The Future of Superhero Movies?

With Marvel Pictures’ “Phase 2” wrapping up and the huge media flop that is Fant4stic (Fantastic Four), a new batch of superhero action films must be made. But some may wonder: should they even try?

This all started when I had a personal marathon of older comic book movies. I started with Tank Girl (which was a good movie overall), but then that was followed by the Howard the Duck film, which was utterly horrifying. That was the film that originally made Hollywood wary of superheroes. It was truly a dark time (no it wasn’t). What some younger and less-informed readers may not realize is that the comics industry will change their minds on a whim. That one bad movie was enough to halt and nearly end film adaptations.

Now, in the 21st century, the same threat is looming over our heads.

The 2000s gave unto the world a new era that gave us amazing comic book movies such as The Dark Knight trilogy and the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe. But as the years have brought us hordes of gold, it has also supplied us with hefty piles of excrement. Such movies as X-Men: The Last Stand, Spider-Man 3, and the box-office flops that are the Fantastic Four movies have been enough for fans to say:”Scrap the whole! Do it again, but better!”

And that might just be the problem.

Most people, who watch a comic book movie, don’t really want a comic book movie. Comics are too weird and convoluted to work as a 1:1 adaptation. No studio is going to fill seats in the theatres with the Punisher in blackface or Ant-Man and Drax from the Guardians of the Galaxy ripping off Miami Vice (those stories go straight to DVD and Blu-Ray). What people want are action movies with comic book characters portrayed by sexy actors. No one wants a realistic Peter Parker – he almost always looks like trash and has never had a decent haircut in his life. Hollywood is doing too much to pander to movie goers rather than catering to them.

What does that mean?

It means that studios are simply giving in to what people want instead of presenting them with something interesting in a way that people will accept it. I’m not saying that Marvel should make a film with Hank Pym hopped up smack; I just want them to acknowledge that it happened. I want to see Nick Fury in space destroying planets. I want a movie where Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy have enough sexual tension to pull the Earth apart. I’m not saying alienate the uninitiated, just show off the fun stuff.

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