This summer could prove to be a turning point in superhero movies (good film, Hollywood)

[AuburnAL]

The most recent round of comic book movies really kicked off back in 1998 or 1999 with the first Blade movie. However, the first "costumed" super hero movie in this round was the original X-Men movie, and it did everything it could to make you forget the X-Men had costumes in the comics even going so far as to make fun of the concept. For the most part movies since then have largely stuck with the classic look or a slightly altered version thereof for the characters in their movies. However, there have been noticable changes since then with Cloudlactus and Metal Skin Doom in the Fantastic Four movies. There's always seemed to be some reluctance on the part of the movies makers to proudly embrace the classic look of characters. I think this summer has the potential to be the turning point though.

First, we have Thor. I can already attest to the fact that you'll see the Asgardians striding around in capes and armor with giant weapons talking as if they learned the English language solely from the King James Bible and the works of Shakespeare. There're some changes, but by and large the spirit of everyone is intact while preserving the vast majority of things accurately.

A successful Thor movie wouldn't be enough alone, but it looks like we're going to have some similarly excellent translations in the Green Lantern and Captain America movies. Sure Cap's uniform is missing its wings, but the armor and shield made it through. Plus it looks like they're going to show some battlefield combat with the costume as well which can't help but be something the director had to fight for. On top of that Green Lantern seems to be keeping the GLC intact which is amazing as it would have been easy for some spineless Hollywood guys to chop off the whole alien police force angle as "too wierd" for the audience.

Meanwhile we have another costumeless X-Men movie coming out, and it seems to have by far the least buzz of any superhero movie this summer. Regardless of X-Men's performace, a strong showing by Thor, Captain America, and Green Lantern could signal that Hollywood will finally grow up and treat its superhero source material with the respect it deserves.

[The Continental]

So besides Xmen....?

[skel1977]

I don't get it. Are you saying super heroes would look gay if they walked around in their costumes that were in the comics?

[D. Scott]

The costumes as of late are more realistic. I love X-men and seeing Wolverine in that yellow getup would be silly. I also think they want to appeal to more then just the comic readers. I never read a Thor comic but loved the movie for example.

The fantasy world of some of the heros appeals to me as a sci-fi fan

[Mark S.]

I enjoyed Thor, and I've never been much of a Thor fan. Even as a kid when I was heavy into comics, I thought Thor was dorky. But I liked the movie quite a lot.

Captain America ... I'm more hopeful than optimistic. Joe Johnston is a very hit and miss director. His dramatic "character" films are very good. His action movies tend to be a bit campy.

X-Men: First Class ... again, more hopeful than optimistic.

Green Lantern ... every preview I see makes me less interested. This looks silly beyond belief.

Next year's new Spidey flick looks promising.

The Avengers ... again, more hopeful than optimistic. I'm hearing good things about it, but I'm just not a Joss Whedon fan. The fact that he is both writing and directing makes me think it's going to be a lot of witty banter dialogue and not much else.

After that ...? We've got what? Another Batflick and an upcoming Superman. Not sure what to look forward to after that. I've heard rumors that Guillermo del Toro is developing a Hulk TV show, which could be awesome, but I won't get my hopes up till I hear its been greenlit.

[LongIslandCitizen]

What the OP is saying is that hollywood needs to stay within the spirit of the characters.

How can Wolverine look gay in his costume when millions of fans think his comic is awesome and that would include the costume. People expect it. You can't alienate the biggest consumers and guaranteed audience.

[Mark S.]

Originally Posted by LongIslandCitizen

You can't alienate the biggest consumers and guaranteed audience.

Nothing can really guarantee an audience. And the die-hard comic book audience is a niche. For a movie to be a hit, it needs to appeal to a wide audience, not a niche.

If you look back at the best and most successful comic book movie, staying true to the source material wasn't the key ingredient. The key ingredient was a talented filmmaker who was allowed to realize his vision.

The movie that really got the most recent bout of comic book films rolling was Bryan Singer's X-Men, which was actually quite a lot different than the comics. But Singer is talented and made a great movie. (How he managed to turn around and make a thoroughly boring Superman movie still baffles me.)

Same thing with the first 2 Spidey flicks. But then with the third, the studio started insisting on a storyline that Raimi wasn't really interested in, and the results were a bad movie.

Nolan's Batflicks are great because Nolan is a great filmmaker.

Kenneth Branagh was the absolute perfect choice to direct Thor. In fact, he's probably the only director out there who could have pulled it off.

Jon Favreau made a great IRON MAN. He got rushed into the sequel and forced into using a screenwriter he didn't want, and the results were a lackluster movie.

Then you have movies like Ghost Rider, Daredevil, or Elektra, made by hacks, and the results were bad movies.

So the conclusion is pretty clear. If you want to make a good movie, hire a good filmmaker and then stay out of his or her way.