One might have called the summer of 2011 the height of the superhero movie craze, at least up to this point. According to Forbes, the three big 2011 movies based on Marvel properties (Thor, X-Men: First Class, and Captain America: The First Avenger) grossed over $1 billion worldwide. Superheroes and comic books haven’t had this level of widespread acceptance across the world in a long time, and the superhero film craze does not look to be slowing down. Sequels to Thor and Iron Man 2 are already in the works, as are significant franchise reboots like The Amazing Spiderman and Man of Steel. Even more projects are rumored to be in discussions and many of these involve less widely known heroes such as Deadpool and Ant-Man. Summer 2012 will see the releases of two huge, competing superhero sequels that will dominate the summer blockbuster competition: The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises. To me, these two movies define the separate and distinct paths that are being followed in the superhero movie industry.
There are two major comic book companies that have been successful in transitioning their characters and properties to the silver screen: Marvel and DC. I have to admit that I am strongly biased in this case; I first discovered comic books and superhero fiction through Marvel’s Avengers series and, with the robust exception of Batman, I am really not a fan of any DC heroes. Both Marvel & DC have had a long history of developing iconic characters, but over the past few years they have taken wildly divergent paths when it comes to how their characters are presented in film.
DC’s recent approach has been rooted in reality, and has tried to bring the superhero into the real world of today. Movies like Batman Begins and The Dark Knight have had extreme success by using this formula, garnering Rotten Tomatoes ratings of 85% and 94%, respectively. Grittiness and realism are very important to this style of filmmaking, and director Christopher Nolan is a master of creating scenes that fit this mold. Batman is an easy character to transform into a more ‘real’ hero, as he has no superpowers and relies on fighting skill, stealth, and high-tech gadgetry to defeat Gotham City’s criminal element. Although the Dark Knight himself might not need much massaging to exist in a more realistic environment, his nemeses most definitely do. Foes like the Joker, Two-Face, and Mr. Freeze are classic villains who all exhibit qualities and characteristics that don’t translate perfectly to the world that Nolan envisioned for his Batman films. The storytellers succeeded in making Batman’s most popular villain, the Joker, viable in this new, gritty Gotham City by transforming him from a comical (if very dark), over-the-top madman into a cold, calculating (yet still quite insane) terrorist kingpin. I think this transformation was executed pretty well, in large part to the late Heath Ledger’s portrayal, but I disagree with the idea of the metamorphosis in general. I am a man who enjoys his superheroes (and villains) more when they are located firmly in the realm of the fantastic and unreal.
And that, in a nutshell, is why I vastly prefer Marvel’s film renditions of its most popular heroes to those of DC. Marvel has stuck to its guns in keeping large elements of fantasy involved in its movie storytelling, and I appreciate this effort. Each of the recent Marvel offerings (the pre-Avengers movies , e.g. Iron Man, Thor, Captain America) retained a true comic book feel by embracing the fantastical aspects so central to the medium. Superheroes are by nature super, and Marvel doesn’t think this should be hidden or downplayed. For example, Thor largely revolved around conflicts that spanned multiple extraterrestrial worlds and included fights with massive automatons and armies of frost giants. In his namesake movie, Captain America led the WWII-era US special forces into battle against the super-Nazi hordes of the Red Skull, who, by the way, looks like this. I think the heavy use of fantasy elements in Marvel movies not only improves the storylines, but also the cinematography and overall artistic direction of the films. This is totally a personal preference, but I like watching superhero movies that are set in bright, visually stunning environments. Marvel’s recent superhero films have had, in my opinion, excellent art direction and have captured the spirit and essence of the comic book worlds. From the golden towers of Asgard in Thor to the expansive mountain lair of the Red Skull in Captain America, Marvel has excelled at envisioning and bringing to life these epic fantasy environments. Altogether, this acceptance of the fantastic has not hurt Marvel’s review scores, as Thor, Captain America, and X-Men all were well-received with scores over 77% on Rotten Tomatoes for each movie.
As one can easily tell by the astounding box office numbers they generate, superhero movies are not a genre of film that is going away anytime soon. Marvel and DC can continue down their separate stylistic paths, and I’m fine with that. One thing that I’m definitely happy about is that audiences around the world seem to have accepted both paths. In the end, I get why people loved The Dark Knight so much, but there will always be a special place in my heart for the superhero movie that embraces the absurd and fantastic nature of the characters it depicts. And in that vein, here’s a trailer for the awesome new Avengers movie coming out in May of 2012.
In sum, that’s the reason that I will see this movie on the day it comes out.
-Cote
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