliver a merciless spanking on the heroes who get out of line.

This is what I want to see. I’m sick of the heroes. I want to see the dark side of the cowl. I don’t want to see someone save the world, I want to see people saving the world from them. If you had superpowers and you were in your teens and twenties, you wouldn’t be using invisibility to spy for the government. You’d be sneaking into locker rooms and boosting shit from Best Buy. You’d do whatever the fuck you want. And I want more of that. Perhaps I’m in the minority. Perhaps it’s not an oversaturation, but a final recognition of the genius of the comic books themselves. Perhaps the world has been waiting patiently for their Aquaman epic.

I recall going to one Comic-Con panel to see the footage of DC Universe vs. Mortal Kombat. And I thought, holy shit, two great tastes that taste great together. And they showed footage of the game, and it was beautiful. But then they got to the fatalities. And the spokesman said, “We couldn’t do the blood and guts. Nobody wants to see Superman rip out someone’s spine. Nobody wants to see Batman get beheaded.”

Yes. I. Do. I want to see superheroes getting their asses kicked. I want to see them lose. I want to see The Joker win. And not necessarily against Batman. Why can’t we shake things up? Why can’t we get up to our elbows in the dirty? Why can’t we twist and turn these stories we’ve heard so many times? Why can’t Batman fight Superman? For legal purposes and because of rights, I’ll never ever see The Hulk smash Wonder Woman. But there’s no reason we can’t invent new stories for our same old heroes.

“The Cape” pissed me off because it wasn’t envelope pushing. It wasn’t even interesting. It was Spawn sans the Satanism. Heroes started out with promise, but turned into “Melrose Place.” Then they tried to clean up their mistakes with time travel and alternate realities. That’s like swatting a fly with a bazooka. I’m surprised the series didn’t end as Joss Whedon waking from a nightmare in the bed of Damon Lindelof.

Is this the dawn of the comic book hero, or are we going to die of a thousand paper cuts?









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Comments

Personally, I'm still waiting for the MOIST superhero movie. Now that one gets my panties wet.

Posted by: BWeaves at January 13, 2011 3:08 PM

To start, I agree, there are far too many comic book movies coming out.

But your other points, I just can't agree with. I love the retelling of the same story. I thinks its amazing to see how little changes affect things in amazing ways. There's something very cool about seeing how modern day themes and relationships effect Spiderman, or how different versions of the Joker (say what you want, they are wildly different) say something about the human condition. (See, e.g. The Killing Joke).

Oh, and they do have books for poeple who want things turned on their heads. They are called the "What if's" or the "elseworlds". Want to see Superman as a communist? Done. Want to see heroes fighting each other? Done.

Anyway, I respect your opinion, but the beauty of the successful comic book is that it plays on age old themes and struggles. Watching people reinvent and explore those struggles from new angles is why i love comics.

Posted by: Mike D at January 13, 2011 3:18 PM

I wish i had proofread that

Posted by: Mike D at January 13, 2011 3:19 PM

I got given an "educational" stack of Batman graphic novels to read. I HATED The Killing Joke, but enjoyed some of the art from Arkham Asylum. And I think that elderly Batman fighting government-tool Superman was one of the most depressing things I've ever read. Some things I am perfectly fine with not seeing on a big screen. And new stories aren't always better. Bleah.

Posted by: Anne (in Reno) at January 13, 2011 3:28 PM

It amuses me, highly amuses me that you think that positive, heroic superheros are the majority and The Boys represents some crazy, wacky, wild world of superheroes that's never been thought of before.

Right now in comics it's practically "The Nineties, pt. 2: EXTREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEME Boogaloo"

The breakup of the Spider marriage, the unnecessary implosion of the Green Arrow family, the bullshit of Civil War and the fucking unnecessary echo in DC's JSA.

Mark Millar. MARK FUCKING MILLAR.

Your unsuper supers are out there. Everywhere. EVERYWHERE.

Posted by: twig at January 13, 2011 3:33 PM

... and do yourself a favor and read Nextwave because everyone should.

Posted by: twig at January 13, 2011 3:34 PM

I just read Joe Hill's short story The Cape (no relation to the show) and it had a very dark twist to a man with a super power. It was a delight to be surprised like that.

Posted by: Julie at January 13, 2011 3:52 PM

Also in the "do yourself a favor category" read [i]Powers[/i]by Stephen Micheal Bendis. Great stuff about cops who investigate crimes committed by heroes. My favorite story was a bout a woman who tried to frame a hero. After she fucked the hero, she became aware that the act of coitus gave her his powers for a short time. Then she went and killed someone and he took the fall. Good stuff.

Posted by: professor_love at January 13, 2011 4:02 PM

I think that Marvel needs to make a movie of Marvel: Civil War.

and Runaways.

Posted by: Lordninja at January 13, 2011 4:19 PM

Jeez, what a grouch.

Posted by: Jay at January 13, 2011 4:22 PM

We only get Civil War if they cut out everything that doesn't involve Cap punching Stark in the face, and then of course, the movie must end with The Sentry thrown into a giant blender a la The Simpsons Halloween (6?).

Posted by: D-Day at January 13, 2011 4:36 PM

If you had superpowers and you were in your teens and twenties, you wouldn’t be using invisibility to spy for the government. You’d be sneaking into locker rooms and boosting shit from Best Buy. You’d do whatever the fuck you want.

You need to import yourself some Misfits DVDs!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ud8AJDaAW7c

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9fN4UEZdkk

Posted by: Simon at January 13, 2011 4:49 PM

Oh come on, D-Day, who doesn't want to see Captain America shown the error of his ways by The Heroes Of 9-11 (TM).

Also, for other non-hero heroes, try Irredeemable or Invincible. Last time I checked they don't really seem to stop killing people in Invincible.

Posted by: twig at January 13, 2011 4:51 PM

Marvel already apologized for Civil War several times. Let's not go back to the mistake and film it.

Posted by: Zerath at January 13, 2011 4:55 PM

Prisco, you read my mind. I suppose that would be your superpower. Mine is the abilty to add bacon to anything.

Posted by: admin at January 13, 2011 5:11 PM

I'd wouldn't mind seeing the Thanos Quest/Infinity Gauntlet series made. A bad ass like Thanos killing all the popular superheroes in creative ways and half the worlds population at once makes for entertaining stuff.

Posted by: Some Guy at January 13, 2011 5:13 PM

I'm kinda with the author on this. Superhero funnybooks have become pretty banal and monotonous. But there have been bright spots. Bruce Jones' return of the monster run on the hulk was very good. Wanted (the comic, NOT the movie) was a nice take on the villains. Honestly though, I've been more impressed with the non-tights and capes comics like Ennis' Preacher, Rucka's Queen & Country, Vaughan's Y: The Last Man.

Posted by: lennychuck at January 13, 2011 5:31 PM

I actually agree with you 100%

There was a new Superman book that was released recently. It was another origin story (Superman wears a hoodie in this one --- ooooooh). It was all the same stuff. Superman has powers. He's young, he can do anything. But what he WANTS to do is save people. And we know this because when shit hits the fan he's there to save the day.

The comic book read like a game of connect four. All the pieces were the same, but they were dropped into play at slightly different times. There was slightly different tention then the last time you played, but not so different that you'll really commit the changes to memory. At the end of the game, four little disks lined up and the book was over.

Superheroes are ripe with potential. The genre is a very sharp exploration of many different important themes: equality, juggling responsibilities, values...I sincerely believe that these characters are America's modern mythology.

Marvel gets a lot of shit for some of the stuff it's done over the last couple of years. Many don't like the roads they've gone down. I do. I think it was great to explore the polarizing values of the main players during Civil War. I thought seeing Norman Osborn take over S.H.E.I.L.D. was terrifying. Watching the mutants face extinction made me feel as desperate for the characters as I've ever felt. There have been some missteps certainly (Brand New Day), but overall I've enjoyed the things they're doing.

But they could do more.

Prisco, you mentioned the Hulk bashing Wonder Woman in your article. I think you would like a book that came out a few years ago. Banner is suicidal. After years of bashing buildings to dust, the weight of guilt from all the innocent bystanders that MUST have perished during his rampages finally catches up with him, and he wants to die. He contemplates his life, puts the barrel of the gun in his mouth, and pulls the trigger. But he doesn't die. The tension of this act is too much and the change into the Hulk begins in the last moments. We're left with this sense of unending dread; Bruce Banner isn't just a monster, he's also a prisoner. He is cursed to go on living as a murderous, mindless brute. Forever potentially. Stories like this challange the status quo. They ask new questions and force us to engage aspects of the character that we may have been blind to. It's similar to what was done in "Watchmen." We were forced to question what we knew about the genre.

So listen, I'm with you. 100%. There is nothing I enjoy more than a story that reexamines a character and forces change. Sometimes in uncomfortable ways. PREFERABLY in uncomfortable ways.

Posted by: superasente at January 13, 2011 5:39 PM

Whatever happened to making The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Klay into a movie? Wasn't there a rumor of that happening at one point? That wouldn't be a comic book movie, exactly, but it would put a new spin on the genre.

Posted by: nosio at January 13, 2011 5:56 PM

Bravo. I have been bitching about this for years. I am sick of all the superhero movies and I don't even see any of them and wouldn't if I wanted to.

(wha ...???)

Because even more than the conventional heroes of conventional movies, superheros by definition cannot lose. They must always win, it's only a matter of how, and so really the superhero movie comes down to the quality of the villain. Case in point: The one superhero movie I DID see was "The Dark Knight," but certainly not to see Batman; it was to see why everyone was raving about Ledger's Joker turn. But the rest of these heroes ... I just don't see why I should care when no matter how crafty the villain or outrageous the caper, you know going in how the movie's going to turn out.

So I am 100% with Prisco here. The comic book superhero movies MUST engage some element of uncertainty in the outcomes if they're going to get my money ever again. If Superman gets his ass kicked and it STAYS kicked, if Batman dies FOR GOOD and a scriptwriter can still somehow keep the movie going AFTER that, then maybe that'll get my money.

Fucking Green Lantern? Are you kidding me?

Posted by: , at January 13, 2011 6:18 PM

While I am all for the general concept, I am not sure if I agree with the execution of it. If you're going to totally screw around with a character's origin story or powers, why even base it on the original character in the first place?

Why would call the movie "Superman" if the character comes "from the red sun of Blorgk and have the ability to fire heat out of his fingers"? (Other than for marketing/money purposes).

That said, I am all far taking established characters and putting them through the ringer or using some of the more fringer super heroes in interesting ways or creating original characters.

As twig correctly warned, however, you do run the risk of making things edgy and cliche as was down ad nauseum in the 90's following the "Dark Knight" and what not. In the right hands, it can be awesome, but that's tough to find. There are some incredibly talented writers in comics, but the majority are quite lacking.

As for "The Boys". Eh, it's ok. The first time you see a group of "super heroes" doing drugs, fucking one another non-stop, molesting children, it's a bit shocking, but when you see it each and every issue with each and every superhero it grows a bit dull. We get it, Garth Innis. We get it. Innis is a talent, no doubt. I love the vast majority of "Preacher", love his work in "Hellblazer" and I enjoy the main characters in "The Boys", but he can't get out of his own way at times.

I thought Alan Moore's treatment of the traditional, golden age super hero group (and their sidekicks) in "Top Ten" was much more deftly done, interesting and powerful than anything Innis has done in "The Boys".

Posted by: Forbiddendonut at January 13, 2011 6:24 PM

I don't think it has to be about dying. Defeat. Deconstruction. CHANGE.

Posted by: superasente at January 13, 2011 6:25 PM

Mark Millar's Nemesis was being optioned for a film before the first issue even came out. (It's a "what if Batman were evil?" schtick.)

Posted by: csb at January 13, 2011 7:26 PM

Before I read any of your comments, I just need to chime in with this timeless chestnut. *ahem*...

"It's difficult to tell from this vantage point whether these superheroes will consume the captive Earth or merely enslave mankind. One thing is for certain: there's no stopping them; the superheroes will be here. And I for one welcome our new masked overlords. I'd like to remind them as Pajiba's resident self-proclaimed superhero, I can be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their underground headquarters."

- GL

Posted by: Green Lantern at January 13, 2011 10:20 PM

Well, I for one am happy to hear it -- the studio making the Avengers just rented out all of the Albuquerque studio space for a year to film it.
I'm gearing up for some RDJ sightings around town, and I'm thrilled by the idea of some money coming in to town.
As to your point, eh, maybe, but there are lots of movies in which explosions happen and some guy (always a guy) saves the world, but it doesn't stop them from making them.

Posted by: Alarmjaguar at January 13, 2011 10:52 PM

I, for one, am sick to death of these origin stories.

It's one thing to see these rehashed every few years in a monthly comic book, but feature films in a series come out once every two years at most.

I do not want to see yet another movie detailing the origins of Superman, or Batman, or anyone else. I don't even want to see that in brand new franchises. They don't need that shit in comic books. They jump in all the time with unexplained characters and tell us their backstories when and if they prove popular enough to warrant a series. Why do I need to sit through the same old origin story every time someone comes up with a new vision of the character?

We all know Spiderman's fucking origin by now. We all know Superman's origin. Just jump in and tell us a story.

Of course, they kind of did that with Superman Returns. I think that turned out pretty well, and it made plenty of money, but it wasn't Sipderman 2 levels of profitable, so it was deemed a failure, and plans for a "reboot" were announced.

And we'll get the same. Very. Very. Familiar. Origin. Yet. Again.

And if it makes a gazillion dollars, maybe, just maybe, they'll show us something new three years later.

Count me out.

Posted by: Subversable at January 14, 2011 12:02 AM

yeah that's just what we fucking need. A movie version of 90's comic books were everyone is so god damn grimm dark and gritty. Man there's a reason comic books have avoided that recently it's cause that's all they did for an entire decade.

@superasente
Marvel wern't getting shit for what they were doing, they were getting shit for doing it badly.
Civil war was a great idea that everyone was excited for, then the story came out and painted the registration team as evil bastards locking up people without trial in the negative zone.

The break up of Spidey's marriage could have been done well, instead he sold it to the devil to save the life of his like 400 yearold aunt for another 20 minutes.

Posted by: Ben at January 14, 2011 12:57 AM

Agreed on the "too many superhero movies" part.

Otherwise, I have to disagree.

Alan Moore made Swamp Thing awesome by recreating the character. SWAMP THING! AWESOME! Must I remind you he is made of mud and moss and stuff? Oh, and he made Guy Fawkes* into one of the most spectacularly defensible anarchist comic book hero/villains ever.

Grant Morrison made Superman interesting (despite Morrison's sometimes ridiculous plots). Superman....interesting! That is an achievement. All Star Superman. Read it.

I will not apologize for this, because the reactionary hate has FAR overwhelmed the reality of the situation at hand, Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men transcended so much of the X-Men garbage that has been floating about.

I will defend Astonishing, however. There have been too many books that rely on grand plots and disregard of characters, or that are designed to bring the readers to something "No more mutants" to propel the plot, but since the classic X-Men, there has been very little meaningful character development.

Anyone who tells me Joss decided to throw in "y" to the ends of words will get a virtual rocket launcher to the face, and anyone else who tells me all his work is peppered with pop-culture references will have nothing but "Who is the Hilton girl?" to reference.

And really, Cassandra Nova making Wolverine utter the the following lines about Beast is beyond awesome: "...and he scampered off but he ate a good portion of leg my which now seems to have grown back, thank the lord, but none of the household staff is about and there is a bald lady who was very nice though one suspects she ought wear a wig, for propriety's sake..."

If that were written by any other than Whedon, it would be universally acclaimed.

Oh jeez...did I just defend Whedon publicly? Ducking. Covering.

Posted by: Vince Noir at January 14, 2011 1:50 AM

I thought I replied to this article, but I think I may have been working on it and x'd out of the window prematurely. Also, I'm writing this without reading the other comments because I'm tired, so forgive me if someone already covered this.

Prisco, DC and Marvel recently -- by that, I mean the last five to six years -- held respective retcons of their superheroes; Infinite Crisis (2005ish) and Final Crisis (2008) for DC and House of M for Marvel (2005). The reason was that the backstory threads were becoming so jumbled due to different writers always putting their own spins on particular characters, that they decided to stage universal wipeouts (Crisis) or powerful mutants having mental breakdowns (M).

In the beginning of the cinematic comic book push, which was X-Men, they took some chunks from the Ultimate universe, which wasn't really a bad idea. The Ultimate universe of Marvel is newer, but when transitioning a medium, things will always be open to interpretation. It doesn't become a problem of the comic book authors taking liberties with certain characters; it became more about screenwriters wanting to do God knows what in dark allies to the characters, Spiderman being one of the bigger offenders to me. (The X-Men franchise is still buried out in the backyard somewhere.)

Wanting to see superheroes lose is an interesting concept except that it will breed countless "see [superhero name] lose everything!" movies, since the scent of a trend will spawn them. No, thanks. I'll tread the line of psychosis in my superheroes (Frank Miller's take on Batman, etc.), but I'll never opt to see them lose.

Posted by: duckandcover at January 14, 2011 2:02 AM

Ducking. Covering.
Posted by: Vince Noir at January 14, 2011 1:50 AM

YOU RANG?

Posted by: duckandcover at January 14, 2011 2:03 AM

Yup a lot of movies about comic book heroes, very few of which I am interested in seeing. And the reboots are just shameless. I think the worst was with the incredible Hulk. There was very little difference between the overall story of the Eric Bana and Edward Norton iterations, and they were only made five years apart.

I'd say the only reboot done right was Batman Begins. It actually surpassed the original Tim Burton Batman, which itself was a great flick for it's day.

Posted by: Muteki at January 14, 2011 4:31 AM

The words 'saturation point' come to mind. I'd like shit to move to on to bringing other non-screen shit to the big screen.

Aronofsky doing Dostoyevsky, Linklater doing Camus, and Nolan doing Bulgakov (please, fucking please!)

Think of Coppola and Conrad. How hard could that have been?...


Posted by: zeke the pig at January 14, 2011 5:13 AM

No one was saying "there are too many comic book movies" the year Iron Man and Dark Knight both hit theaters. I don't see it as a matter ot to many comic book movies, and/or too many origin/reboot stories. I see it as a matter of too many *shitty* comic book / origin / reboot movies.

Batman Begins, Iron Man, even Star Trek proved that you can re-tell a familiar story and make it great, and maybe even better than the first time around. But all of this gets swept under the greater Hollywood pattern of "squeeze every last dollar out of something that once worked until people et sick of it, then move on to something else to milk for all its worth."

Pirates of the Caribbean made money? Let's make 5 more films and start making movies based on other Disney attractions. Star Trek was well received? Let's reboot every fucking franchise and 80s film we can get the rights to. Batman Begins was good? Let's start writing scripts for fucking Aquaman.

Seriously, fuck Aquaman.

And sadly, this'll go on as long as people show up by the millions with their money and see a film just because they want to see a movie in the theaters, rather than spend that $10 on a month of Netflix and watch countless better movies they haven't heard of.

If Netflix (Redbox, etc) were to ever ramp up their advertising and showcase hiddem gems like you fine Pajibans do (my queue has roughly doubled since I started reading reviews on here) then we might see a shift from people throwing $10 at another Fockers movie, to people finally seeing Let The Right One In instead of its half-hearted doppleganger.

Posted by: Markus at January 14, 2011 10:44 AM

Wonderfully written. However, I think that this is precisely what Watchmen tried to do and it was mostly ignored. Watchmen had heroes that changed and evolved whether that meant growing old and fat or evil. We saw them in compromising situations, disturbing realities, and fighting amongst each other. I missed it in theaters but when I saw it on DVD it was one of those movies that I think seeks to redefine what we know and think about the super hero universe. Unfortunately, I don't think it was received as well as it should have been for that reason - because it was not the traditional superhero formula film. Well, that and the blue penis.

Posted by: TVConnoisseur at January 14, 2011 10:46 AM

Nice blog.keep up the good work.

Posted by: Carroll B. Merriman at January 15, 2011 5:07 AM

Markus is right, of course, that the Hollywood machine squeezes every last dime out of its popular franchises, but I think the comics companies are even more guilty of that. In what other medium are characters written in a single narrative line for 60 to 80 years, with a rabid, entitled fandom that demands that new stories with these characters but then rejects any change too dramatic?

I can't really stomach the crass take on superheroes (Millar, Ennis) but I *do* love a dystopia. I think my favorite take on the idea of super-heroes in the "real world" and the ethical dilemmas therein has to be Squadron Supreme. It's a good story about the road to hell and how it's paved. And yeah, Batman totally fights Superman.

Posted by: The Wandering Parakeet at January 15, 2011 9:14 AM

Brian: You should check out Irredeemable if you haven't.

Premise: Superman-equivalent suddenly turns pure evil, immediately destroys Metropolis-equivalent entirely, and starts murdering the Justice League-equivalent.

It's a race to find out What The Fuck?

Posted by: trippdup at January 15, 2011 2:20 PM

nice. i agree. so totally, lets mix it up. underdogs cant be underdos if you know they will em down. nice.

Posted by: amandita at January 16, 2011 12:29 AM

TVConnoisseur, I was wondering if I was the only one thinking about Watchmen. That was a brilliant example of a story-line that lacked bloat and had originality in spades.

Posted by: linny at January 17, 2011 12:01 AM