Tag: Superpowers

Deano’s answer to: “Why aren’t more superhero movies better?”

Posted on by Deano in Q & A

Showing us how someone got super powers? Boring.

Showing us what they do with those powers, and showing (not telling) us why? THE HOTNESS.

In short, all Superhero movies need to do to dramatically improve in quality and performance is pretty simple: stop treating the superpower as the main character.

They don’t need to explode bigger stuff. They don’t even need to win. Just present us with a damn good explanation for why Sue Storm isn’t the world’s richest paparazzi(*), and we’ll be happy.

M. Night Shyamalan gets a bad rap, because, er, most of his movies are terrible. But, he actually made a really great superhero epic no one really thinks about anymore, Unbreakable. All he did was make a superhero movie about real people, where the powers were very much secondary to the story. We need more movies like that.

Superhero movies are still movies. Powers are props and plot points, you still need an actual story, and identifiable characters. Even in cases where the overall story is very well known (Superman), there’s a ton of room for insights that delight and surprise twists that keep us wondering…

(* Despite the extensive grassroots petitioning, however, we really don’t need an explanation why her boyfriend doesn’t work in porn.)

This answer originally appeared on Quora: Why aren’t more superhero movies better?

Deano’s answer to: “Why do all the Batman villains always go to Arkham Asylum?”

Posted on by Deano in Q & A

From the question: All the Batman villains who are caught end up in Arkham Asylum*. They rarely, if ever, go to prison to serve life or death.

Superhero comic logic aside, what would be some good explanations for this? I am personally inclined to believe that Arkham is a Guantanamo Bay-of-sorts, where the villains are put, because they have been thwarted by Batman without proper legal procedure such as warrants, reasonable doubt, and so forth. This would also explain why people like sane villains like Catwoman have been thrown in Arkham.

What are your theories?

*As I remember; Harley Quinn and Selina Kyle were sent to a rehabilitation clinic at one point, though.

Taking the issue at it’s face, I’d say it’s likely a NIMBY problem – while dividing up the tough mental cases throughout whatever state Gotham is in might seem to be a good way to keep them from possibly colluding on an escape together, it’s just as likely that this would mean that less corrupt cities and towns would subsequently be threatened with potential reprisals during a villains inevitable escape.

Supervillains, in a sense, are the toxic waste created by superheroes – no one wants to address the natural byproduct of a “mostly good thing”, and where possible they pool the waste and store it in locations and communities that don’t have the political clout to prevent such outcomes.

Actually, taken in that light, it’s possible Gotham as a whole is somehow a functional internment camp for the worst of society in the DC Universe… Perhaps Batman’s secret mission is more about keeping everyone from escaping Gotham, a prison in the shape of a city…?

This answer originally appeared on Quora: Why do all the villains always go to Arkham Asylum?

Deano’s answer to: “Were the Hulk movies accurate in portraying Hulk’s strength?”

Posted on by Deano in Q & A

It would be exceedingly difficult to claim that a movie didn’t portray the Hulk’s strength accurately, for one simple reason:

The madder he gets, the stronger he gets.

(Rarrr… Image Courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/tim…)

Thus, any time the Hulk appears to be “weaker than he should be” could be argued away as merely a reflection of his lack of sufficient anger at the given moment… Or, in general, a lack of adrenaline, which is not always induced by anger (there’s a scene in The Incredible Hulk which covers alternate potential means of transformation, but those images are all protected by copyright)

(Let’s just say this is a fair facsimile, and be done with it. Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/the…)

Given the comics’ precedent that there is no significant “upper limit” to the level of the Hulk’s strength, which can reach so-called “Cosmic Levels” under the right circumstances, it’s basically impossible that anything the Hulk does in the films could be considered to be “too strong for the character”, for similar reasons[*].

Where the movies tend to fail is in over-simplifying or misunderstanding the Hulk’s many weaknesses.

[* Actually, since the Hulk in The Incredible Hulk movie appears to have closer ties to “Ultimate Hulk” – a creature born of a mutated gamma-irradiated version of Captain America’s Super Solider Serum, there probably is a more reasonable upper power limit, we just haven’t come close to hitting it yet.]

This answer originally appeared on Quora: Were the Hulk movies accurate in portraying Hulk’s strength?