Modern Superheroines

So Captain Marvel has come out, and from what I hear, I have yet to go to it, but it’s just a generic superhero movie. The reason that I haven’t gone to it, is I really don’t have the time, and going to the movies really isn’t the same as it used to be.

People aren’t saying that it’s a bad film, they are saying that it doesn’t stand out in the huge amount of marvel superhero movies. Though I am also hearing that Hollywood is using the ‘if you don’t like it you are sexist’ argument for this as well. And to be fair I am sure there are those out there who dislike it because Captain Marvel is a woman, and I will be honest, I think there are those out there who don’t realize that they are being sexist in how they are responding to this film. But it’s the best strategy, because it doesn’t look good if that is your only response to the criticism. Bad criticism can be ignored, legit criticism cannot. And the public is much smarter than Hollywood gives them credit.

It’s all a bit complicated. And I could be wrong because I am hearing this through a long game of telephone. For those unfamiliar, it’s when you hear something from someone who heard something from someone and etc.

But it’s got me thinking about my one of my favorite superhero films, which surprisingly is not a marvel film, and even more surprisingly it’s a DC film. Granted I feel that I have always been a DC guy over Marvel, so maybe it’s not that surprising. But DC hasn’t been creating the best media, and I say that including the television shows. I know that people like them, and like I always say, that’s okay. I think they are too violent, and dark. They are trying to be gritty and adult, and it comes off as if a teenager wrote them.

But back to my favorite, it’s Wonder Woman.

Now a little bit of history, she wasn’t always my favorite DC character, in fact that was Nightwing, but I grew to love her over the two other mains of the Justice League. She is currently my favorite Superhero.

I realize that I am rambling a bit, I tend to do that, sometimes to much, but I trying to figure out why that movie resonated with audiences. Or more specifically why did it stand out amongst the superhero movies?

Like if I broke down the Superhero movies that I love from the genre, Wonder Woman is on top, then the two Deadpool films, Logan, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Iron Man, Guardians of the Galaxy, Thor Ragnarok, Punisher War Zone, Blade 1 through 3, The Crow, Hellboy 2, Push, and The Avengers.

I also love a good chunk of animated superhero movies, Batman and Mask of the Phantasm is one of the greatest films ever made. And Kevin Conroy is Batman, hands down. I also purchased, and need to see Lego Batman due to what people are saying about it. If what they are saying is true, then it might be up there as my favorite.

Now looking at my favorite, and I should clarify, favorite comic superhero films, are sort of similar. They are dark, but not too dark, they have some levity in them. At least some dark humor in them. Or they are just goofy fun comic book movies.

Now Wonder Women is different. It’s a serious film, it’s a movie first, but doesn’t forget that it’s from a comic book. It feels like you are watching mythology in action. It’s a Greek story, which wouldn’t be complete without Zeus banging out a demi god, which it has. At least that was the subtext. But what I said at the time, is that this film has heart. You leave believing that all of the members that she met, were friends. In a way this is a way better film than Captain America, which none of the other soldiers had any personalities. They were almost stereotypes of their respective nations. The film makes you care for the two leads, and the three others members of their group.

There will be spoilers coming up,

But the scene where she steps out of the trench, was phenomenal. Even as I recall it as I right, I’m getting goosebumps and my heart is swelling. The build up, the tension, just watching her mind solidify as her choice is made. The moment she steps out to help, not because she’s a glory seeker, but because she genuinely needs to help the people around her. This is the scene that made Wonder Woman stand out.

It’s a shame that DC ignored that and are continuing to drag the characters that I love through mud, mud that’s made up of gritty dark realism, which honestly can go back to the early 2000’s where it belongs. This film is better than the Superman films like all of them, which is sad because no one has done a good Superman film really (except for the Animated movies, seriously if you haven’t watch them, they are really good). It’s better than two of the Batman’s from the ninties, and it’s on par with Batman and Batman Returns. That’s just comparing it to the DC. In fact if Wonder Woman didn’t have that goofy fight scene at the end, it’s not bad, but it has a different tone from the rest of the film, and you can tell that was mandated by the higher ups in control of the DC film universe, it would be better than most Marvel movies.

This is what people are kind of overlooking, it’s not that Captain Marvel is bad, it’s just we’ve been over saturated by superhero movies, and generic films don’t stand out. They become noise. It needs to try to rise and do something new, add to the genre, not just be filler for the upcoming Avenger movie. And we all know that’s what it is, it’s what they’ve been doing for the past decade now. It will hurt them if they don’t try to keep pushing the genre. Like going back to my favorite list, most them did something new, they pushed the genre in new directions. They stand out, and that is what Marvel should be doing, instead of trying to sell us the same goods, and get mad when we just shrug and go ‘meh’.